Hero-Killer: Difference between revisions

[[File:clonewars_sm_578clonewars sm 578.jpg|link=Clone Wars|frame|Our money's on the guy with the swords.]]

{{quote|"''A little piece of advice: You see an Agent, you do what we do -- '' [[Run or Die|Run]]. ''You run your ass off.''"|'''Cypher''', ''[[The Matrix (Film)|The Matrix]]''.}}

A villain who is so terrifyingly powerful that [[The Dreaded|he strikes fear into the hearts of the characters]]. Whenever he shows up, they know of his abilities and that they are in true danger of being [[Killed Off for Real]], and most of the time the best they can do is [[Run or Die|run as fast as they can]].

A Subtrope of [[The Dreaded]], with the proviso that Hero -Killers like to get their hands dirty. When a Hero Killer tracks down a main character, a [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]] or a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] will ensue, with possibly fatal results. If the hero decides that he's [[Tired of Running]], it provides evidence that he has [[Took a Level Inin Badass|taken a level in badass]]. If the hero ''wins'' the fight, or at least gives the Hero Killer a run for his money, it may be a [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|Moment of Awesome]].

Such a character nearly always causes [[The Worf Effect]], to demonstrate exactly how much he outclasses the heroes. He invokes [[Anyone Can Die]] by his mere presence, stripping away characters' [[Plot Armor]]. This tends to overlap with [[Implacable Man]], but where that character is just hard to kill, the Hero Killer must also be a very dangerous threat. If he becomes ''too'' much of a good thing and crosses the line into author wish-fulfillment, he becomes a [[Villain Sue]].

* ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]]'': Frieza. He's so dreaded that even [[Physical God|King Kai]] was ''terrified'' of him upon first appearance and ordered Goku to avoid fighting him no matter what. Before we even meet him, he'd already wiped out the number of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Saiyans]] down to single-digits and effectively conquered the galaxy. During the Namek arc, he is responsible for the deaths of: {{spoiler|the remaining 100 Nameks}} and directly kills {{spoiler|Dende, Vegeta and Krillin}} single-handedly. He even causes {{spoiler|the destruction of the planet Namek itself.}}

** Pretty much every major ''Dragonball'' villain fits this label, starting with [[Knight of Cerebus|Piccolo Daimao.]] Good lord, Piccolo Daimao. He was the evil counterpart of Earth's [[God]] [[For the Evulz|who went around causing great destruction for the hell of it.]] It took a suicidal technique from Master Roshi's teacher just to [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|seal him away.]] When [[Harmless Villain|Pilaf]] releases him, the first thing Piccolo Daimao does is give birth to sons, [[Hero Killer|HeroKillers]] in their own right. Just one, Tambourine, manages to off Krillin, defeat Goku, and destroy Nimbus. After Goku kills his son, Piccolo Daimao challenges him, and despite his advanced age, [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomps Goku to near death]]. The moment that definitely solidified Piccolo's status as a [[Hero -Killer]]? When he ''ANNIHILATED [[Benevolent Genie|SHENRON.]]''

** [[Mix -and -Match Man|Cell]] fits this trope to a T, since unlike other villains, he DID kill [[The Hero]] Goku, along with Future Trunks. And before that, he absorbed countless innocents and the aforementioned #17 and #18, just as he was programmed to do.

* Barthomelew Kuma from ''[[One Piece]]''. The first time he meets the Strawhats, he nearly kills one of them. Their next encounter initiated a [[Wham! Episode]]. ''That's'' how dangerous he is.

** Chief Warden Magellan of [[The Alcatraz|Impel Down]] fits better. [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown|He easily defeats Luffy, making clear the latter's pre-emptive strike was no more than a "lucky shot"]], causing Luffy to pay ten years of his life just to go through the treatment to keep him alive. (This makes Magellan a somewhat ''literal'' version of this trope.) He also [[One-Hit Kill|one-shotted]] the Blackbeard Pirates, including Blackbeard, {{spoiler|the probable main [[Big Bad]] of the series}}, and he proved what an [[Implacable Man]] he is when he gave chase to Luffy after he instigated a prison riot, taking out two of the new higher-tier fighters while barely being scratched, and forcing even Jinbei and ''[[Magnificent Bastard|Crocodile]]'' to run for it. Luffy fights Magellan again with protection from Magellan's poison, but Magellan just unleashes a poison strong enough to ''dissolve Impel Down itself'', thus upgrading to an [[Advancing Wall of Doom]] and making escape from the prison the only viable option. {{spoiler|The escapees barely make it out alive, thanks to Mr. 2's [[Heroic Sacrifice]], but we later learn that Magellan was beaten off-screen seemingly by a reinforced Blackbeard and co.}}

** The Three Admirals also play this role, especially to the Straw Hats. They are regarded as the Marines's "Greatest Force", and [[Nigh Invulnerable|for]] [[One-Man Army|good]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|reason]]. Their appearances are often marked by expressions of shock and unrelenting terror on the faces of every pirate unfortunate enough to bump into one of them, and said appearances are also marked by mind boggling displays of sheer power, and at least one [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]]. {{spoiler|Plus, Admiral Akainu actually broke the taboo of "no major characters dying out of flashbacks" by killing Ace.}}

* Dio Brando from ''[[Jo JoJoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]] Part 1''. [[Memetic Mutation|Even Speedwagon was afraid!]]

** Neart the end of Jojo part 7, Steel Ball Run, we have {{spoiler|president Funny Valentine. So far he's killed Wekapipo, Diego Brando AND Hot Pants, the latter two of whom were thought to be characters with at least a certain degree of plot armor.}}

* Scar from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is introduced in this fashion. He kills many high ranking alchemists, and shatters Ed's arm the first time they meet. The Homunculi never lose this title.

