Villain Decay: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~villain_decay_1229~~.png|link=Friday the 13th (film)|frame|Used by permission [http://www.suedeheadcomic.com suedeheadcomic.com]]]

[[File:villain decay 1229.png|link=Friday the 13th (film)|frame|Used by permission [http://www.suedeheadcomic.com suedeheadcomic.com]]]

{{quote|'''Sideshow Bob''': ''Hello, Bart...''

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In most shows, [[Failure Is the Only Option]] [[The Good Guys Always Win|for the]] [[Villains]], because [[The Bad Guy Wins|success]] would mean that the villains [[Take Over the World|conquer the world]], [[Kill'Em All|kill all the good guys]], and otherwise do things that make future episodes impossible. Inevitably, the viewers start to wonder why the heroes act concerned about an enemy that they've beaten six times already. Note that this does not apply to shows where the villains are supposed to be [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|incompetent jokes]] from the start.

Most writers will try to stop this decline in menace, which sometimes helps and sometimes makes the [[Villain Decay]] worse, but the fastest way to decay a villain is to [[Heel Face Turn|make him switch sides]].

Most writers will try to stop this decline in menace, which sometimes helps and sometimes makes the '''Villain Decay''' worse, but the fastest way to decay a villain is to [[Heel Face Turn|make him switch sides]].

Of course, you can prevent this by ''not'' having [[Failure Is the Only Option|failure be the only option]] for the villain; let them win battles, but not the war, or let their [[Evil Plan]] [[You Can't Thwart Stage One|come closer and closer to completion while the heroes race to prevent its final success]]. Or, for the ''really'' cunning villain, [[Xanatos Gambit|dupe the heroes into doing what they wanted all along...]]

Note that [[Villain Decay]] is almost never caused by a lack of [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]], a difficulty in recruiting Mooks, or even injuries from battle with the ~~heroes -- which~~ is to say, they don't become worse off because they have ''lost''. Also note that a [[Villainous Breakdown]] is not a guarantee of [[Villain Decay]]. Decay will only happen quicker if their entire [[Villain Pedigree]] is replaced. If you have an [[Invincible Hero]] - especially one who shouldn't be capable of winning [[Invincible Incompetent|but somehow always wins anyway]] - [[Villain Decay]] is almost assured, even for characters who haven't fought yet. Tends to be particularly hard to avoid for villains who manage to survive the heroes' climb up the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]].

Note that '''Villain Decay''' is almost never caused by a lack of [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]], a difficulty in recruiting Mooks, or even injuries from battle with the heroes—which is to say, they don't become worse off because they have ''lost''. Also note that a [[Villainous Breakdown]] is not a guarantee of '''Villain Decay'''. Decay will only happen quicker if their entire [[Villain Pedigree]] is replaced. If you have an [[Invincible Hero]] - especially one who shouldn't be capable of winning [[Invincible Incompetent|but somehow always wins anyway]] - '''Villain Decay''' is almost assured, even for characters who haven't fought yet. Tends to be particularly hard to avoid for villains who manage to survive the heroes' climb up the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]].

See also [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]], [[Goldfish Poop Gang]], [[Harmless Villain]], [[Lowered Monster Difficulty]] and [[Motive Decay]].

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Contrast [[Villain Sue]], [[Invincible Villain]], and [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now]], where a villain is '''too''' effective or scary. Believe it or not, those tropes suck the tension out of the villains even worse than this one. Also contrast [[Adaptational Villainy]], where a relatively non-villainous character in a work becomes dramatically more villainous in an adaptation.

Compare and contrast [[Failure Hero]]. Same ~~concept--repeated~~ failures [[Informed Ability|ruins their credibility]]~~--different~~ role.

Compare and contrast [[Failure Hero]]. Same concept—repeated failures [[Informed Ability|ruins their credibility]]—different role.

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* In the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime, the Team Rocket trio started out being more dangerous and effective before they became...well...[[Terrible Trio|Team Rocket]] (although this may have been intentional, since the writers likely didn't know what direction to take the characters in the beginning, and chose the more comical route). {{spoiler|As of Best Wishes, they have gone back to being more dangerous, leaving all of their comical Pokémon at the base similar to Ash leaving his team. Heck, half the time, they won't even bug Ash and co. anymore due to their missions.}}

** The games have actively tried to [[Averted Trope|avoid this]]. Team Rocket only appeared in the first two sets of the main series of games, decaying in the second one due to their leader, Giovanni, not organizing them. Since then, almost every spin-off and main-series game that includes criminal organizations includes entirely different ones. They've also [[Plot Leveling|upped the ante for their plans each time]]. The team in the third tried to modify the landscape of the earth (or at least the area they were in), [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|believing that this would be for the good of humanity]]. The leader in the fourth wanted to use the powers of a legendary [[Mon]] to ''[[A God Am I|become a god]]''.

* Beck from ''[[The Big O]]'' is the world champ of [[Villain Decay]]: the writers put him through almost every one of the gimmicks mentioned above. First he got a cool new weapon, then he got played as a buffoon (complete with a comically grotesque hairdo), then the hero was put into an [[Alternate Universe]] where Beck was a real threat, before he finally ended up just being an underling working for [[Big Bad]] Alex and his [[Psycho for Hire]], Alan Gabriel.

* Beck from ''[[The Big O]]'' is the world champ of Villain Decay: the writers put him through almost every one of the gimmicks mentioned above. First he got a cool new weapon, then he got played as a buffoon (complete with a comically grotesque hairdo), then the hero was put into an [[Alternate Universe]] where Beck was a real threat, before he finally ended up just being an underling working for [[Big Bad]] Alex and his [[Psycho for Hire]], Alan Gabriel.

** Well, that's all true, assuming you believe he was set up to be a competent villain in the first place. In the manga, that's perfectly true, and he is a competent villain. In the anime, it's fairly obvious that he was intentionally turned into comic relief. He starts out being effective because he's actually smart enough to dial down his own ego and commence his plans intelligently. Unfortunately, his ego takes control in later episodes, and his decay is quite noticeable. Also, it's rather blatantly implied that he really isn't fit to be a villain, and that his true genius is in building robots and neural [[AI~~|AIs~~]] (which he remains shockingly good at, as lampshaded by Gabriel, and later by [[Super Robot Wars Z]]). That said, the decay of the anime Beck is quite possibly justified.

** Well, that's all true, assuming you believe he was set up to be a competent villain in the first place. In the manga, that's perfectly true, and he is a competent villain. In the anime, it's fairly obvious that he was intentionally turned into comic relief. He starts out being effective because he's actually smart enough to dial down his own ego and commence his plans intelligently. Unfortunately, his ego takes control in later episodes, and his decay is quite noticeable. Also, it's rather blatantly implied that he really isn't fit to be a villain, and that his true genius is in building robots and neural [[AI]]s (which he remains shockingly good at, as lampshaded by Gabriel, and later by [[Super Robot Wars Z]]). That said, the decay of the anime Beck is quite possibly justified.

