The Bad Guy Wins: Difference between revisions

|''[[Secondhand Lions]]''}}

 

 

 

History has plenty of examples of this trope, especially in stories of failed rebellions against a powerful empire or recountings of real life tragedies. But in Fictionland, when this kind of ending shows up, it's often used either as a [[Sequel Hook|hook for a sequel]] that will give the hero (or a new hero) the chance to succeed where they failed in the first one, or as a way of showing how much of an utter, hopeless [[Crapsack World]] that the characters live in—particularly in the case of [[Dystopia]]s, where it serves as a warning to those living in the here and now not to let this kind of thing happen for real. There can be any number of other reasons for the bad guy winning: simply for the sake of a twist ending (especially in horror stories, which are often most effective if they leave the audience with a hugely emotionally negative final shock); out of the writer's desire to be original or to throw in a new twist to keep things fresh or unpredictable; or just because the writer couldn't find any other way to end the story which suited them. Sometimes it may all just be part of a [[Black Comedy]] anyway.

 

 

 

Some stories may attempt to use this trope, yet still try to soften the blow. Perhaps the villain's goal is [[Utopia Justifies the Means|ultimately a good thing]]. Or the heroes are really [[Not So Different]] after all (especially true if they're [[Villain Protagonist]] characters up against a 'good' villain). Another variant is for the villain to create a [[Villain World]] that the heroes must topple in a future story.

{{endingtrope}}

{{examples}}

* An episode in the Hoenn arc of the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' had this with a Team Magma agent named Brodie, who is notorious for his many disguises. He disguises himself as a researcher at the Weather Institute named Millie (think Millibar) to steal data on Groudon, and succeeds. Should we mention that his Ditto is formidable?

** As of the ''Best Wishes'' arc, the Team Rocket trio has become this when they [[Took a Level in Badass|got promoted]], succeeding in several of the missions given to them by Giovanni.

* ''[[Berserk]]''{{'}}s anime adaptation does not end well at all for anyone except the bad guys. Griffith goes evil in a big way and {{spoiler|becomes the fifth member of the Godhand, Femto. He throws his former friends, the Band of the Hawk, to the wolves as they get eaten by monsters straight out of nightmares, and then, as his very first act upon becoming Femto, rapes Casca to insanity right in front of Guts, with Guts losing a hand and eye to demons and being powerless to do anything about any of the above}}. The manga continues on from that point, and the point where the anime ends is just before {{spoiler|the Skull Knight shows up to pull Guts and Casca out of the fire before Griffith and the others can finish them off}}.

* ''[[Doubt (manga)|Doubt]]'', and ''how''. Even after the good guys have escaped, {{spoiler|Rei}} finds a way to get rid of them without lifting a finger.

* ''[[Asura Cryin']]'': although the heroes successfully foiled Kagakagari's evil schemes, the [[Big Bad]] took a [[Villain Exit Stage Left]], and [[Karma Houdini|got away scot-free]] while leaving our heroes bereft of their most valuable asset.

* The ending of the first season of ''[[Code Geass]]'', the finale ends with a Britannian victory, though [[Pyrrhic Victory|a Pyrrhic one]], and the deaths of several Black Knights, including main members, and the incarceration of the survivors, and with the main hero, as revealed in the [[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo]], captured, having his memories erased.

* {{spoiler|The Tower of Paradise arc}} of ''[[Fairy Tail]]''. The true objective of {{spoiler|Ultear}} was completely accomplished: {{spoiler|the dissolution of the Magic Council}}, which also gave {{spoiler|the Dark Guild Grimoire Heart the chance to acquire one of the keys to [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Zeref's seal]]}}. [[Dramatic Irony|And only the readers know about any of this.]]

* ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' basically ends with Gilgamesh and Kotomine riding off into the sunset after causing immense destruction to the city of Fuyuki.

** [[Doomed by Canon]]. They have to survive in order to menace the heroes in [[Fate/stay night]].

 

** [[Doctor Doom|Doom]] has on more than one occasion succeeded at plots to [[Take Over the World]] and defend his dictatorship successfully against heroic rebellion, eventually yielding his position [[Victory Is Boring|out of sheer boredom]].