*** And then we have [[Colonel Badass|Colonel]] [[Playing Withwith Fire|Roy]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|Mustang]] who pretty much serves as a [[Hero -Killer]] ''[[Inverted Trope|Killer]]''. Both of his fights with one of the Homunculi have been utter [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomp Battles]]s, and a {{spoiler|specific part of [[Big Bad|Father's]] plan was to give him a [[Game -Breaking Injury]] [[Story -Breaker Power|so he couldn't interfere]].}}

** In the [[Fullmetal Alchemist (Animeanime)|2003 anime version]] (which went in a ''very'' different direction from the manga) Scar retains his [[Hero -Killer]] status for much of the show. [[The Dragon|Envy]] is another very good example, murdering numerous named characters, [[Dance Battler|dancing pirouettes]] around the heroes during combat, and ultimately {{spoiler|killing Ed}} during the climax. If you see [[Complete Monster|Envy]], book it.

* Whenever Ali Al-Saachez of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' shows up, you can be sure there will be much asskicking towards the heroes involved. {{spoiler|Towards the end of the first season, Ali kills off a total of three named pilots, capping off his killing spree by defeating [[The Hero]] of Celestial Being, Lockon Stratos, in mech combat.}}

** When you think Gundam, THE [[Hero -Killer]] by default is [[Zeta Gundam|Yazan Gable]]. No doubt about it. He's killed how many named characters, again?

* There is a mini-arc in ''[[Naruto]]'' that introduces the [[Black Cloak|Akatsuki]] organization by sending two of it's members to Konoha. A few fights ensue, and they toss many of the most powerful main characters around like rag dolls, even leaving the legendary Kakashi Hatake with psychological damage for some time. They continue their rampage until Jiraiya (who is so powerful that the only reason he isn't [[Big Good|Hokage]] is that he doesn't want to be) shows up and chases them off.

* Lord Darcia from ''[[WolfsWolf's Rain]]'' becomes this in the final episodes.

*** The author kind of admitted making him the big bad was an [[Ass Pull]] decided on after his "death". The plan was probably to make the snake-motif jerkass (Gin) the [[Big Bad]] at that time.

** While nearly all of the filler villains are Aizen ripoffs, the only one who really reaches this status is the villain of the 4th move, Hell Chapter. {{spoiler|Not Shuren. He's taken out in about 2 minutes. Kokuto is the Man Behind The Man and he literally kills Rukia, Uryu, and Renji in a matter of seconds.}} Ichigo has a breakdown a few scenes later, not sure if he can beat him even if he goes Full Hollow, which he can't because it's all part of his plan. {{spoiler|The characters are saved through a series of Deus Ex Machina straight from Hell itself.}}

* Anytime ''[[Battle Royale|]]'': Anytime Kazuo Kiriyama]] shows up, everyone you are rooting for is going to die.

* Pretty much any incarnation of ''[[Astro Boy (Mangamanga)|Astro Boy]]'' has Pluto, whose entire function is to destroy the most powerful robots on Earth.

* Fate Averruncus in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. Not during his first appearance, though he did have everyone completely outclassed then. No, it's actually when {{spoiler|he spears Negi through the chest, curbstomps Setsuna while his minions take out the next two best fighters and ends the battle by separating the entirety of Ala Alba across the entire magical world. And then it turns out that Fate is about six tiers of power above the entire main cast.}}

* The [[Mage Killer|Huckebein]] [[Badass Family|family]] from ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' starts this way, first by trashing the new main character(despite the fact that his [[Heroic Resolve]] allows him to properly use his newfound powers) and let him live only because his attacker "runs out of ammo". They then send one of their craziest members to {{spoiler|slay one of the main characters who is previously stated as being one of the most powerful mages of the cast capable to go toe to toe with the freakin title protagonist and only barely fails}}. Also, before and after both mentioned events they're named and referred to by a lot of characters as very dangerous and threatening people. They cemented their status as this when their apparent leader {{spoiler|[[Impaled Withwith Extreme Prejudice|impaled Hayate through the chest]] [[In the Back]] and [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomps]] [[Glacier Waif|Vita]] and [[Fragile Speedster|Erio]] without even [[Super Mode|Reacting]]}}.

* Asura from ''[[Soul Eater]]'' is his first appearance [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomps]] Black Star and Death the Kid with a couple of flicks.

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': The Oracion Seis in the beginning [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomps]] the magical Alliance

*** The current{{when}} arc may well be the one to take ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' [[Darker and Edgier]]. The heroes have been getting beaten soundly throughout, including MAKAROV, at the hands of Hades and his guild. {{spoiler|Natsu just barely pulled out a win against a Fire Godslayer--think Dragonslayer, but, y'know, GODS--and collapsed almost immediately afterward. For the most part, the Fairy Tail mages have been losing even in 2 on 1 fights against Black Grimoire mages.}}

*** Update to the above. {{spoiler|The Black Grimoire is losing ground, though at least one example was due to tugging heartstrings rather than actually winning a fight. The villain had set up a [[Taking You Withwith Me]] for both Juvia AND Grey. The fight between Leo and Capricorn was won by good luck & timing. And now Cana is getting an upgrade. But the Black Grimoire Guildmaster, the one who took out Makarov, is still standing and his most powerful subordinate is on the loose... Still no casualties on the good guy side, but Charle had a vision of everyone crying before this arc started...}}

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''{{'}}s Walpurgisnacht may be an example, {{spoiler|in every timeline that Madoka and Homura have faced her in, they've either ended up dying, or killing it, only for Madoka to become a witch}}.