* The Knights of the Rounds in ''[[Code Geass]] R2''. In their first appearance, they were shown as Britannia's elite force. Lelouch and the Black Knights were struggling when fighting only three of them (Suzaku, Gino, and Anya). But as episodes passed, they became easier and easier to incapacitate. Then, the show introduced more Knights, and after that, one of them is killed. Later, when {{spoiler|Suzaku does a [[Heel Face Turn]] and gets a stronger robot, he becomes able to slice down his superiors in mere seconds.}} However, it's probably justified due to the [[Lensman Arms Race]] being in effect, where the [[Super Prototype~~|Super Prototypes~~]] quickly become reverse-engineered and dated in the space of a few episodes. The Knights' demise could be explained because they didn't [[Can't Catch Up|upgrade their Knightmares enough]], but the fact that [[Plucky Comic Relief|Tamaki]] was shown to be more competent and badass, however, is ''not'' justified.

* The Knights of the Rounds in ''[[Code Geass]] R2''. In their first appearance, they were shown as Britannia's elite force. Lelouch and the Black Knights were struggling when fighting only three of them (Suzaku, Gino, and Anya). But as episodes passed, they became easier and easier to incapacitate. Then, the show introduced more Knights, and after that, one of them is killed. Later, when {{spoiler|Suzaku does a [[Heel Face Turn]] and gets a stronger robot, he becomes able to slice down his superiors in mere seconds.}} However, it's probably justified due to the [[Lensman Arms Race]] being in effect, where the [[Super Prototype]]s quickly become reverse-engineered and dated in the space of a few episodes. The Knights' demise could be explained because they didn't [[Can't Catch Up|upgrade their Knightmares enough]], but the fact that [[Plucky Comic Relief|Tamaki]] was shown to be more competent and badass, however, is ''not'' justified.

** This is an ironic example, as the rest of ''[[Code Geass]]'' is quite good at avoiding Villain Decay. Any given battle is generally a toss-up, with the protagonists winning and losing a roughly equal number of battles, and almost every major villain getting in a victory or two. Cornelia is portrayed as both a highly competent tactician and fighter, the Glaston Knights are a force to be reckoned with, and Suzaku manages to win a ton of battles and lose very few. The climactic battle at the end of the first season is in fact ''[[The Bad Guy Wins|won]]'' [[The Bad Guy Wins|by the villains of the series]], while the protagonist is defeated, captured, and has his memories erased.

** They don't really decay all that badly. The only one that was actually slaughtered was number 12 (weakest) in a standard Vincent Knightmare rather than an [[Ace Custom]], and that was by Suzaku - higher ranked, geass sumper-charged to be able to push the normal human limits and in a *deep breath* Super-super-super-super prototype of superness that took the entire budget of the R&D department to develop, twice. The knight of one fights the same person, and even manages to hold his own very effectively until Suzaku's Lancelot just starts moving to darned fast for him to keep up. He previously managed to defeat the other Super-Prototype ace in a machine equal to the first lancelot, Xing-ke, without much effort. Anya never decayed so much as we didn't get to see her final fight, though it was against something that wasn't so much a knightmare as a small battleship, and her motivation to fight for brittania is the loss of her memories caused by geass, something her opponent could negate. Gino never really decayed in the slightest, managing to fight against the Lancelot Albion in a far inferior machine for a while.

* Subverted in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' with Yami Bakura. Initially he's really just a side-villain, nowhere near a main threat, and no one really spends a lot of time on him - in fact, in the first season he's defeated by the sidekick in a sideplot while Yugi is busy with the [[Big Bad]]. As it turns out, this works to his advantage, since it allows him to lurk around setting up his evil plans with no one noticing. By the time the final season rolls around, he puts all those puzzle pieces to work and becomes the season's Big Bad.

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Viral was designed for this trope. In his first appearance, he nearly hands the heroes their asses, but in every further appearance he's defeated with less effort. Despite showing up with a new upgraded mecha each time, {{spoiler|he's eventually beaten by the humans' mass-produced mecha whose pilots don't even break a sweat. The reason for this, in-show, is because non-evolving beastmen can never match the constantly growing power of the spiral-powered humans. He [[Redemption Promotion|gets better]] after his [[Heel Face Turn]].}}

* Interesting metaexample: in the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' anime the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad~~|Quirky Miniboss Squads~~]] grow less menacing and more comedic with each passing season. This did not hold to the manga.

* Interesting metaexample: in the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' anime the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]s grow less menacing and more comedic with each passing season. This did not hold to the manga.

** [[Starter Villain]] Jadeite started off a competant threat. He had powerful minions, [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomped]] Sailor Moon during their first meeting, and actually managed to succeed in getting away with human energy in one scheme, earning Queen Beryl's compliments. But right after that last event, things began to go downhill for Jadeite. [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Very downhill.]] Once he got [[Hoist by His Own Petard]] for the last time, Queen Beryl [[You Have Failed Me|"decomissioned" him for good.]] The rest of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Shittenou]] avoided the trope, with Nephrite and Kunzite never ceasing to be threats (though Kunzite slips when he gets his own arc), and Zoisite never being much of one to begin with so that he couldn't possibly decay (he always relied on [[Dirty Coward|dirty tricks]] in order to be dangerous.)

** The Ayakashi Sisters in the manga are murderous maniacs, while in the anime they were merely misled and are granted a chance to live free in modern day Tokyo. The manga also had them capable of killing the Sailor Senshi with ease, something they struggled with in the anime.

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* Tarant Shank, the arguable [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Tenchi Muyo! GXP]]'', decays very fast. In his first appearance he's portrayed as an extremely dangerous and unstable villain who nearly kills Seina, Mitoto, and Kiriko, and leaves Seina traumatized from the experience. However, his next appearance has him appear with a broken arm (revealed later to be from {{spoiler|fighting Tenchi and company off screen}}) and he quickly goes downhill from there; his plans are easily foiled by Seina's group, his ship is utterly destroyed, and his role as [[Big Bad]] is supplanted by {{spoiler|Seiryo}} of all people. He makes a minor comeback in the final few episodes, but never quite manages to regain the same threat level he had in his original appearance.

* The Trinity Siblings in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' may qualify. Their first appearance sets the group up as a very skilled fighting force, with them single-handedly rescuing the other Meisters from certain capture, and obliterating most of the Union's and Human Reform League's ranks. However, following this, they're systematically defeated time after time, even, in part, by faceless [[Elite Mooks]], until it culminates in {{spoiler|the resident [[Complete Monster]] shooting one of them dead and effortlessly defeating the second, the third being handily saved by a timely intervention of her enemy.}} This can, somewhat, be justified, as they were caught off guard by both the Trial System's effects and the GN-X models, which were on par with Gundams, but the fact that they put up so little of a fight is still surprising.