* [[Batman]]: War Games. A Batfamily member and an ally die along with hundreds and cops and civilians. Black Mask becomes the leader of the unified gangs of Gotham. And it is entirely the Batfamily's fault, to the extent that that incarnation disbands.

** Regain his youth? [[Status Quo Is God|For a while,]] Check.

* ''[[Final Crisis]]'' is all about this. It was even advertised as "The day evil won". Of course, thanks to [[Status Quo Is God]], ''only one super hero died'', and even he came back pretty quickly.

 

* Discussed in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'':

{{quote|'''Dr. Brainstorm:''' Because ''I'' want to be the heroic villain, okay? There's got to be at least one time where ''I'm'' the one who has a victory!}}

* The ''[[Pony POV Series]]'' has the [[Alternate Universe]] "Epilogue", which shows what would have happened had Discord succeeded in defeating the Mane Six. To say that it's a [[Crapsack World]] would a ''vast'' understatement.

 

* The entire ''[[Saw]]'' franchise. If you think you have won, think again!

* Summerisle in ''[[The Wicker Man]]'', although Howie predicts that the crops will fail again, and Summerisle will be the next sacrifice, making this victory entirely pointless.

* An early version of ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]'' remake ended like this. Erin (who was originally conceived as pregnant) makes it to the Blair Meat Company, and while hiding, gives bloody birth. The newborn's cries attract Leatherface, and the film would've cut to black as he begins moving in on Erin and the baby, revving his chainsaw.

** ''The Beginning'' plays this [[Doomed by Canon|straight up]].

* The first ''[[Rocky (film)|Rocky]]''—though Apollo wins on a technicality, he's not really a bad guy, and Rocky's stated goal is to go 15 rounds with Apollo which he does. Probably the least depressing example of this trope in cinema history.

* The villain of ''[[Prom Night]] II'', is a bitchy prom queen who was accidentally killed by her boyfriend after being caught cheating on him. 30 years later she comes back and ultimately gets subdued by the same boyfriend by putting her prom crown on her head, which presumably satisfies the conditions of her revenge. He also decides to steal a kiss from her as a form of trying to make right what happened 30 years ago. Cue romantic flash back to the original prom. {{spoiler|What is actually happening is that the prom queen is using the opportunity to [[Body Surf]] into the guy, who then goes on to kill his children off-camera. Then she comes back in a sequel and kills even more people. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Oops.]]}}

* ''[[Welcome to The Dollhouse]]'': Missy, definitely.

* Jobe in ''[[The Lawnmower Man]]'' wants to enter cyberspace where he can control all governments and people in the world. Because Dr Angelo is distracted saving Peter he succeeds. In the end he announces his victory by making every telephone in the world ring at once.

* In ''[[Cube|Cube 2: Hypercube]]'', the overseers of the Hypercube kill everyone they set out to get rid of by throwing them into the highly dangerous environment, and retrieve Alex Trusk's device. And they kill Kate, their own employee, probably because she knew too much or because it was a suicide mission from the start.

** In ''Cube Zero'' Jax and the other villains win. Wynn is lobotomized and thrown back in the cube, and Rains is on the run until she'll be recaptured. Everybody else dies.

* The ending of ''[[Ils]]'' (aka ''Them'') has both Clémentine and Lucas dying at the hands of the killers who have terrorised them throughout the night. The killers do get arrested after the events of the film, however.

* At the end of ''[[Jeepers Creepers]]'', Trish and Darry are unable to escape the [[Nigh Invulnerable|Creeper]], who corners them and snatches Darry away, later [[Eye Scream|devouring his eyes]] and killing him in the process. Trish survives, but with considerable emotional trauma at the loss of her brother.