** Charlotte gets some credit for being able to {{spoiler|kill Mami within the first three episodes of the series.}} On the other hand, ''[[Puella Magi Oriko Magica]]'' proves that it's only because {{spoiler|Mami let her guard down, as she manages to defeat Charlotte since she wasn't hyped up on the [[Power of Friendship]].}}

* In ''[[Blassreiter]]'', the first time [[Big Bad|Xargin]] shows up, he effortlessly wipes the floor with Joseph and a recently-amalgamized {{spoiler|Malek}}, even going so far as to put the latter into a coma which takes most of the series for him to recover from. The second time he gets in a fight, he walks straight into enemy headquarters, once again effortlessly wiping out everything in his way, including a newly powered-up Joseph, who had gotten so strong that he had an army of '''30,000''' demoniaks terrified of him.

* A much more deadly example is Impmon of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', who is so far the only one [[Digimon|in the franchise]] to have ever [[All Deaths Final|killed permanently]] a partnered digimon {{spoiler|Leomon, Jeri/Juri's partner, as Beelzemon/Beelzebumon}}. Bonus points for carrying out a [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]] beforehand on the heroes, {{spoiler|and very nearly executed (through the ''eyes'') the main character if an [[Ascended Extra]] had not intervened}}.

* The [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' often embody this. The first, Queen MeteliaMetaria, killed all the Sailor Senshi in her attack on the Silver Millennium and was only stopped by the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] byof Queen Serenity. Death Phantom, in the future, when he recruited the Black Moon clan, launched an attack that the future Sailor Senshi weren't able to stop. By the end of the series, we have Sailor Galaxia {{spoiler|in both versions, she kills everyone except Sailor Moon (Chichi surviving in the manga, the Sailor Starlights surviving in the anime). Sailor Cosmos' statements about the future say that Sailor Chaos becomes this}}.

* Trude from ''[[Otogi Juushi Akazukin]]''. Her first appearance consisted of her [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomping]] all three Musketeers and turning almost everyone in the group into dolls. When they finally break free of the curse, they go for a rematch, where she still [[NoWon't Sell|NoWork SellsOn Me]]s everything they throw at her, prompting the group to teleport away in desperation. The next time they fight her, it's with the help of an [[Obi Wan]] who is sufficiently skilled to...bypass the block on said teleportation spell so they can run away again, and it's only with the help of a [[Mid-Season Upgrade|Mid Season]] [[Super Mode]] that they're able to actually drive her off. Even with the [[Super Mode]] Trude is still dangerous, as it only gives them a weapon she can't [[NoWon't Work On SellMe]], but is still vulnerable to her [[Taken for Granite|petrifying]] all of her opponents.

* In ''[[Eyeshield Twenty One21]]'', Hakushuu Dinosaurs centre Rikiya Gaou gains this reputation over the course of the Kantou Tournament, crippling quarterbacks and linemen alike. Forget beating the Dinosaurs--mostDinosaurs—most of the cast spend that arc trying to figure out how to beat Gaou. During the Youth World Cup, the [[World's Strongest Man|freakishly strong]] and [[The Dreaded|utterly terrifying]] Donald "Mr. Don" Obermann takes on this role.

* The titular ''[[Zeiram]]'' in ''[[Iria: Zeiram The Animation]]''. While Iria spends all of the movies hunting it down to destroy themit, the animated prequel shows how it killed and absorbed her older brother and mentor, Glen, who had a been a great bounty hunter of his own right.

* A rare example on the side of the ''hero''; Alucard from ''[[Hellsing]]''. He is more or less this trope to a T, complete with literally everyone in the series of being terrified of him (with very few exceptions), and he wipes out almost every villain with no effort. And he is possibly the definition of the [[Horrifying Hero]]; try ''not'' to crap your pants when he mercilessly rips apart the innocent police team in OVA III ([[Well-Intentioned Extremist|albietalbeit for a reason]] ''[[Well-Intentioned Extremist|other than]]'' [[For the Evulz|getting his jollies]] [[Blood Knight|even though he ended up with them anyway]]), then parades around their corpses. Literally everything about him is perfect for this trope, save for the fact that he's on the side of the good guys (although calling them the 'good guys' [[Anti-Hero|is probably going a little too far]]).

** Bane however was the first Batman villain to physically overpower and ''cripple'' the Dark Knight. It didn't stick for long, but the sight of Batman ''broken'' by a villain was unsettling.

* Also in the [[Marvel Universe]] is Galactus. He eats planets. If you're a non-Terran Marvel character, there's a pretty good chance he's eaten your homeworld (hey, he's gotta eat worlds that matter, but he can't eat the one that ''really'' matters).

** Later, he tried to pull the same stunt again, only this time he did it with a ''galaxy''. He also cyber-enslaved a slew of cosmic super-heroes and -villains, including the Space Knights of Galador, Gamora (the adopted daughter of ''Thanos''), Drax the Destroyer, Xemnu the Titan, Shatterax, Ronan the Accuser, Nova-Prime and the Super-Adaptoid, several of which qualify as Hero-Killers in their own right.

* In the same vein as Galactus, the Celestials also scare the crap out of everyone whenever they show up. Fortunately, they don't go around eating planets left and right. Unfortunately, they have a nasty habit of "judging" worlds on whch they have seeded life on (which is most of them), and executing them if they don't like what they see. Yes, they execute ''entire planets''.

* The [[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths|Anti-Monitor]], who personally beat Supergirl to death, after having already ''eaten'' hundreds of universes, and went on to be responsible for a scad of other hero deaths. He's the standard by which DCU characters judge "evil" and "dangerous". In a mostly successful attempt to avoid [[Villain Decay]], DC only used him three (and a half) times from 1985 to 2010, a full quarter century.