** The other antagonists of the second season decay pretty badly by its second half. First, A-LAWS and then Ribbons' personal squad of personality-lacking bishonen initially appear as very threatening antagonists, repeatedly pushing the Celestial Being to the brink of destruction, but then decay to [[Elite Mook~~|Elite Mooks~~]], with A-LAWS eventually being demoted all the way to the status of normal [[Mook~~|Mooks~~]] that die ineffectually by the dozens in the final episodes. If we count things beyond sheer combat potential, Ribbons himself decays very badly as well: after being presented as a cunning [[Magnificent Bastard]] who manipulated just about everyone for his own gain in the first season; in the second season he can't come up with anything better than making his puppets commit massive atrocities for no apparent purpose. This culminates with firing a [[Wave Motion Gun]] in the midst of a space battle that wipes out his own A-LAWS fleet while doing little damage to the enemy, and then using a bunch of [[Super Mode]]-powered Mobile Suits piloted by [[Super Soldier~~|Super Soldiers~~]] as suicide weapons.

** The other antagonists of the second season decay pretty badly by its second half. First, A-LAWS and then Ribbons' personal squad of personality-lacking bishonen initially appear as very threatening antagonists, repeatedly pushing the Celestial Being to the brink of destruction, but then decay to [[Elite Mook]]s, with A-LAWS eventually being demoted all the way to the status of normal [[Mook]]s that die ineffectually by the dozens in the final episodes. If we count things beyond sheer combat potential, Ribbons himself decays very badly as well: after being presented as a cunning [[Magnificent Bastard]] who manipulated just about everyone for his own gain in the first season; in the second season he can't come up with anything better than making his puppets commit massive atrocities for no apparent purpose. This culminates with firing a [[Wave Motion Gun]] in the midst of a space battle that wipes out his own A-LAWS fleet while doing little damage to the enemy, and then using a bunch of [[Super Mode]]-powered Mobile Suits piloted by [[Super Soldier]]s as suicide weapons.

** Ali Al-Saachez, introduced as the biggest [[Complete Monster]] in ''Gundam'' history undergoes a pretty major case of decay in Season 2, despite having become Ribbon's Dragon. It culminates in him getting shot in the face while attempting to pull an [[I Surrender, Suckers]] on Lockon II. This actually makes sense though, as most of the people he defeated in Season 1 were fighting at some sort of disadvantage, or, in Setsuna's case, were trained by Ali.

* In ''[[Macross Plus]]'', the X-9 Ghost Unmanned Fighter is a terrifying threat, capable of fighting off ''two'' [[Ace Pilot~~|Ace Pilots~~]], even though each is using their respective [[Super Prototype]] against it. When the mass-production model of the X-9, the Ghost V-9 shows up in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', {{spoiler|under the control of the ''Galaxy'' fleet,}} they are reduced to mere [[Elite Mooks]], which can easily be taken on one on one by SMS's [[Ace Pilot~~|Ace Pilots~~]]. They ''do'' slaughter the [[Redshirt Army]] however.

* In ''[[Macross Plus]]'', the X-9 Ghost Unmanned Fighter is a terrifying threat, capable of fighting off ''two'' [[Ace Pilot]]s, even though each is using their respective [[Super Prototype]] against it. When the mass-production model of the X-9, the Ghost V-9 shows up in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', {{spoiler|under the control of the ''Galaxy'' fleet,}} they are reduced to mere [[Elite Mooks]], which can easily be taken on one on one by SMS's [[Ace Pilot]]s. They ''do'' slaughter the [[Redshirt Army]] however.

** It helps that the VF-25 is far, ''far'' more advanced than the YF-21 and YF-19. Also the V-9s were under Slave control of the {{spoiler|Battle Galaxy (that is, Grace herself)}}. When Luca {{spoiler|1=released his own V-9 escort drones via the JUDAH System}}, he made specific mention of them having become just as deadly as the prototype Ghost X-9.

* ''[[G Gundam]]'' has {{spoiler|Wong Yun Fat, the Neo Hong Kong Premier and sponsor of the Gundam Fight}}. He's an intelligent [[Affably Evil]] [[Magnificent Bastard]] with dashes of [[The Chessmaster]], but as the plot advances and we get into the Battle Royale arc, {{spoiler|he gets [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|two very undignified deaths]] that reduce his [[Magnificent Bastard]] points so he can give space for the ''true'' mastermind, [[The Starscream]] Urube Ishikawa.}}

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** What's worse is that he was once an apprentice pirate with Shanks in {{spoiler|The ''Roger'' Pirates}}, and while they would seem to be of equal power or potential, Shanks seems even stronger each time we learn more about him (like being compared to Mihawk, and turning out to be one of the Four Emperors), while Buggy couldn't defeat one of Impel Down's [[Elite Mook|Blugori]] while Luffy effortlessly takes down five.

*** A [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade is hung on this]] when Luffy and the group of big-name former prisoners he was with him finally escaped Impel Down. At about this point, Buggy's past on the Roger Crew was revealed, causing [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Emporio Ivankov]] to muse that Buggy is likely the 'disgrace' of the Roger Pirates.

** The Pacifistas. They're initially capable of fighting against the entire Straw Hat crew and more than a match for each of the Supernovas. Then, in the Whitebeard War arc, Boa Hancock is able to take down many of them, and even large groups of Whitebeard Pirate [[Mook~~|Mooks~~]] can fare well against them. {{spoiler|After the [[Time Skip]], Luffy, Zoro and Sanji almost effortlessly defeat two of them}}.

** The Pacifistas. They're initially capable of fighting against the entire Straw Hat crew and more than a match for each of the Supernovas. Then, in the Whitebeard War arc, Boa Hancock is able to take down many of them, and even large groups of Whitebeard Pirate [[Mook]]s can fare well against them. {{spoiler|After the [[Time Skip]], Luffy, Zoro and Sanji almost effortlessly defeat two of them}}.

** Sir Crocodile, on the other hand, averts this. He is defeated by Luffy fairly early in the story, and despite the Straw Hats having become significantly more powerful since then, he remains a very dangerous and powerful man throughout - even in spite of being removed from Alabasta, where his element, sand, was abundant. His [[Number Two]], Daz Bones, counts as well.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'' has Kuno, who, in the very earliest portions of the story, is represented as some sort of deadly, even lethal threat to Ranma...up until his first defeat, after which, he was little more than a [[Butt Monkey]] even on his best of days, with Ranma [[Badass Back]] attacks leveling him. They don't even ''mention'' Kuno as being in any way threatening even to the untrained civilians of the cast. In fact, Kuno actually managing to disrupt the status quo and gain the advantage over Ranma via some [[Plot Device]] is usually such a big deal as to be the focus of the episode.