 

* The sequel to ''[[The Exorcist]]'', ''Legion'', Pazuzu scores a shutout win, undoing ''everything'' from the first book.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]],'' after the fifth battle in the Wars of Beleriand [[Big Bad|Morgoth]] has completely devastated the armies of the elves, and shortly crushes all of their kingdoms into dust, reducing their domain to a tiny island off the coast and becoming the undisputed lord of all of Arda east of Valinor. It takes the intervention of the god-like Valar in the War of Wrath to even achieve a bittersweet ending.

* Lauren Myracle's YA novel ''Bliss'' ends with the power-hungry Sandy assimilating herself with a vengeful spirit and becoming popular, while the titular Bliss can only stand back and watch it happen.

* The most villainous character in ''Sarum'', Walter Wilson, succeeds in ruining all three of the families he carries grudges against, exploits and abuses his own poorer relations shamelessly, and elevates his family from penniless peasants to rising business tycoons, without suffering any worse payback than his son talking back to him and being snickered at by the king. While the Black Death ''does'' kill most of his immediate family, he honestly doesn't seem to care, and even uses his own dying son to {{spoiler|deliberately infect the Shockleys}}.

* In ''[[Chimaera]]'', the last book in the ''[[Well of Echoes]]'' quartet, {{spoiler|almost all magic in the world is destroyed, and the big bad becomes the God-Emperor of pretty much everything. The next series begins ten years later, which the big bad has spent enslaving the entire continent, and the main character has spent in the very bottom level of a prison.}} Yeesh.

* In ''[[The Pendragon Adventure]]'' books, Saint Dane ends up victorious in several of the books; {{spoiler|''The Reality Bug'', where Veelox falls, ''Black Water'', where Bobby and co. end up saving Eelong but greatly weaken the flumes and also leads to Courtney's injuries in the next book and thus to Mark befriending Andy, which finally leads to the worlds becoming integrated, Earth getting overrun by Dados and run by the Ravinians, and most of the worlds collapsing}}. By the end of the 9th book, it seems pretty clear that Saint Dane has achieved his goal. But overall, this trope is averted, as Bobby manages to save the day once and for all in the last book.

* ''[[BZRK]]'' ends with {{spoiler|the AFGC successfully wiring several world leaders, including the President of the US, and BZRK crippled after everyone and their biots struggle to get out alive, let alone intact.}} The war's not over, but the bad guys absolutely dominated the battle.

 

* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'': Venjix, a sentient computer virus and the big bad of the season manages to pretty much conquer the entire world, forcing the remaining humans to take refuge inside a domed city, although he was seemingly destroyed in the end, he apparently remains a threat unbeknownst to everyone.

* ''[[Leverage]]'': Sterling Always Wins.

* ''[[The Wire]]'' ends with {{spoiler|1=two of the main police characters, McNulty and Freamon, who have been fighting the good fight for five seasons being forced to retire after being corrupted into faking evidence; a reporter from the newspaper who made up his stories out of thin air winning the Pulitzer whilst his honest boss gets demoted and his colleague who tried to blow the whistle gets transferred; two of the four kids from Season 4 ending up in dire straits, with one as a drug addict and the other in a foster home getting beaten up daily; the main drug kingpin Marlo surviving with all of his money, merely being forced to give up the game; and Mayor Carcetti, formerly idealistic and trying to do the right thing for the city, being reduced to getting the police to fiddle the stats and making up spin to avoid his failures as he chases the dream of becoming state governor}}. Just about the only positives in the ending are that {{spoiler|1=McNulty's relationship with Beadie just about survives, Carver gets his promotion, Bunk and Kima become an effective homicide-investigating partnership and Bubbles finally goes clean and gains acceptance from his family}}.

** Marlo's fate isn't actually a [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|His fate would sound good to most other people, but the ''only thing Marlo cares about'' is the game. He looks completely lost trying to be a legitimate businessman. And the fact that his name means nothing in comparison to how people are still talking about Omar proves that he has ultimately lost the game.}}

* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' ends with the title character giving up her investigation, only to have it (probably) cost her father the election for sheriff.