* DC has ''tried'' to do this with Deathstroke. ForSince the pastearly few years2000s he's been pushed as one of the top villains of the DCU, on a par with Lex Luthor and the Joker. He actually ''has'' managed to kill a couple of heroes, including Phantom Lady and the third Atom (and in the trailer for DC Universe Online, he ''almost'' kills [[Batman]]). Unfortunately, while his powerset (he's basically an evil [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] with a healing factor thrown in) should make him utterly terrifying to normals and low-level metas, it's a little more difficult to accept him as a serious threat to the likes of [[Superman]] and [[Green Lantern]]. His victories against big-name heroes tend to depend on his opponent firmly grasping the [[Idiot Ball]] and refusing to let it go (e.g. Flash running straight onto his sword; Green Lantern deciding to ''swing punches'' at him instead of, I dunno, flying off and flattening him with a ring construct from half a mile away; or Superman [[Forgot I Could Fly|apparently forgetting how his own powers work]]). Fans have joked that Deathstroke's secret power is a "[[Jobber]] aura" that makes his opponents behave like morons.

** To rub salt in the wound, originally Slade was [[Genre Savvy]] enough to AVOID''avoid'' facing superhumans. He just faced the Titans to complete the contract his deceased son had accepted.

* Willy Pete, of ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]'', is a particularly nightmarish version. His name is a military term for [[Names to Run Away From|White Phosphorous]], and his [[Kill It Withwith Fire|powers]] match the name. He's capable of causing an impact as powerful as a [[Person of Mass Destruction|nuclear explosion]], and generating fire that reaches temperatures as hot as the sun. His favorite pastime is [[Eye Scream|skull fucking people to death]] as he [[I'm a Humanitarian|eats them]], not always in that order, and not always before they're dead. Being a fire elemental, he doesn't need to eat. He just likes to. He goes out of his way to only kill D-List heroes and villains, not because he's weak, but because it makes people underestimate him. He likes being underestimated, as it makes people think he's a pushover. He's the recurring nightmare of Thug Boy, due to killing all of his friends. {{spoiler|In Volume 5 of Empowered, he kills eight and a half capes in an instant, and then proceeds to destroy most of the d10, the Superhomeys space station. He doesn't try for an instant during all of this. [[Curb Stomp Battle|He's just that powerful.]] }}

* ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' foe [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Genocide]] was created with this in mind. The [[Legion of Doom|Secret Society]] engineered this monster to take out the superhero community.

* In the ''[[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', the current{{when}} [[Big Bad|Eggman]] (actually an alternate version the first one), was this, managing kill his version of Sonic and the Freedom fighters, and when he first made his big return he conquered Mobotropolis and forced the Mobians to retreat back to Knothole, effectively resetting the series status quo to before Robotnik Prime died, though [[Villain Decay|since then he's gone back and forth between how much a threat he posed]]. A more extreme case is the alternate timeline where Knuckles became a new [[Physical God|Enerjak]]. He became so powerful that he single handily conquered Mobius and defeated every hero and villain that tried to stop him, even Sonic becoming Super Sonic wasn't enough to stop him. Pretty much the only reason why the Freedom Fighters are around in his timeline when Silver shows up there is because [[It Amused Me|he let the Freedom fighters roam around for his amusement]].

* From the ''[[Transformers]]'' franchise, we have Bludgeon, a literal [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]. (Seriously, he would have been a pirate in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'') In most of his appearances, he's one of the most lethal Decepticon warriors - in the Marvel [[Transformers Generation One1|G1]] comics, he eventually ascended to the position of Decepticon leader, and only lost because of [[Deus Ex Machina|The Last Autobot]]. In the IDW comics, he beat down fan-favorite Soundwave and his casette bots after his own minions, Iguanus and Bomb-Burst, were dispatched. In the Titan UK comics, his [[Transformers Film Series|Movieverse]] incarnation is one of only TWO characters to be shown killing his enemies on-panel.

** Not to mention the T-800 ALWAYS tell John to run in both the 2nd and 3rd film from the T-1000 and T-X. Its obvious Skynet won't send trash assassins against its biggest nemesis John Connor.

*** A few of the forsaken keep this title even after it's revealed they've been deliberately bolstering their reputation. Ishamael/ {{spoiler|Moridin}} is always bad news, and Lanfear was horrifyingly destructive if you got on her bad side. Demandred, too- he hasn't done much on page yet, but per [[Word of God]] he's going to have a ''big'' role in [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|Tarmon Gai'don]], not to mention being the only Forsaken to take over a nation (we're not yet sure where) and stay both unrevealed and in power for the course of the series. Say what you will about the competence of most of the Forsaken (and you can say some pretty unkind things), these three at least have their act together.

*** Shaidar Haran from the same series is an odd variation; he's never confronted any of the ''heroes'' directly, but his job is to act as the Dark One's mouthpiece and enforcer among his minions, so it's the ''villains'' who know they're in ''deep'' when this guy shows up.

* The Mirror from ''[[Night Watch|Day Watch]]'', who killed ''{{spoiler|Tiger Cub}}'' by literally stripping her flesh from her bones after incapacitating several other high-level Night Watch magicians.