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* All those evil corporations, organizations and elite hacker groups seem pretty daunting at first in ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''. The knights were particularly presented as being high-level hackers. It has you rather worried for Lain, that is until we find out (MAJOR SPOILER) {{spoiler|that Lain has complete control of the Wired, which in its merging state with the real world, pretty much makes her God. Sayonara, Eiri! Knights: DELETED.}}

* Kagura in ''[[Inuyasha]]'' suffers this. She nearly overwhelms Inuyasha on her own in his first two fights with her, but a big contributor to that was his inability to use his Wind Scar supermove on her because she could control the air. When he gained the ability to use it whenever he wanted, he could take her easily. She was, however, still a tough enemy for the rest of the cast. What really killed her as a threat was [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|the constant popping up of villains stronger then her]].

* Minor example: Misa Amane in ''[[Death Note]]'', who starts out as a typical [[Genki Girl]] [[Moe]] [[Yandere ~~(disambiguation)~~]] [[Perky Female Minion]] with moments of sinister [[Ax Crazy]] creepiness. After she has her Death Note stolen (twice), she becomes a [[Genki Girl]] [[Moe]] [[Yandere ~~(disambiguation)~~]] [[Perky Female Minion]] ''without'' any moments of [[Ax Crazy]] creepiness, and stays that way for the rest of the series. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that having one's Death Note taken away erases all memories that the owner had ever since owning it.

* Minor example: Misa Amane in ''[[Death Note]]'', who starts out as a typical [[Genki Girl]] [[Moe]] [[:Category:Yandere|Yandere]] [[Perky Female Minion]] with moments of sinister [[Ax Crazy]] creepiness. After she has her Death Note stolen (twice), she becomes a [[Genki Girl]] [[Moe]] [[:Category:Yandere|Yandere]] [[Perky Female Minion]] ''without'' any moments of [[Ax Crazy]] creepiness, and stays that way for the rest of the series. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that having one's Death Note taken away erases all memories that the owner had ever since owning it.

** Possibly played straight. In her first few episodes she's seen as a competent villain and legitimate threat even managing to {{spoiler|kill a member of the Kira investigation team and finding out Kira's identity}}. Once she [[Love Makes You Dumb|met up with Light]], she began to decay fast.

* From [[Rurouni Kenshin]], Isurugi Raijuta, as admitted by [[Word of God|the author himself]]. A fearsome swordsman possessed of [[Genius Bruiser|"macho intelligence"]] and a [[Social Darwinist|belief]] that's on the opposite spectrum of the hero's...but in the final battle, he's revealed to be a cowardly fake, who's never actually killed anyone and gets taken out with one blow (and [[Villainous Breakdown|completely broken]] afterwards).

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* Generally speaking, this has been a big problem for American [[Superhero]] comics for a long time, due to their serialized nature and the constantly recurring villains. This was ''[[Trope Codifier|especially]]'' a problem during the [[Silver Age]], where writers like [[Stan Lee]] would have the villains openly say "'''This''' time my '''brilliant plan''' will '''work perfectly!''' And those '''pesky heroes''' will be '''unable''' to '''''[[Nothing Can Stop Us Now|stop me!!!]]'''''" and whatnot without any sense of irony after having been clobbered multiple times already (and the reader was supposed to take the threat to the hero at straight face value, to boot). A lot of the accomplishments - and problems - surrounding American comicry from the 1970s onward can be traced in large part to attempting to combat Villain Decay while keeping the now-decades-old continuity running without having to constantly invent [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|new villains]].

* The [[Predator]] extraterrestrial embodies this trope after being trounced by virtually every other comic book character in the industry. Despite the incredible awesomeness of the original ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' comics, it later became a check-the-block for every character from [[Superman]] to [[Judge Dredd]] beat up a Predator at least once in their career. This trope is somewhat rationalised by the fact that the Predator's code of honor means they must look for a "fair fight." But let's face it: if someone wrote "Aliens vs. Predator vs. Terminator vs. Robocop vs. [[Squirrel Girl]]," [[Captain Obvious|Squirrel Girl would win]].

* By far, [[The Joker]] from the ''[[Batman]]'' comic book series. [http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/comics101/46.html This page] nicely details his periods of decay. Arguably, the same thing can be said for any other villain featured in the 60's show. 1973's "The Joker's Five Way Revenge" returned him to his original personality of scary sadistic madman. [[Bronze Age|From]] [[Dark Age|then]] [[Modern Age|on]] there have [[The Killing Joke|been]] [[A Death In The Family|certain]] [[DCAU|story]][[The Dark Knight Saga|lines]] that will ensure that the Joker may never suffer [[Villain Decay]] again if we keep going in this direction.

* By far, [[The Joker]] from the ''[[Batman]]'' comic book series. [http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/comics101/46.html This page] nicely details his periods of decay. Arguably, the same thing can be said for any other villain featured in the 60's show. 1973's "The Joker's Five Way Revenge" returned him to his original personality of scary sadistic madman. [[Bronze Age|From]] [[Dark Age|then]] [[Modern Age|on]] there have [[The Killing Joke|been]] [[A Death In The Family|certain]] [[DCAU|story]][[The Dark Knight Saga|lines]] that will ensure that the Joker may never suffer Villain Decay again if we keep going in this direction.

** Said decay, depending on which continuity you follow, has become a part of Joker's character: He can go from complete goof ball to [[Complete Monster]] in an instant and, according to [[Grant Morrison]], went through the decay because he likes to "reinvent" his act every so often.

* Many villains of [[Crisis Crossover~~|Crisis Crossovers~~]] suffer this if they are ever seen again. The Beyonder of Marvel's ''[[Secret Wars]]'' is a good example. Presented as a mysterious and powerful cosmic being in the original maxi-series, he assumes human form and becomes mostly a joke in ''Secret Wars II''. One memorable scene involves [[Spider-Man]] teaching him how to use the bathroom. It doesn't help that his character was portrayed inconsistently throughout the second maxi-series and the [[Red Skies Crossover|tie-ins]]. In one tie-in, he's murdering the [[New Mutants]] (only to bring them [[Back From the Dead]] later), in another he's consoling the Human Torch over the accidental death of a fan. It's little wonder that ''Secret Wars II'' is considered 'drek' by many comics fans.

* Many villains of [[Crisis Crossover]]s suffer this if they are ever seen again. The Beyonder of Marvel's ''[[Secret Wars]]'' is a good example. Presented as a mysterious and powerful cosmic being in the original maxi-series, he assumes human form and becomes mostly a joke in ''Secret Wars II''. One memorable scene involves [[Spider-Man]] teaching him how to use the bathroom. It doesn't help that his character was portrayed inconsistently throughout the second maxi-series and the [[Red Skies Crossover|tie-ins]]. In one tie-in, he's murdering the [[New Mutants]] (only to bring them [[Back From the Dead]] later), in another he's consoling the Human Torch over the accidental death of a fan. It's little wonder that ''Secret Wars II'' is considered 'drek' by many comics fans.