* ''[[House of Cards (British series)|House of Cards]]'' ends with Francis Urquhart killing Mattie and covering up all of his crimes while becoming Prime Minister. ''To Play The King'' ends with the King being forced to abdicate after Urquhart wins a general election. Averted in ''The Final Cut'', as Ian Richardson only agreed to return for a final sequel if the character would get his comeuppance in the end.

* ''[[The League]]'': {{spoiler|Ruxin}} wins season 2. Granted, everyone is a bit of a bastard but he's probably the most villainous of the main cast.

 

* Billy Preston references this trope in his song "Will It Go Round in Circles":

{{quote|''I got a story, it ain't got no moral,

''Let the bad guy win every once in a while.}}

 

* [[Wrestlemania]] 2000 was the first time in the history of the WWE that a heel won the main event at [[Wrestlemania]] (which culminates and, so far as is possible for such an on-going melodrama, finalizes the plotlines of the whole year leading up to it) and didn't immediately lose the title. Furthermore, the heel in question ([[Triple H]]) won over ''three other'' top contenders in the biz ([[Mick Foley]], [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]], and [[The Big Show]]). In fact, Triple H has had long, extended victories over fan favorites as champion time and again, despite frequently being a heel during many of these periods. For example, he once won a "six-pack" championship match over ''five other'' opponents, all of whom were either faces at the time, or effectively faces by circumstance of being current enemies of his.

* Even when he is in heel mode, [[The Undertaker]] never loses at [[Wrestlemania]]. (As a matter of fact, most of the time he doesn't lose much at all, regardless of whether or not he's a heel.)

* ''[[The Goon Show]]'' loves this trope. In "The Phantom Head Shaver of Brighton" the title character appears to get away scot-free after balding all the good guys and apparently blowing most of them up. In "Lurgi Strikes Britain" Neddy [[Go Mad from the Revelation|goes mad after realising how completely Grytpype and Moriarty have fooled him]]. In "Dishonoured (Again)" Neddy ''dies in battle'' fighting troops raised by Grytpype and Moriarty. The list goes on. Of course it's all for [[Rule of Funny]], and they'll all be back next week to rue another day.

 

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'': '''Any''' of the factions winning [[Black and Gray Morality|would be this]]. Let's run through the list. (And no, none of them are good in any way.)

** Humanity will have to defeat the unimaginably vast and powerful forces of the Orks, Tyranids, Necrons & Chaos, defeat the Eldar & Dark Eldar, crush the Tau and then seal off the Warp for good. And without the Warp, their interstellar travel system—and therefore the Imperium—falls apart. They're barely holding their ground as it is. Oh, and they're fascists & religious zealots.

*** And in the Shards of Alara block, the dragon [[Physical God|planeswalker]] [[Big Bad|Nicol Bolas]] succeeds in bringing about the Conflux and merging the five shards of the plane. And immediately after that, in the Zendikar block, Bolas manages to get the [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldrazi]] released from their prison. And he was instrumental in bringing about the rise of Phyrexia as well. So far, he's on a three-block winning streak.

*** ...Except that the Alara block ends with Ajani stopping Nicol Bolas from absorbing all of the Maelstrom's energy (Bolas' actual goal), then defeating Bolas and banishing him from Alara. To his credit, Bolas does at least get most of said energy.

 

* ''[[Bionicle]]'''s [[Big Bad]], Makuta Teridax ended up ''becoming the universe itself'' and enslaving everyone in it at the end of the "Mask of Life" saga.

 

* Nintendo has [[Continuity Snarl|(finally!)]] released an Official Timeline for the ''[[The Legend of Zelda|Zelda]]'' series, in which there are no less then three canonical timeline splits resulting from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'': one of them is where [[The Hero|Link]] is defeated by [[Big Bad|Ganondorf]], although that's also the only timeline in which the royal family of Hyrule eventually gets the whole Triforce. The first four games released in the series, along with [[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages|the Oracle games]], fall within this timeline.