* [[Evil Overlord|The Lord Ruler]] from ''[[Mistborn]]'', figuratively and literally, as he takes down {{spoiler|Kelsier}} effortlessly immediately after the latter has his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] by killing an [[The Dragon|Inquisitor]]. {{spoiler|[[The Man Behind the Man|Ruin]] is this trope even moreso.}}

** The one who escaped without being permanently crippled so angered Nicodemus that even after Nicodemus {{spoiler|had him tortured to death}} Nicodemus was willing to give the good guys a chance to stop his plan to {{spoiler|turn the Archive (a repository of all humanities knowledge, and thus possessor of the launch codes to every nuke on earth among other things) into a Denarian}} just to get the guy's sword, Fidellachius.

** The Eldest Brother Gruff also has these trappings. Hitmen for the Summer fae, each one defeated by Harry swears his elder brother will come after him, just like in the fairy tale. {{spoiler|The Eldest one is ''maybe'' five feet tall, if you squint. He also managed to dropkick an elder demon with magical might, and wears the stoles of three powerful wizards he's slain in battle. That's when Harry realizes he might very well be screwed. Fortunately, Eldest Gruff turns out to be, at worst, a [[Punch Clock Villain]], and Harry manages to talk him down without having to fight... [[The Dresden Files (Literature)/Awesome|by asking for]] [[Makes Sense in Context|a donut]].}}

** Though he hasn't actually killed an heroes on-page yet, Cowl might also qualify. He packs a magical punch stronger than Ebenezar (who's a Senior Council member ''and'' the Blackstaff), is a [[Necromancer]] even the other necromancers are scared of, doesn't seem terribly worried about being hit by other wizards' death curses, and shrugs off having a car flipped over on top of him like it's nothing. Also a prime candidate for being on [[Nebulous Evil Organization|the Black Council]], though whether he's [[Big Bad|its leader]] or just a member isn't established.

* In-universe in the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' books, if you are face to face with Lord Voldemort and your name isn't Albus Dumbledore, you either run like hell or kiss your butt goodbye.

* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories; Moriarty, and Holmes isn't the only one he seriously threatened.

* Whatever enemy that ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]'': Whatever enemy that Eragon fights in the climax of each book tends to turn into this. In two instances, he's needed help {{spoiler|in Brisingr, the Shade he fights in the climax not only overpowers him at first, but also Saphira and Arya}}, {{spoiler|the other case, enemy in question used to his friend and let him live}}. In universe, the Ra'Zak and Shades as a whole are built as this, with the Ra'Zak acting as [[Big Bad|Galbatorix]]'s personal assassins, and Shades, [[The Obi-Wan|Brom]] states that prior to the series, there were only two instances of somebody killing one and surviving.

*** Almost. Glory's [[Mind Rape]] of Tara is what initiated Willow's ''first'' [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]. But the Scoobies still have to plan out literally every single step they take during the final battle with the Hell-bitch; (the overall strategy of which amounts to "desperately try to keep her busy without getting killed for a few minutes").

* Sylar from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', who besides being one of the most powerful characters in the show's mythology has also racked up by far the highest number of main character and supporting character kills.

* [[Inverted]] on ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. As the Sheriff's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] no one was even ''remotely'' afraid of Guy of Gisborne, least of all Marian who played him like a violin throughout the show. Robin and the rest of the outlaws ran rings around him - so no one saw it coming when at the end of season two he {{spoiler|brutally stabbed Maid Marian to death}}.

* John from ''[[The Fades (TV)|The Fades]]''. Before the other characters learn his name, he's known as the Angelic Killer because he's racked up such a high body count. In fact, he's responsible for the deaths of multiple major characters before the end of the first episode.

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Typhon in [[Classical Mythology|Greek myth]] may well be the [[Ur Example]]. The child of [[Mother Nature|Gaia]] and [[Hell|Tartarus]], Typhon was, [[Depending Onon the Writer]], a god with dozens of snake coils for tentacles, or a towering giant with 100 dragon heads. Either way, he stormed Olympus by himself, defeated Zeus (tearing out his sinews in the process) and drove all the other gods into hiding in Egypt. It was only in the rematch that Zeus was able to defeat him, and even then Typhon wasn't killed--[[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|just buried under a volcano]], where he awaits the chance to break out again.

** In Marvel's ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'' comics, Jormungandr retains this title. Anytime he shows up Thor is in for a very, very bad day.

* [[Mark Henry]] in his recent heel turn. He took out [[The Big Show]] and [[Kane (Wrestlingwrestling)|Kane]] by breaking their legs with a steel chair and a squash, leaving them out of action for weeks and a few months respectively. He even went to the point of even giving [[Randy Orton]] who was World Heavyweight Champion a hard time. The result at Night Of Champions? He becomes World Heavyweight Champion!

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]''

** The Tarrasque was created as basically the single most powerful monster in the world that didn't live in another world. It was essentially Godzilla for the D&D. It had resistance or immunity to a great deal of attacks and had a number of special rules that made characters have to jump through a variety of hoops to kill it and make it stay dead. In practice, however, players found a number of weaknesses, such as its lack of ranged attacks and vulnerability to energy draining, causing many hardcore fans to brag about the time they killed the Tarrasque.

** Elminster, the iconic wizard of the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' setting, was not intended as an encounter for players, but because his official stats are available, many players try to pit themselves against him. ''Dragon'' magazine got tired of players writing in to tell them that they had slain Elminster, so it included a mass response saying that Elminster was way too smart to be killed and that he was playing a trick on the player characters.

* This is the point of the 'character-killer' build for heroes in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. The Eldar Farseer's [[Mind Rape|Mind War]] psychic power is a particularly good example.

* The ''[[Necessary Evil]]'' RPG, in which the [[Super Villain]] PCs are [[La Résistance]] on [[Vichy Earth]], has [[Hero -Killer]] ammunition, known as HK rounds. Basically, bullets designed for killing people who are [[Immune to Bullets]].