* The Marvel supervillain Abomination has probably lost more bad boy status than almost any other. Originally a Hulk villain, he started out up-powered even by the Hulk's standards, whomping him down in their first encounter. He then had some gamma power stripped, which was added to the Hulk, thus losing in their next encounter. He then suffered a series of beatdowns at the hands of the Hulk, leading to humiliating exposition as his character developed a fear of even encountering the Hulk anymore. But that was not the end of it. Over subsequent years, he became a chew toy to show how badass the lower bricks in the Marvel universe could be, taking solo beatdowns at the hands of both Wonder Man and She-Hulk. Oh, true, they ''pulled out all the stops'' in their demonstration of badassery, but the Abomination just can't get any respect, in spite of still remaining perhaps the physically strongest character without some quasi-infinite trick up their sleeve.

** He got a slightly better treatment in the ''Chaos War'' [[Incredible Hercules|Herc]] [[Bat Family Crossover|family crossover]], where, after having been killed off a couple years ago by the [[Red Hulk]], he [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|comes back]] as a servant for the [[Big Bad]] [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos King]]. After tearing through a team of Hulks, [[Doctor Strange]] states that he was "the Underworld's strongest prisoner". He's still dead again by the end of the story, but he definitely got some cred back.

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** This is actually about [[Power Creep, Power Seep]]. When Superman fought Doomsday in 1992, he was in his least powerful incarnation since the late 40's/early 50's. Fans thought they had gone too far [[De-Power|DePowering]] him in the late 80's and wanted him to have some of his awesomeness back so Superman learned over the past several years that he had been [[World of Cardboard Speech|holding back,]] not allowing himself to be as powerful as he could be. If you read everything from 1992 through the early 2000's, it actually makes sense. There is even a reference to it in the story where Pa Kent reaches out to Superman spiritually during his near death experience and convinces Superman that he should stop artificially imposing human limitations on himself. His soul had not returned to it's intact body because he thought he was supposed to die.

* The zombie [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]] from ''[[Marvel Zombies]]'' were capable of overpowering Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Thor, and Doctor Strange. Later, all we needed was Ultimate Doctor Doom (controlled by Ultimate Reed Richards) to {{spoiler|kill them all}}.

** Of course, in the earlier example, it's clearly established that they had surprise on their side at least ~~partly -- plus~~ a handy ability to [[Zombie Apocalypse|turn anyone they bit into zombies]], which evened the odds somewhat.

** Of course, in the earlier example, it's clearly established that they had surprise on their side at least partly—plus a handy ability to [[Zombie Apocalypse|turn anyone they bit into zombies]], which evened the odds somewhat.

* Marvel Comics' Onslaught initially appeared as beyond godlike and it took every superhero on Earth to defeat him. He made a recent return in which he was {{spoiler|defeated far more easily and sent to the Negative Zone.}}

** When he did come back, he was the subject of a low-selling mini where he was defeated by [[Captain America (comics)]] and some of the author's [[Pet Characters]]. Not very fitting for a guy who literally took on the entire Marvel Universe at one point.

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** This was Lampshaded by the [[Torture Technician|Crime Doctor]] in ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' #94:

{{quote|'''Crime Doctor''': You know, Prometheus, I'm almost disappointed...When you first appeared on the scene, we were all mighty impressed. You carry the knowledge of the world's thirty greatest fighters in your helmet, Right? The point is, we thought you'd be a world beater. Then we heard Catwoman tore your manhood. We heard Hush made you his punk.}}

** Although that issue uses his [[Villain Decay]] to make it that much more shocking when he destroys [[Fish Out of Temporal Water|Lady Blackhawk]], [[Hot Amazon|Huntress]], [[Invisibility|Mirage]], and [[Badass|Lady Shiva]].

** Although that issue uses his Villain Decay to make it that much more shocking when he destroys [[Fish Out of Temporal Water|Lady Blackhawk]], [[Hot Amazon|Huntress]], [[Invisibility|Mirage]], and [[Badass|Lady Shiva]].

** James Robinson made him a real threat again in ''[[Cry for Justice]]''. However, he was surprised when {{spoiler|Green Arrow shows up to kill him, despite Green Arrow having been a killer for years in continuity.}}

* The recurring ''[[Tintin]]'' villains are ineffectual and ridiculous in their last appearance in ''Flight 714''. Former [[Big Bad]] Rastapopoulos is reduced to playground banter ''with his intended victim'' over which of them is nastier, ''and loses''. According to [[Word of God]], Rastapopoulos ''would'' have been more menacing...if only [[Fashion Victim Villain|his outfit hadn't ended up looking so utterly daft]]. Herge apparently took one look at his own sketches and was unable to see him as a serious threat ever again.

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* Allegedly [[Carl Barks]] of [[Donald Duck]] fame claimed that Magica de Spell "demanded a strong plot", but later writers have had her go after [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Scrooge McDuck]]'s lucky dime, again and again. She is now a [[Villain Protagonist]] in many stories focusing on new trinkets and gadgets she obtains for this purpose. As a result, her character has mellowed considerably over the years, moving into [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] territory.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', we get a good example of this trope in the [[Evil Sorcerer]] Ixis Naugus. When originally introduced, he was an extremely powerful wizard with power over the elements and who sent Sonic and Tails on a wild goose chase around the world before being [[Sealed Evil in a Can|banished to the Void]]. When he came back a few years later, he soon found himself reduced to Mammoth Mogul's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], but was still threatening...at least, until his time as Dr. Eggman's prisoner destroyed his mind, leaving him a mindless beast Mogul kept as a pet. {{spoiler|But as of issue 220, Nagus has had his mind and powers restored by a Chaos Emerald wielded by his [[The Dragon|apprentice]] [[Face Heel Turn|Geoffery St. John]], and has set himself up as the [[Big Bad]] of the current arc. And so far, he's been doing pretty well for himself.}}

** Series [[Big Bad]] Eggman himself goes through several instances of ~~this--sometimes~~ in-~~universe--he~~'d finally lost his marbles completely and stayed that way for most of a nearly year long story arc. He's largely ~~recovered--both~~ from the in universe decay and the meta ~~version--by~~ becoming the go-to 'event' villain. The last five years or so have involved Eggman launching tremendously huge attack that significantly alters the status ~~quo--only~~ barely being ~~beaten--then~~ hiding out or otherwise removing himself from direct conflict for a while while Sonic and co. deal with other, lesser (for the most part) villains, then launching an attack that once again significantly alters the status quo.

** Series [[Big Bad]] Eggman himself goes through several instances of this—sometimes in-universe—he'd finally lost his marbles completely and stayed that way for most of a nearly year long story arc. He's largely recovered—both from the in universe decay and the meta version—by becoming the go-to 'event' villain. The last five years or so have involved Eggman launching tremendously huge attack that significantly alters the status quo—only barely being beaten—then hiding out or otherwise removing himself from direct conflict for a while while Sonic and co. deal with other, lesser (for the most part) villains, then launching an attack that once again significantly alters the status quo.

*** Part of this is due to the writers taking away one of the main reasons he was a threat - his ability to turn people into robots. Then came Sonic Genesis where he {{spoiler|hit a "reset" switch that made it possible to roboticize again.}} While his whole plan didn't pan out {{spoiler|he got a consolation prize in the form of [[Heroic Sacrifice|Mecha Sally]]}} and the villain decay seems to be wearing off.

