The Man Behind the Curtain: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

After infiltrating the [[Supervillain Lair|fortress of evil]], fighting off hordes of [[Mooks]], successfully navigating the [[Death Course]] and laying the almighty smackdown on [[The Dragon]], you finally reach the [[Evil Sorcerer]]'s inner sanctum. You charge in, ready to face the [[Man Behind the Man]] and kick some ass...

Wait a second, since when was Baron Von Ruthless a bedridden feeble old man with leukemia? And why does he have a [[Clarke's Third Law|dry ice machine?]]

 

 

If this happens in a serious story, expect the audience to be ticked when they find out the long-awaited big fight is going to be really one-sided, if it happens at all. Of course, really crafty Men Behind The Curtain make sure that the hero is [[You Can Barely Stand|significantly weakened]] by the time they get to him, either through exhaustion from fighting everyone before him or doing something very sneaky and underhanded to him before the fight begins. Then again, there may well be [[Truth in Television]] [[Justified Trope|Justification]] for this; after all, a commander without an army is effectively useless. Of course, [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]; in a cynical-realistic show with [[Anyone Can Die]] and [[Reality Ensues]] in full force, it would be jarring if the enemy is thoroughly outmatched but still poses a threat in person.

 

'''By this trope's very nature, all examples will be SPOILERS. You have been warned.'''

 

* In the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Brain Scratch," the mysterious and sinister Dr. Londes turns out to be an internet persona created by a paralyzed and semi-comatose teenaged boy in a hospital.

* While his [[People Puppets]] are incredibly powerful, and he is capable of [[Person of Mass Destruction|unbelievably terrifying deeds]] by proxy, Nagato, AKA [[Naruto|Pain]] has been revealed recently to be...a withered near-skeleton of a man incapable of standing ''upright or moving on his own'' and constantly at death's door.

 

* In "The Hard Goodbye", the first ''[[Sin City]]'' story, Marv kills his way through hitmen, gangsters, a police death squad and a silent and deadly farm boy cannibal killer to get to the man behind the murder of Goldie...who turns out to be a really little old man who isn't nearly as imposing as his fearsome reputation as a Cardinal would lead one to believe. The big bad cowers and dies screaming as Marv exacts his revenge on him.

* The infamous Adversary in Vertigo Comics' ''Fables'' turns out to be... {{spoiler|Geppetto}}, still as happy and kindly as ever, but turned megalomaniacal after he was requested to help overthrow and replace one too many evil dictators with wooden stand-ins from his magic grove (the same one he {{spoiler|carved Pinocchio out of}}). While he's gathered quite a gaggle of evil Fables under his thrall, without his authority and his magic wood, he's actually quite pathetic.

* [[Shazam|Mr. Mind]]: The head of the Monster Society of Evil turns out to be an intelligent bespectacled worm. Not a big worm, or even a [[Psychic Powers|mind controlling worm]] (that's [[Retcon|retconned in later]]) but a normal sized green worm. ''With glasses''. Kids must have laughed...

 

* In Fritz Lang's ''Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse'' (1933), the orders to the criminal gang are given their orders by a mysterious boss behind a curtain. One mook who tried to take a peek was found dead before the curtain. Another finally manages to pull it aside, only to find a cut-out silhouette. The voice the gangsters heard was in fact a recording.

* In ''[[Equilibrium]]'', Brandt is {{spoiler|initially}} depicted as a competent foe able to keep Preston on the ropes during a practice spar. {{spoiler|When they fight for real, however, he dies in three of Preston's invisibly-fast strokes before he can even move to defend himself.}}

** {{spoiler|1=Subverted immediately afterwards: [[Big Bad]] DuPont, who appears to be a harmless bureaucrat, proves competent enough in [[Gun Kata]] himself to fight Preston in single combat pistol-against-pistol, and lasts longer than all the previous well-armed mooks combined.}}

* Jigsaw from the ''[[Saw]]'' series has a reputation as a dangerous murderer, but is revealed to be a fairly weak man with brain cancer, only able to operate because of his [[The Chessmaster|manipulative skill]].

** One [[Expanded Universe]] novel sums up the precise nature of the Emperor quite well in a short description: "A shell of a human in a hooded cloak... more energy than flesh". Sure, his physical form is weak and unimpressive- but he's so far gone into [[The Dark Side]] that this form isn't even the "real" him any more, just the shell that holds him.

 

* Malkariss from the [[Redwall]] novel ''Mattimeo''. He spends his life inside a giant carving of a polecat that amplifies his voice. He's really so old that he's practically helpless.

* Randall Flagg, Mordred Deschain, and the Crimson King from ''[[The Dark Tower]]''. [[Stephen King]] even foreshadows this in the quote at the top of this page, which occurs right before a scene in which Flagg reenacts the exposing of The Wizard of Oz.