* Mechanically speaking, [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23321 Tsabo Tavoc] of ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]''. Her abilities stop other legendary creatures from damaging, blocking or even targeting her at all, and she can kill them easily with her activated ability. In the storyline, Gerrard beats her, [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|despite this being all but impossible in-game]] for the aforementioned reasons.

* The Black Knight from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance''. You ''could'' choose to fight him in the earlier levels where he shows up, but it suggests that you flee, and for a very good reason. Every single character you throw at him will be unable to dent him and will soon find themselves dead in one blow. Only towards the end of the game does it let you know that you are ready to face him, but even then it's [[Luck -Based Mission|one hell of a challenge.]]

* Orbital Frame Anubis is introduced at the end of ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'': despite having just taken out [[The Dragon]], it's made abundantly clear that Jehuty facing off against this thing would be suicide. You don't get a chance until the sequel, and the bulk of that game is spent finding a way to even the odds--theodds—the first few times you run into each other, your only real option is to avoid dying until you can escape. By the time you're ready to face it, it and its pilot have gone into [[One-Winged Angel]] mode. {{spoiler|Of course, Naked Jehuty is also a [[One-Winged Angel]] of sorts, so it balances out.}}

* Barbatos Goetia from ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]] 2''. The first and foremost thing he's known for is killing the prequel's hero Stahn and he's off to claim the heads of other heroes, namely Philia and Garr. His legend as a [[Hero -Killer]] has even stretched to ''[[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|Tales of Vesperia]]'', where he reappears as a bonus opponent in the battle arena and his name is ''Killer of Heroes''. Indeed, it turns out that {{spoiler|his ''entire purpose'' in life is to kill the heroes of the first game under the orders of the [[Big Bad]] to remake the timeline}}. Nothing less can be expected of one voiced by [[Norio Wakamoto]].

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' has Vamp and Fortune.

** Alma is a special case in that she's an accidental [[Hero -Killer]]. In F.E.A.R. she just wants to HUG Point Man because he's {{spoiler|her son}} but her presence is so lethal that even such a harmless action can kill. It's kind of heartbreaking - all she wants is a hug, but letting her do that will kill you, so you have no choice but to shove her off. And in Project Origin she's {{spoiler|got a gigantic crush on Beckett, and wants to mate with him}}. That, incidentally, is also why at several points in the game she actively lashes out against anyone who's even looking at you funny. {{spoiler|She ends up getting what she wants and nailing Beckett in the ending. He somehow survives the intimate contact, which probably means he's the most badass character in the series.}}

* ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'':

** The Collectors and Harbinger in ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]''. From the first scene, you know they're bad news when they kill your character from the first game. Granted, s/he is revived by a secret project, but it really sets the tone. In the final mission against them, it's possible for ''[[Anyone Can Die|everyone]]'' to die, and, without excellent planning, at least one or two characters ''will'' die.

** ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'' gives us Kai Leng, who had previously made a name for himself in the ''Mass Effect'' novels. For those who didn't read the novels, though, Kai Leng needs to be given a chance to show how badass he is.

*** And if {{spoiler|Thane}} is alive, he also stops Kai Leng from killing {{spoiler|the Councilor}}, and they begin to fight. {{spoiler|Thane, [[Worf Had the Flu|while slowed down from his Kepral's Syndrome]], is widely known to be the best assassin in the galaxy and a master of hand-to-hand combat. Kai Leng '''impales him with a sword'''. Yes, Thane, former squadmate and super-assassin hero, was beaten in hand-to-hand combat.}}

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' has Shu Shirakawa's Granzon, although it tends to play the role of ''villain'' killer more often. It appears several times early in each continuity as a (mostly) [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]. Fortunately for the heroes, Shu has [[Enigmatic Minion|a vaguely-defined interest in keeping them alive]], so he tends to hold back while testing their abilities. However, his [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomp Battles]]s with villains ''much'' later in the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] prove the heroes' suspicions about how screwed they'd be if he wanted them dead. By the time the [[Lensman Arms Race]] finally catches up to him, he joins as a temporary party member, {{spoiler|then immediately goes [[One-Winged Angel]] and tries to destroy the world once the latest villain is out of the way.}}

* ''[[Resident Evil|Resident Evil 3]]'' has [[Clipped-Wing Angel|Nemesis]]. While it's posiblepossible to beat him every time he appears, he just [[Super -Persistent Predator|keeps coming after you]], and the best choice for non-pro players is to [[Know When to Fold 'Em|simply run away]]. Especially since he has a freaking rocket launcher.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'': Sephiroth. While {{spoiler|he gets his actual significant kill}} in the game, it's really in the movie ''[[Advent Children]]'' that he shows the power backing up his claim for the title. As soon as he appears, he forces Cloud to stretch himself to twice as superhuman feats as he has so far (and that's saying something), while he himself doesn't even get out of breath. Especially in the extended version, where he beats Cloud within an inch of his life before the inevitable [[Heroic Second Wind]] kicks in. Cloud has already defeated opponents like the ridiculously powerful Remnants of Sephiroth and a gigantic dragon god, but his reaction upon first seeing Sephiroth can be described as "[[Oh Crap|Eep!]]"

* Lavos from ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|]]''Chrono Trigger'']] {{spoiler|kills the main character, Crono, at least until you find the "Chrono Trigger" to bring him back}}

* [[Eldritch Abomination|Sin]] from ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]''. Cuts a swathe of destruction and leaves nothing but ruins in its wake wherever it treads. Still, that does not deter the many organizations that rise up to Spira's defense and try to defeat him. {{spoiler|Just ask the Crusaders [[Curb Stomp Battle|how well that went...]]}}.