* It's been brought up in-universe that Marvel villain Arcade has never succeeded in killing a superhero, even though that's actually [[Career Killers|his job]].

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** It doesn't help that he was portrayed as a '''hero''' in the film ''Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack''. Of course, that was due to [[Executive Meddling]] more than anything else.

** And then there is Godzilla himself, who has suffered from this trope to an unbelievable degree, starting as a devastating monster representing the terrors of nuclear radiation, and was later portrayed as a child-friendly defender of the earth.

* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his SPECTRE minions were pretty threatening [[Dr. No|the]] [[From Russia with Love|first]] [[Thunderball|5]] [[You Only Live Twice|times]] [[On Her Majesty's Secret Service|that]] Bond fought them. But in ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]'', Blofeld is reduced to stealing the identity of [[Captain Ersatz|Howard Hughes knockoff]] Willard Whyte and hijacking Whyte's company to continue his plans. It's probably for the best that legal issues prevented Blofeld and SPECTRE from showing up again, although he does get a [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]] in ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'', where he's dispatched in the unrelated opening teaser. Blofeld and SPECTRE also undergo [[Villain Decay]] in [[Ian Fleming]]'s [[James Bond (novel)|original books]], but in a completely different fashion.

* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his SPECTRE minions were pretty threatening [[Dr. No|the]] [[From Russia with Love|first]] [[Thunderball|5]] [[You Only Live Twice|times]] [[On Her Majesty's Secret Service|that]] Bond fought them. But in ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]'', Blofeld is reduced to stealing the identity of [[Captain Ersatz|Howard Hughes knockoff]] Willard Whyte and hijacking Whyte's company to continue his plans. It's probably for the best that legal issues prevented Blofeld and SPECTRE from showing up again, although he does get a [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]] in ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'', where he's dispatched in the unrelated opening teaser. Blofeld and SPECTRE also undergo Villain Decay in [[Ian Fleming]]'s [[James Bond (novel)|original books]], but in a completely different fashion.

** In ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me]]'', Jaws is an unstoppable beast worthy of a slasher film. In ''[[Moonraker]]'', he's pretty much a cartoon character.

* Aliens in the ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' series. The first installment was a horror film in space, with a single, nearly invincible alien stalking and killing the helpless crew of a spaceship. However, the sequel ''Aliens'' was an action film, where a swarm of xenomorphs overwhelm a squad of space marines by virtue of sheer numbers. Since then, xenomorphs have increasingly been depicted as cannon fodder. The merchandise has further stripped the Alien of its mystique and creepy sexual undertones, being produced in all kinds of increasingly parodic forms (plush, Lego, superdeformed).

** The key thing to remember about the first ''Alien'' movie was that the body count was more due to the crew being helpless (having no guns, worrying about the Alien's acidic blood eating through the hull of the ship) than anything else. In ''Alien 3'', there was a similar situation to the first movie because the people again, had no guns.

** The swansong of the Alien came in ''Alien vs. Predator: Requiem'', which featured a gigantic Predator-Alien hybrid engaging in a ridiculous, rubber-suited kaiju battle with a Predator. At that point, it was no longer a horror ~~icon -- it~~ was a cartoon character like Wile E. Coyote.

** The swansong of the Alien came in ''Alien vs. Predator: Requiem'', which featured a gigantic Predator-Alien hybrid engaging in a ridiculous, rubber-suited kaiju battle with a Predator. At that point, it was no longer a horror icon—it was a cartoon character like Wile E. Coyote.

*** ''Requiem'' displays this throughout, with the lone Yautja dispatching both hordes of Aliens and single Aliens (so [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] is not in effect) with ridiculous ease. This may be due to the directors, Colin and Greg Strause, not exactly being big fans of the ''[[Alien]]'' half of the AVP equation. At one point, the Yautja slices up an Alien, and then finishes it by squashing its head under his foot ([[Fridge Logic|which should have cost him his foot, what with the acid blood and all]]). On the commentary track, the Brothers Strause snark "I bet all the ''Alien'' fanboys whined over '''that''' one!" [[Sarcasm Mode|Way to respect your source material, guys.]]

* In the original ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' Freddy was the menacing personification of evil; over the course of the various films that followed he gradually became an increasingly camp wise-cracking court jester. This was reflected in his [[Misaimed Marketing|marketing -- he cut an album of cheesy pop songs, guest-rapped on a hip-hop track about his antics, was rapped about in a different WillSmith track, and was subject to all kinds of tie-in merchandise including yo-yos.]] It took years and the return of Wes Craven (in '[[New Nightmare]]') to address and attempt to reverse his decay.

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*** Which brings up the hilarious irony that the film actually managed to make him scary again.

*** [[Fridge Brilliance]] in that Freddy was weakened by no one dreaming and remembering him, so he resurrects Jason to spread fear. It works, he starts getting stronger (and helps in his single kill, he doesn't outright kill the guy). When he's finally at peak power and ready to relish his first true kill in years...Jason steals it, which makes Freddy ''VERY'' angry.

* Megatron from the ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' live-action film series was the menacing [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] [[Big Bad]] of the first movie, destroying whole cities and causing the only on-screen casualty of the movie. By the sequel, he's just [[The Dragon]] to the ''real'' [[Big Bad]], The Fallen, and more or less just argues with Starscream for the second half of the movie. Note that this particular case of [[Villain Decay]] occurs over the course of one movie, as he is still pretty menacing at the beginning of ''Revenge of the Fallen,'' and even {{spoiler|kills Optimus Prime}}. But then when the final battle scene rolls around, he doesn't even attempt to fight Prime to the finish, and pulls a [[Villain Exit Stage Left]]. Presumably, the '''real''' final fight is reserved for the inevitable third movie.

* Megatron from the ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' live-action film series was the menacing [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] [[Big Bad]] of the first movie, destroying whole cities and causing the only on-screen casualty of the movie. By the sequel, he's just [[The Dragon]] to the ''real'' [[Big Bad]], The Fallen, and more or less just argues with Starscream for the second half of the movie. Note that this particular case of Villain Decay occurs over the course of one movie, as he is still pretty menacing at the beginning of ''Revenge of the Fallen,'' and even {{spoiler|kills Optimus Prime}}. But then when the final battle scene rolls around, he doesn't even attempt to fight Prime to the finish, and pulls a [[Villain Exit Stage Left]]. Presumably, the '''real''' final fight is reserved for the inevitable third movie.

** It doesn't help that in the novelization of ''Revenge of the Fallen'', he actually has a ''reason'' for working with The Fallen. And there's ''also'' a reason for his lack of fighting Prime, which is related to his reason for working with The Fallen. To elaborate: in the novelization, The Fallen promised to make Megatron a Prime, then when Optimus said that Primes are born, not made, Megatron swears off his allegiance to The Fallen and vows to never serve anyone again. It's one of the many reasons that the novelization (based on an earlier script with less jokes and more actual SENSE) is more well-received than the movie.