** One oddity about this is that there's really no way to "lose" that game other than the player simply deciding to quit. ''Another'' oddity (or maybe irony) is that this timeline terminates with ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]'', one of the few games that seems to end with Ganon truly vanquished forever. The [[Fridge Horror|terrifying]] thing is that this timeline may have happened due to ''Link's own actions.'' The text of the timeline says the hero was defeated, but not how. The {{spoiler|sealing of the Door of Time in the past after Ganon's defeat means the hero never emerged to stop the villain, instead [[Fate Worse Than Death|leaving him trapped forever in the Temple of Time.]]}}

** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask]]'', it's impossible to save everybody and beat the antagonist all in one go. You are forced to leave somebody suffering before the final battle. Though the bad guy doesn't really "win" in the typical sense, seeing as how {{spoiler|the mask's}} goal was to cause as much pain and suffering as possible for kicks and giggles... Also, it's impossible to prevent the moon's fall until you are ready to fight the final battle, so in a way, {{spoiler|Majora's Mask}} ''does'' win, as many times as you have to go back in time.

* In ''Transformers: The Game'', Megatron succeeds in killing off Optimus Prime and using the [[All Spark]] to conquer Earth.

{{quote|'''Kerrigan:''' ''At this point, I'm pretty much [[Evil Overlord|the Queen Bitch of the Universe]]! And not all your little soldiers and spaceships can stop me!''}}

* ''[[Robotron: 2084]]'': Aside from the fact the game itself [[Kobayashi Mario|is not winnable]], the game's sequel, Blaster, reveals that you have failed to save the last human family. According to its opening demo, "The year is 2085 and the Robotrons have destroyed the human race. You escape in a stolen space shuttle. Your destination: Paradise. A remote outpost 20 million light years away. Does paradise exist? Can civilization be started again? These questions will be answered at the end of your journey. But first, you must BLAST... OR BE BLASTED!"

* In the original ''[[Double Dragon]]'' arcade game, brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee must rescue their common love interest [[Damsel in Distress|Marian]] from gang leader [[Big Bad|Machine Gun Willy]]. Regardless of whether the player succeeds in rescuing her or not, [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome|she ends up being killed anyway in the arcade sequel]], ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge'', by none other than Willy himself. The NES version doesn't count in this example, since the main bad guy from the first game isn't involved in her death during the NES sequel and {{spoiler|she gets better in the end.}}

** Both the [[Street Fighter]] and [[Mortal Kombat]] series frequently give you the choice of playing an evil character, with an appropriately nasty ending if you beat the game.

*** In fact, this is true of the vast majority of [[Fighting Game|fighting games]] in general.

* In the [[Nonstandard Game Over]] before the [[Final Boss]] in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', Mario {{spoiler|chooses to become the Shadow Queen's servant and the world is lost. Cue Game Over screen}}.

** Similarly, the player can ''refuse'' to help save the world at the beginning of ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', and receives a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] as [[The Multiverse]] is consumed into the void.

* One of the possible endings in ''[[Cave Story]]'' has the protagonist and Kazuma get away and spend the rest of their lives hiding out in the mountains while the bad guy completes his plan and all that stands in his way is the military powers of the world.

* Two words: ''[[F.E.A.R.|Project Origin]]''. Alma succeeds in getting pregnant by you with "the Antichrist". [[Sequel Hook|Sequel: confirmed.]]

* ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' if you get the bad ending. Everyone dies, but the antagonist sought that in the first place.

* ''[[Tenchu]] 4''.

* In the Neo Geo game ''Cyber Lip'', the main characters are ordered by the President to destroy a supercomputer that has [[Turned Against Their Masters|turned against its masters]]. The twist comes in when {{spoiler|the supercomputer has been acting against its will and the true mastermind was none other than the President himself, who is actually an alien invader in disguise.}}

* In ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', {{spoiler|Revya}} achieves this in the {{spoiler|Demon Path.}} Well if you call {{spoiler|killing two gods and destroying all reality}} "winning".