* Witches in ''[[Left 4 Dead]]''. Normal zombies, even in a horde, are fairly easy to survive; smokers and hunters are usually just an annoyance; tanks are deadly and very scary, but an effective team can take them down without getting hurt; but the only appropriate response to a witch is [[Don't Ask, Just Run]].

* Doppelgangers in ''[[.hack]]//GUG.U.]]''.

* ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'': Kerrigan.

* Arthas Menethil, The Lich King, from ''[[War CraftWarcraft]]'' and ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. He killed many named characters and many of them are badass in their own right.

* Mephiles the Dark from the infamous ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]''. In the Last Story, {{spoiler|he actually kills ''Sonic'' to get [[MacGuffin Girl|Princess Elise]] to cry, setting the chain of events that ''nearly destroyed time itself''.}}

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 9 (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat 9]]'', {{spoiler|a [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] Sindel}} becomes one for all of thirty seconds.

** And then, back in ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (Video Game)|Deadly Alliance]]'' Shang Tsung (with the help of Quan Chi) [[Our Hero Is Dead|killed Liu Kang]], starting a multi-arc [[Wham! Episode]] spanning ''DA'', ''Deception'', and ''Armageddon''. {{spoiler|If ''9'' [[Kill'Em All|is]] [[Pyrrhic Victory|any]] [[Bittersweet Ending|indication]], the WHAM has yet to ebb.}}

* ZODIAC Virgo from ''[[Refle XRefleX]] '' {{spoiler|killed the pilot of the Pheonix in an absolutly brutal beatdown}}.

* Everytime ''[[Modern Warfare|]]'': Every time Vladimir Makarov]] appears in the flesh, without exception, a [[Player Character]] either dies or gets critically wounded, usually along with other important characters as well. He {{spoiler|exceutesexecutes Allen at the end of "No Russian"}}, he {{spoiler|guns down Harkov when hijacking the President's plane}}, he {{spoiler|sets up the ambush that kills Kamarov and eventually kills Soap}}, he {{spoiler|shot Yuri in the gut during the flashback}} and {{spoiler|he finished Yuri off}} at the end of the third ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' game. Basically, anytime Makarov appears, it is ''bad news''.

* Amante Furlair in ''[[Zone Of Enders|ZoE Fist of Mars]]'' who is either [[Thirty Xanatos Pileup|directly or indirectly responsible for every single notable character death]] aside from {{spoiler|Ares and Ned}} and she's '''''only 15'''''. Amante is essentially the Azula of mecha games. It's a real shame the cast has not appeared in SRW, as she'd likely have a reputation equivalent to that of Simo Hayha with a [[Colony Drop]] being the FIRST''first'' response to any sighting of her. She even mindrapes then kills [[Team Pet]] bishounen Philbright, turning him against you [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|before discarding him as being useless as a pilot.]] And to top it all off [[Karma Houdini|she gets away with it all too]] because Kojima got too wrapped up doing endless spinoffs of [[Metal Gear Solid]] to have time to return to [[Zo E]]ZoE! In the end {{spoiler|she is revealed to be a top-ranking soldier of BAHRAM, the terrorist organisation from the original [[Zo E]]ZoE, and inserted herself as the coquettish {{[[Yandere |psycho clingy girlfiendgirlfriend to everyone}}]] merely to off BOTH''both'' sides of the civil war so BAHRAM could move in unopposed.}} While she isn't totally successful, considering the player's team is the only opposition remaining on Mars it's a good bet the BIS would have had an amazing uphill battle of Sisyphusian proportions.

* General RAAM from ''[[Gears of War]]''. He kills Minh Young Kim in his very first cutscene, and then, in the RAAM's Shadow DLC, he {{spoiler|offs Alicia Valera, and almost kills Jace Stratton, not to mention the countless Gears and Onyx Guards he murders.}}

* Thanks to ''Hyrule Historia'', [[The Legend of Zelda|Ganondorf]] has ascended to one of these in an alternate timeline spawning from {{spoiler|''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''.}} Notably, while his [[Hero -Killer]] status is often challenged, he's offed more than his fair share of highly significant characters, including the sages from ''Wind Waker'' (forcing Link to seek out replacements) and {{spoiler|Midna}} from ''Twilight Princess.'' Subverted in ''Wind Waker'', where he soundly thrashes Link and Zelda in their first fight, only to spare their lives in a rare [[Pet the Dog]] moment.

* The Dahaka in ''[[Prince of Persia]]: Warrior Within]]'' is a being whose only point in existence is to be this. When a being somehow avoids their own fate, in and of itself a rather admirable fate, a Dahaka is created to destroy them. The Prince can only defeat it with the [[Infinity+1 Sword]]; otherwise he cannot even harm the beast.

* Kore from ''[[Goblins (Webcomic)|Goblins]]'' was [[The Dreaded|feared]] by the main cast of goblin adventurers even before they had met him. In their first encounter with the dwarven paladin, they were barely able to wound him. Notably, that fight ended with the death of {{spoiler|Chief}}.