*** ''Dark of the Moon'', full stop. [[Justified Trope|Megatron is injured for the entirety of the film]], and spends most of his time commanding Decepticon [[Mooks]] from the sidelines while trying to peacefully watch {{spoiler|Cybertron about to be rebuilt}}. It takes {{spoiler|Carly, of all people,}} to spring him back into action, and while he does severly cripple (and almost kill) the film's [[Bigger Bad]], {{spoiler|Optimus Prime defeats him ''and'' said [[Bigger Bad]] in a matter of seconds}}. Note that Megatron doesn't get a single legitimate kill ''in the entire movie'', though this may have been because he knew that the [[Mooks]] were doing the job for him, and [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|he didn't want to risk worsening his physical state even further]].

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* Some ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' fans felt the revelation that Laurie was Michael Myer's sister took away the menacing mystery that made Michael such an effective villain.

** Michael himself also went from a mysterious, always-in-the-shadows lurker to a generic [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason Vorhees]]-esque slasher villain by the end of the series. In the first films, he killed only a handful of people, and only because they got in the way of him and his main victim. But in the later films, he was killing over a dozen people in each movie, seemingly for no reason at all. And often doing it with uncharacteristic flair and violence.

*** Let's not forget Michael's [[Single Tear]] moment in ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] 5''. A perfect example of [[Villain Decay]], if ever there was one.

*** Let's not forget Michael's [[Single Tear]] moment in ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] 5''. A perfect example of Villain Decay, if ever there was one.

* In the first ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' movie, the T-Rex is an unstoppable monster, who can't be fought and only run from. He takes on the other villains of the piece in the final scene and kills them with ease. Hell, his face is the symbol of the franchise. In the second film, more of the same, only with a much higher body count. Third film? Hit by [[The Worf Effect]]: Killed unceremoniously by a dinosaur most dinosaur experts say he should have been able to take apart with ease, even being replaced on the franchise symbol. Villain decay indeed.

* The first bug we see in action in ''Starship Troopers'' withstands the combined fire of four mobile infantry before going down. Later on bugs are seen taken down by just a few rounds.

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== Literature ==

* The [[Cthulhu Mythos]]: Once August Derleth got his hands on it, the greater [[Eldritch Abomination~~|Eldritch Abominations~~]] started appearing everywhere personally and being repelled just as easily. Cthulhu was once sent back by ordinary explosives, for goodness' sake. Admittedly It did remain fundamentally [[Badass]] enough that even a nuclear bomb couldn't actually kill It. But do you really need to, when you can [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|punch It out]] with just about anything every time it returns?

* The [[Cthulhu Mythos]]: Once August Derleth got his hands on it, the greater [[Eldritch Abomination]]s started appearing everywhere personally and being repelled just as easily. Cthulhu was once sent back by ordinary explosives, for goodness' sake. Admittedly It did remain fundamentally [[Badass]] enough that even a nuclear bomb couldn't actually kill It. But do you really need to, when you can [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|punch It out]] with just about anything every time it returns?

* D.Metria the Demoness from the ''[[Xanth]]'' series, started off as a fairly malevolent seductress, but with each subsequent appearance became less threatening, to the point that by the time she was "replaced" by her insane doppleganger, D.Mentia, she was basically Xanth's version of Mr. Mxyzptlk (The Superfriends version, at that).

** In more recent books this is justified by her having acquired half of a human soul, which gives her a conscience. She can still be mischievous, but is no longer malevolent.

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* In ''[[Tales of MU]]'', Puddy and Sooni start out as the [[Manipulative Bastard]] and the [[Alpha Bitch]], respectively, but are eventually reduced to being pathetic losers who struggle to keep even a couple people under their control. The worst aspects of the transition are probably a result of [[Webcomic Time]]: the change takes several months of real world writing time, but just a couple weeks story time.

* ''[[Harry Potter]]'':

** A notable subversion of this trope occurs when Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy are presented as mere [[Jerkass~~|Jerkasses~~]] who like giving Harry and company hell for the first five books of the series, but at the beginning of book six, both are presented as high ranking members of Voldemort's army, the Death Eaters. {{spoiler|It does turn out however that Snape was a [[Double Agent]] for the Order of Phoenix, and Malfoy was incapable of coping with actually being evil.}}

** A notable subversion of this trope occurs when Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy are presented as mere [[Jerkass]]es who like giving Harry and company hell for the first five books of the series, but at the beginning of book six, both are presented as high ranking members of Voldemort's army, the Death Eaters. {{spoiler|It does turn out however that Snape was a [[Double Agent]] for the Order of Phoenix, and Malfoy was incapable of coping with actually being evil.}}

** A straight [[Villain Decay]] happened to Lucius Malfoy. He is introduced as a sinister and cunning master-manipulator, who, while maintaining a benevolent and charitable public image, actively and ruthlessly pursued his ambitious goals, descending to threatening whole families and unleashing an ancient monster on a school. Next time he's just [[The Dragon]], and after his failure and consequent fall-from-grace, he's reduced to an unnerved bystander with little to no involvement in the action.

** A straight Villain Decay happened to Lucius Malfoy. He is introduced as a sinister and cunning master-manipulator, who, while maintaining a benevolent and charitable public image, actively and ruthlessly pursued his ambitious goals, descending to threatening whole families and unleashing an ancient monster on a school. Next time he's just [[The Dragon]], and after his failure and consequent fall-from-grace, he's reduced to an unnerved bystander with little to no involvement in the action.

** Voldemort. Initially described as a chilling evil Mastermind, following his official return in Book 4, his actions really caused a lot of readers to question how exactly he became a the dark lord "Who shall not be named." His own paranoia was what made Harry [[The Chosen One]] in the first place, he continued to use "the killing spell" on Harry in hopes of killing him, even though it failed to kill him each and every time, {{spoiler|and after finally having Harry at his mercy, he was somehow convinced by a simple lie that Harry really was dead by one of his minions who he had been treating like crap.}}

* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series features significant villain decay with regards to the Forsaken, the 13 most devoted human servants of the Dark One. Initially presented as uber-badasses from the Age of Legends wielding powers most modern people could not begin to comprehend and being trained as scientists, generals and geneticists, the Forsaken get their asses totally handed to them repeatedly by the present-day heroes. Partly, this is because the Forsaken's reputation got exaggerated during the 3000 years the spent [[Sealed Evil in a Can|imprisoned]], partly it's because they lack the support network they had in their prime, but whatever the reason, there's still a big gap between their myth and the reality, which was one of Jordan's more anvilicious points in his series (the gap between hearsay and reality, specifically).