* Mr. Foreclosure, the villain of ''The War Between The Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids'', is {{spoiler|an ant. Not even a giant ant}}.

* In ''Lady Knight'' by [[Tamora Pierce]], Blayce is called "The Nothing Man", because that's what he is: a short, weak, fidgety, acne-ridden slimeball. And yet he killed hundreds of innocent children to fuel iron killing machines with their souls...

* [[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]: When Adjunct Tavore Paran meets the Whirlwind Leader Sha'ik in a duel on which the whole destiny of the Whirlwind rebellion, the battle is...short. Sha'ik has left Felisin to her own feeble powers, and she is [[Anticlimax|ruthlessly killed in a few blows]].

* Cronal from the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] is a subversion- he hides behind holograms and body doubles to disguise the fact that physically he's a frail old man on life-support, but he's such a powerful darksider that he doesn't ''need'' a working body to kill you.

 

** Subverted: There was no man behind the curtain - Ben never spoke with Jacob, who doesn't really live in the cabin. Whoever Locke heard, it wasn't Jacob...and he wasn't in charge. The actual Jacob appears only two seasons later.

* ''[[Star Trek]]''' Balock, from the episode "The Corbomite Maneuver," has the appearance of a human child. When he communicates with other ships via the viewscreen, he uses an intimidating puppet.

 

* ''[[The Feeble Files]]'' adventure game has one of these, although it's not a person who you'd know about before you reached the final "dungeon." {{spoiler|The CEO of Omnicorp, the man behind the Omnibrain, the ultimate source of all the torment in the galaxy is a senile old guy who was actually asleep for the last several centuries while a strategy game AI ran things for him. He dies instantly when a frustrated Feeble punches him in the face.}}

* Emperor Murod in the original ''[[Summoner]]'', despite being served by legitimately intimidating and nasty lackeys and being responsible for actions of gross evil... is just a feeble old man. On top of this, he's an [[Anticlimax Boss]], even ''after'' pulling a [[One-Winged Angel]] out of nowhere.

* Subverted in ''[[Advance Wars]] - Dual Strike'' with CO Von Bolt, a feeble old man. But since all of the actual combat is between replacable mooks, and Von Bolt is a strategic genius with a devastating CO Power, he's still pretty threatening.

** Though this is subverted rather gloriously as after he is first beaten he pumps himself full of steroids transforming into the hulking Batt-man.And if you can beat that, he somehow bloats up ''to the size of a blimp'' to crush Travis.

** Most of his feats were done in ages past, and he's degenerated so much he's really quite defenseless on his own. In his prime, however, he was likely the greatest summoner the world has ever known and created TWO Epic Level Summons with his skills. At the same time. He's also the father of Yunalesca, another contender for being the greatest summoner since she created the Final Aeons, another Epic Level Summon AND she knows how to make more of them if need be. After 1000 Years of Epicness, it seems to have finally decayed Yu Yevon utterly.

* {{spoiler|[[Resident Evil|Ozwell E. Spencer]]}} is one of the original founders of the [[Mega Corp|Umbrella Corporation.]] His company has been producing every strain of [[The Virus]] under the sun, and executives, especially the founders have a tendency to go [[One-Winged Angel]] as soon as the hero shows up. {{spoiler|When we meet Spencer, he's a terrified, feeble old man who is on life support twentyfour hours a day. [[Cutscene Boss|Who gets killed by Wesker before we even get to fight him.]]}}

* Parodied in one of the joke endings of [[Silent Hill 2]], where it is revealed that the unseen entity jerking James around and forcing him to relieve the most painful memories of his life is... {{spoiler|a shiba inu dog}}. Roll credits!

* ''[[Fallout]] New Vegas'' has Mr. House, the enigmatic genius who controls the Vegas Strip with his army of robots, who nobody has ever met in person and is rumored to be the oldest political force in the Mojave Wasteland. He turns out to be {{spoiler|a shriveled, almost-mummified 261-year-old Howard Hughes [[Expy]] sealed in an iron lung, who dies of multiple viral infections if you so much as open the case he's shut in.}}

 

 

** Subverted by Brother Blood, who looks like a frail old man relying on personal charisma and [[Mind Control]] powers to make himself seem dangerous- and then Cyborg gets into a fistfight with him, and he turns out to be one of the most dangerous hand-to-hand combatants in the show.

* Mr. Big in ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' always cast an enormous shadow because of a flashlight he always kept with him, but ended up being one or two inches tall, and can be picked up with two fingers. It is later revealed, in his last appearance, that not only is his shadow effective enough that he can take over the moon with it, he is still strong enough to beat up a full-sized person.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Villains]]