* [[Big Bad|Xykon]] from ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'' {{spoiler|kills [[The Hero|Roy]] (who had killed him earlier, though Xykon regenerated since he's a [[Soul Jar|lich]]), curb-stomps ''[[Deal Withwith the Devil|soul-spliced]] Vaarsuvius '''and''' O-Chul'' (who are saved by [[Deus Ex Machina]]), and prevents Roy's father from entering the afterlife just by existing. He might not fit the trope perfectly, though, since the heroes' usual reaction to his appearance is not fear, but rage.}}

** It ought to be noted that {{spoiler|1=he won against soul-spliced Vaarsuvius because he fought smarter, not harder; he recognises that, in terms of sheer magical arsenal, Vaarsuvius under those conditions had him outclassed. Of course, as he notes in a brilliant [[Hannibal Lecture]]/[["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] afterwards, Vaarsuvius' huge range of epic level spells meant nothing to their battle precisely ''because'' s/he didn't know how to use them properly, so in a way it's still a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. Though, on a related note, whilst throwing O-Chul's name on there may sound impressive to the uninitiated, it doesn't really mean much; whilst undoubtedly [[Badass]], O-Chul simply isn't on the level (quite literally) of sorcerers like Xykon and soul-spliced V. Even if he does manage a very impressive [[Spanner in Thethe Works]] moment.}}

* [[Villain Protagonist|Levi Cole]] in ''[[The List (Webcomic)|The List]]'' is a professional super hero assassin. Though many heroes underestimate him, his reputation seems to have grown since the beginning of Season 2; when he killed {{spoiler|the second in command of the Superior Six}}

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* [[The Dragon|Princess]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Azula]] from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', who kicks everyone's ass on a regular basis, and at one point fights off ''five main characters''.

** {{spoiler|She also managed to ''literally'' kill Aang (i.e. the Hero), even if he was later brought [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]].}}

** Amon in ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'' is shaping up to be this, {{spoiler|if he really does have the power of [[Brought Down to Normal|Energy bending]] like he appears}}.

* General Grievous in ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]''. Unfortunately, the [[Worf Effect]] part of this trope is in full effect; his appearances in later media (including ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' itself) have been far less [[Badass]].

** The [[Worf Effect]] included having his vitals turned into chunky salsa by [[Samuel L. Jackson]]. He shouldn't even have been alive, much less being able to fight off Obi Wan for a good ten or so minutes.

* Trigon from ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]''. Slade became something of one after getting a bunch of powers from Trigon.

** Even before that, Slade was one of the only villains the show took ''dead'' seriously.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Animationanimation)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' had a one-shot villain, the Evil-With-No-Name, in the episode "The Dungeon At The Heart Of Dawn." A being so powerful even [[The Dungeon Master]] and resident [[Big Bad]] Venger couldn't handle him, who could [[Paranoia Fuel|soar the cosmos and return to plague the realm at any time he chose,]] who could only be fought...'''maybe'''...with [[All Your Powers Combined]]? The fact that he only appeared that one episode is a shame.

* Nox, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Wakfu (Animation)|Wakfu]]''. His strongest creation, the clockwork monster Razortime, manages to become this trope in ''one episode''. The moment it appears, the heroes [[Oh Crap|realize it's really bad news]]. All of their efforts are pretty much useless against it {{spoiler|and even Rubilax!Grovy is no match for it}}. {{spoiler|Raxortime literally becomes a [[Hero -Killer]] near the end of the episode by killing Grovy}}.

* Vlad Masters from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.

* Oberon, in ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'', hands down the most powerful being in-universe the Gargoyles face. Even the combined strength of the clan, Xanatos, Fox, Reynard, and Puck couldn't stop him.

** The enchancedenhanced [[Evil Sorcerer|Archmage]] also had shades of this, taking a villain who was already one of the show's rare [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s and adding power nearly equal to Oberon's on top of it. He ''was'' stopped, but only through his love affair with the [[Villain Ball]] and the fact that Goliath figured out his [[Achilles' Heel]].

* The Energy Monster in episode 18 of ''[[Sym -Bionic Titan]]'' qualifies as this. The heroes were completely powerless against it because it was completely impervious to their attacks and could drain the energy out of machines and permanently drain the life out of them so they couldn't be recharged (considering the heroes use robotic battle armor and one is a robot, you can see why this counts). {{spoiler|Becomes literal at the end of the episode by killing Octus.}} It takes the full fire power of the G3's ship and the explosion of the space station it was in to finally destroy it.

* Vilgax from ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]''. [[Word of God]] is that his atrocities include destroying 4 planets and creating a black hole, and the dialogue in the series indicates that everyone is scarredscared to death of him. When he first starts to act at the end of the 1st season, Ben's [[Badass Grandpa]] tells him to run when he sees him, which turns he should have as Vilgax promptly [[Curb Stomp Battle|stomps him]]. When he makes a return in ''[[Ben 10 Alien Force (Animation)|Ben 10: Alien Force]]'', though for reason acting under rules of Galactic Conduct, these rules mean he gets to fight some champions from a planet and if he wins, the plant is his. Till returning to Earth, he never lost.

* In the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 (Animationseries)|2k32003 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' TMNTseries]], the Shredder maintains always manages to maintain himself as the turtles most feared enemy, notably in part because they're never able to beat him without any outside help. Special mention to the fact that he's actually beaten them on two instances despite them having Splinter with them {{spoiler|in the late case because he new exo-suit he flat out curb stomped them. The demon Shredder that appeared in the lost season also fits, with the Turtles trying to avoid fighting him till they can get more allies to help, and even when they do, and they have Karai [[It Makes Sense in Context|draining his strength]], it takes [[Deus Ex Machina]] appearance by Hamato Yoshi's ghost to save them.}}

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls|The]]'': The [[Evil Counterpart|Rowdyruff]] [[Distaff Counterpart|Boys.]]

* The immortal martial arts master Chase Young from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' isn't so much a hero killer, than a Hero "Defeater". Anyone he defeats becomes another one of his big cat minions (tigers, lions, panthers, etc.). He does this temporarily to Omi, who is forced into his service as a cat, until he and his team defeat him and restore everything to normal.

[[Category:Hero Killer{{PAGENAME}}]]