* The ''[[Chzo Mythos]]'' ends in Chzo granting immortality to Theo DeCabe as his New Prince, who then proceeds to overthrow Cabadath and prevent him from sabotaging Chzo's plans. Then again, Chzo ''had'' [[Gambit Roulette|been preparing for this for a long time.]]

* The endings for the campaigns in the ''[[Dawn of War]]'' expansions ''Winter Assault'', ''Dark Crusade'' and ''Soulstorm'', depending on which faction is chosen, include indiscriminate slaughter by the tides of an Ork WAAAGH!, the systematic extermination of all life, or the collapse of reality as the Warp crosses into Real Space. The other endings aren't that much better.

* ''[[Castlevania]]: Legacy of Darkness''. After you overcome the final boss you find out that he was a decoy, the whole thing was a set-up, and you've played into Dracula's hands and only aided him. A [[Doomed by Canon]] form of the trope (as explained at the top of the page) since this a prequel to the original Nintendo 64 ''[[Castlevania]]''.

* Any [[Endless Game]], including almost every "classic" video game ever made. ''[[Missile Command]]''? No matter how many incoming missiles you stop, eventually your cities get nuked. ''[[Donkey Kong]]''? Save your girlfriend? Fine, there's always another level, and eventually you run out of lives and Kong keeps the girl. ''[[Frogger]]''? Eventually, a car is going to run you over. Early video games didn't tend to have formal endings and simply kept repeating the same gameplay over and over again. At some point, you die, and the villain in question still is out there, waiting for you to feed in another quarter.

* Walter Sullivan wins in the "21 Sacraments" ending of ''[[Silent Hill 4]]: The Room''.

** ''Touhou 8: Imperishable Night'' might also count, as while Kaguya and Eirin were defeated by the protagonists and the moon was restored, they still succeeded in their primary goal of evading the Lunarian envoys.

** Suika, the [[Final Boss]] of ''Touhou 7.5: Immaterial and Missing Power'', did canonically defeat the main character in the end. But then again, no one in [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|Gensokyo]] is really evil...except maybe that cherry tree.

* A few of the endings of ''[[Heavy Rain]]'', to varying degrees. It's quite easy for {{spoiler|Scott Shelby}} to merely make off as a [[Karma Houdini]], if he kills whoever he fights in the final battle and also {{spoiler|doesn't save Lauren}}. Quite possibly the biggest downer has all the heroes making it to the last confrontation, and dying, getting arrested, or otherwise failing, while the bad guy walks off into the rain, 100% ready and willing to kill again. You even get an achievement for it, called "So close..."

* At the end of ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'', Edgar Ross betrays John, leading an attack by a US Army unit on his home, ultimately killing him. While Jack can take revenge and kill Ross in the [[Playable Epilogue]], John ultimately goes down in history as a vicious outlaw and Ross as a hero who brought peace and justice to the Old West.

* All Arcade endings of ''[[BlazBlue]]'': Continuum Shift'' have Terumi succeed in turning {{spoiler|Noel Vermilion}} into [[Person of Mass Destruction]] Mu-12. [[Sequel Hook|Ready for the home console version to continue the story?]]

* ''Divinity 2'', big time. All throughout the game [[Batman Gambit|you have been manipulated by the Big Bad's girlfriend]] [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|for his benefit]], and after fighting and [[Failure Is the Only Option|losing to him]], he [[And I Must Scream|seals you in diamond]] and goes off with his girlfriend to conquer the world while you helplessly watch.

** Thankfully undone by the expansion, where you defeat the girlfriend and send the [[Big Bad]] running for the hills.

* Haru's ending of ''[[G Senjou no Maou]]'' sees the antagonist succeeding in all of his plans: The main character's home city is destroyed, all of his family is dead, his foster father is dead, the yakuza clan he was part of has abandoned him, and his job, future and reputation is ruined. To top it off, the villain succeeds at a [[Thanatos Gambit]] that sees the main character serving eight years for said villain's murder. It's still something of a [[Bittersweet Ending]] because he got the girl in the end.

* ''[[Resistance]]'', particularly ''2''. The Chimera have laid waste to America and the rest of the world, despite their fleet being nuked [[We Have Reserves|they have reserves]], and [[And Then John Was a Zombie|Hale became one of them]]. [[Word of God]] promised that they would [[Kill'Em All|stamp out what is left of humanity]] in ''Resistance 3''. Which made the actual ending of R3-{{spoiler|in which Joseph Capelli foils the Chimeran plot to freeze Earth and in doing so turns the tide of the war in humanity's favor}}-both surprising and [[Moment of Awesome|all the more awesome]].

** The ''Metal Gear Solid'' series actually hints a few times that in the ending of the game, the bad guys (or rather, the ones behind the scenes) are actually the ones who always win. In the first Metal Gear Solid game, Revolver Ocelot managed to retrieve the REX data for Solidus Snake. ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' makes it a bit more apparent (as in, previously, as well as the later games, it was only revealed in [[The Stinger]], with ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' making it more apparent before the Stinger that the bad guys did indeed win), with the Patriots actually succeeding in their plans in regards to the S3 plan, the repercussions of which are made apparent in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', and the Patriots are heavily implied to be the true villains of the game, instead of Solidus.

* A somewhat notorious mission in ''[[Star Trek Online]]'' has the player captain and their officers [[Unwitting Pawn|played for suckers]] and ordered to commit war crimes by {{spoiler|an Undine infiltrator, who gets away clean at the end}}. [[You Can't Thwart Stage One|Despite numerous clues as to what's really going on]], [[Stupidity Is the Only Option|there's no way to stop or avoid this]] other than dropping the mission or not taking it in the first place.

{{quote|'''Hero''': What's his deal?

'''Zhoom''': '''I slipped him the Dreamdust.''' Sek Duat probably thinks he killed us and got the lamp.

'''Hero''': Pffff. As if. }}

* Why are [[Nay Theist|Defiant]] [[Player Character|Ascended]] being sent back to the past in ''[[Rift]]''? Because after having run riot over Telara, [[Eldritch Abomination|Regulos]] is about to [[The End of the World as We Know It|snuff the last tiny corner that's still more-or-less habitable]]...and you have to [[Bad Future|stop that from happening]].

* Momo's Muramasa blade ending of ''[[Muramasa: The Demon Blade]]'' has {{spoiler|Jinkuro near death but now back in time before he ended up in Momohime's body. With the knowledge from his time during the game, he manages to pick a better time to take the body of her fiance and ends up becoming her husband.}} Granted this is debatable because of the [[Black and Gray Morality]], but {{spoiler|Jinkoru is still pretty self centered and will kill anyone who gets in his way, now he just has a [[Morality Chain]].}}

* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' is a strange example. Turns out {{spoiler|that Joshua was the Composer and was planning to destroy Shibuya, possibly the world.}} Neku had ended up {{spoiler|being Joshua's proxy in a game he had with the supposed [[Big Bad]]. Kitaniji was trying to save Shibuya through an [[Assimilation Plot]] while Neku was used to defeat him to win for Joshua.}} The interesting part is that {{spoiler|Joshua has a [[Heel Face Turn]]. He taught Neku a lot about other people during their week together, but Neku taught him a lot as well, cemented when he couldn't pull the trigger on Joshua, despite knowing how he was used.}} As a result {{spoiler|Neku is a better person and alive again with his friends while Joshua allows things to continue as they did before.}}

** If {{spoiler|Neptune King}} earns a perfect victory, he and the other Perfect Choujin wear the masks of the Choujin the Hell Missionaries have beaten.

* Every game in the ''[[Violated Hero]]'' series. It's possible to prevent the villains from conquering/destroying the world, but they continue to remain in positions of power and make the hero into their sex slave.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* The prequel to ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', ''[[Start of Darkness]]'', ends with Xykon's victory over Dorukan.

* ''[[Sinfest]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209182853/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2310 on this]:

{{quote|'''Lil' E''': You have something like that?

* Sabrina "Ultragirl" Mancini of ''[[Rival Angels]]'' joins a successful wrestling promotion (with [[Pro Wrestling Is Real|real competition]]) and very shortly after qualifies to be in a tournament to crown a new champion. She advances all the way to the finals despite Chloe De Sade (the series' [[Big Bad]]) doing her best to ensure that she not only doesn't make it, but that she's injured too badly to ever wrestle again. In the last match, she's up against one of Chloe's [[The Dragon|Dragons]]. This Dragon, Kat Smith by name, had seemed like nothing more than a [[Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught|cheater]] and a [[Dirty Coward]] on prior occasions. Sabrina gives it everything she's got, and [[Hope Spot|looks like she might win a number of times]]. However, Kat turns out to be more of a [[Badass]] than Sabrina thought; Sabrina is just not able to put her away, and after the two women beat the hell out of one another for a long time Kat finally gains and ''keeps'' the upper hand, hits her [[Finishing Move]], and beats Sabrina to win the title. Up until then Sabrina seemed to be someting of an [[Invincible Hero]], so it comes as quite a shock.

 

* At the end of ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'', [[Villain Protagonist]] Dr. Horrible's [[Death Ray]] explodes, defeating his [[Arch Enemy]] Captain Hammer... {{spoiler|but killing his [[Love Interest]] Penny,}} thus fulfilling the criteria (committing murder) for his entry into the Evil League of Evil and {{spoiler|establishing him as a ''bona fide'' [[Super Villain]]}}. Of course, as the final montage makes clear, the price he paid was high... maybe too high.

** It is debatable on how infallible this is. ''[[Marble Hornets]]'' continues to be updated even after the protagonists are caught by Slendy, and somehow escape. ''[[Everyman HYBRID]]'' looks like it's headed this way{{when}}, considering how much of the cast has been killed off.

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' v3 {{spoiler|local [[Ax Crazy]] J.R. Rizzolo is the one student remaining, aside from the people still currently alive in the escape attempt, which as of right now is on a [[Cliff Hanger]]}}.

* [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s 2008 Halloween Special had {{spoiler|Teddy Ruxpin come back from being beheaded, put a gun in the Critic's mouth, force him to do a positive review, and kill him when he screams for help}}.

 

* Sort of hard to believe if you haven't seen many of the shorts, but ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' actually has a few episodes in which Tom wins. One example is the short "Southbound Duckling", {{spoiler|which ends with Tom covering himself and the vulnerable mouse and duck while he does GOD KNOWS WHAT.}}

* The [[Bugs Bunny]] cartoon "[[What's Opera, Doc?]]". [[My God, What Have I Done?|Not that the bad guy was all that happy about it however]].

{{quote|'''Elmer:''' I may be a scwewy wabbit, but ''I'm'' not going to Alcatwaz!}}

** The last cartoon in which Elmer beat Bugs is when {{spoiler|Elmer controls Bugs in ''Rabbit Rampage'' in a way resembling how Bugs controlled Daffy in ''[[Duck Amuck]]''.}}

* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' pulled a rather clever twist on this one with the Riddler's first appearance in "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" Batman and Robin stop the Riddler from murdering Daniel Mockridge, the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] who cheated him, but one could argue that the Riddler still won anyway; the episode ends by showing us that Mockridge now lives in paranoid fear of the Riddler's return. While the Dynamic Duo kept the Riddler from taking Mockridge's life or his money, the Riddler managed to take something nearly as valuable: Mockridge's peace of mind.

{{quote|'''Batman:''' How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now ''there's'' a riddle for you.}}

** To be fair, it was the Denver Broncos, who would end up winning two consecutive Superbowls the year after that episode aired.

* The "Stanley's Cup" episode of ''[[South Park]]'' ended with the pee-wee hockey team Stan is coaching being savagely and utterly destroyed in their game against the Detroit Red Wings. The episode ends with the Red Wings excitedly celebrating (the Coach's father even tells his son he loves him in a parody of cliche sports movie endings) while the boy's friend Nelson dies from leukemia and "no hope".

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:The Bad Guy Wins]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Guy Wins, The}}