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* Sang-Drax from the ''[[Death Gate Cycle]]'' series was introduced in the fifth book as a [[Magnificent Bastard]] manifestation of the [[Big Bad]] that could play [[Anti-Hero|Haplo]] like a fiddle. While he's still cunning in the next two books, he gets a whole lot sloppier, downgrading him to a literal [[Smug Snake]]. He finally dies when {{spoiler|a room caves in on him. This isn't as lame as it sounds because said room was filled with magic that was antithetical to him, but still -- he really should have seen it coming}}.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] often does this deliberately in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', but still puts the less-powerful villains in situations where they can get the upper hand. {{spoiler|Saruman}} goes from needing a massive army, a wizard, and more to stop him, to being somebody who could be defeated by a mob of angry Hobbits. Gollum is another example - he finds the One Ring to Rule Them All, and first uses it for murder and theft, but eventually crawls into a cave and uses the Ring's power to ''catch fish''. The Ring doesn't particularly care for this. In fact, this is one of the core themes of the stories, because [[Evil Is Petty]] it eventually loses everything that once made it great and even noble.

* In [[The Silmarillion]], this is explicitly canon for [[God of Evil|Melkor/Morgoth]]. He starts out out-powering everything else in the universe except for [[God]] and being quite cunning to boot, but as the book progresses he is drastically weakened after squandering his power and getting [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock~~|Shapeshifter Mode Locked~~]], and his cunning goes down the drain as he goes increasingly [[Ax Crazy]].

* In [[The Silmarillion]], this is explicitly canon for [[God of Evil|Melkor/Morgoth]]. He starts out out-powering everything else in the universe except for [[God]] and being quite cunning to boot, but as the book progresses he is drastically weakened after squandering his power and getting [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock]]ed, and his cunning goes down the drain as he goes increasingly [[Ax Crazy]].

* [[Forgotten Realms|Artemis Entreri]] after the first few encounters with him, as Drizzt no longer wishes to fight him, and at one point refuses to kill him despite the perfect opportunity. Also, Entreri is getting old, whilst Drizzt is still in his prime.

* The ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series plays this trope intentionally with the overarching [[Big Bad]], Ma'ar. He starts out in the ''Mage Wars'' prequels as a frighteningly powerful, ruthless [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who can rival Great Mage Urtho in sheer power. Even worse, he conceives of an amazingly effective [[My Death Is Just the Beginning]] gambit involving hiding his soul in a pocket of the nether plane until a blood descendant learns to wield magic, at which point he [[Grand Theft Me|steals the body]], destroying its original soul in the process, and embarks on a new plan to [[Take Over the World]]. As he is constantly thwarted over the centuries, however, his spirit becomes increasingly petty and narcissistic, and eventually he grows careless enough to sow the seeds of his defeat when he fails to destroy the soul of his latest possessee, An'desha. Also a case of divine intervention, as it turns out that the Gods were tacitly abetting his scheme because they needed his knowledge to avert a repeat of the Cataclysm 3000 years later.

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== Live-Action TV ==

* Multiple instances show up in the various ''[[Star Trek]]'' series:

** The Borg are probably the most infamous example: they went from once-a-season super menace to routine issue over the course of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''.

** The Borg are probably the most infamous example: they went from once-a-season super menace to routine issue over the course of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. The truly interesting thing about the Borg, to begin with, was not so much their threat level (though that was high) as the existential challenge they presented to the mindset and worldview of the complacent characters. In their first appearance, Picard and the other Federation personnel seem to have trouble even ''comprehending'' the idea that this foe cannot be reasoned with, that there's literally ''nothing'' they can say or do that will move them, or that an enemy would ever be an enemy if he really understood them. The Borg '''did not care'''. Later they watered this down with the infamous 'Hugh' episode that reduced the Borg to just another alien race that can be persuaded by good will and proper effort. The Borg were supposed to be ''inexorable'', absent that they're boring. Several of the episodes focused on Seven of Nine in ''Voyager'', however, ''help'' this issue. Yes, Borg can get cute and cuddly again when separated from The Collective...but there are ''billions upon billions'' of Borg. And you'd have to free them ''all'' to beat The Collective. And at first a lot of them might not '''want''' to stop being Borg...so it isn't just as easy as "Hugh"ing them all. The [[Villain Decay]] of the Borg really began in earnest with ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'', with the introduction of the Borg Queen. The reason they were so tough to beat was because they were absolutely decentralized - there was no central locus. The Borg Queen served mainly as a way to personalize the borg threat (the producers recognized that it wasn't very thematic to have the ''Enterprise'' crew interact with an abstract [[Hive Mind]] voice as the villain), but also as a quick fix to the movie's Borg problem. Oddly enough, before they started to decay, they actually got more dangerous, once they start desiring to assimilate everything and not just civilizations. Before a single ship had very little to fear from a passing cube. But of course, Voyager being only a single ship (and without a civilization to defend), this had to change, otherwise they could just fly through Borg space just fine, as long as they didn't settle any planets or develop superior technology. And with this desire only for large scale assaults out the window, Voyager had to deal with them constantly. Thus, they had to get easier. That's why TNG only had 6 episodes that dealt with the Borg - it was just too tough to keep the Borg a terrifying enemy and yet still come up with ways to defeat them. And since 4 of those episodes were in pairs of 2-parters, 1 of them didn't even require defeating any Borg, and in 1 of them they were introduced to the Borg by Q and thus only saved from destruction/assimilation by Q's intervention as well (a ''literal'' [[Deus Ex Machina]]), only twice in 7 seasons did the ''Enterprise'' actually defeat the Borg<ref>In fact, of the two listed 2-parters, only one of them featured the actual Borg collective (the Borg in the other were part of a wussy, de-powered break-away group that had become infected with an Individuality Meme), so in all seven seasons of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the Borg at full power were defeated precisely once, and then only barely, and on a technicality, to boot!</ref>. Voyager had to beat them in about 15 different episodes and they quickly became paper tigers. The decay is later turned on its head in the later ''The Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'' relaunch novels, when the Borg effectively reestablish their handle as one of the greatest threats to the galaxy since...well, ''ever.'' In the span of approximately six months, they {{spoiler|kill Captain Janeway, destroy the planet Pluto, and launch a massive invasion in an attempt to completely annihilate every spacefaring civilization of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, the end result of which was over [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|63,000,000,000 casualties]]. That's 63 billion for those of you who have trouble with zeros.}}

The truly interesting thing about the Borg, to begin with, was not so much their threat level (though that was high) as the existential challenge they presented to the mindset and worldview of the complacent characters. In their first appearance, Picard and the other Federation personnel seem to have trouble even ''comprehending'' the idea that this foe cannot be reasoned with, that there's literally ''nothing'' they can say or do that will move them, or that an enemy would ever be an enemy if he really understood them. The Borg '''did not care'''. Later they watered this down with the infamous 'Hugh' episode that reduced the Borg to just another alien race that can be persuaded by good will and proper effort. The Borg were supposed to be ''inexorable'', absent that they're boring. Several of the episodes focused on Seven of Nine in ''Voyager'', however, ''help'' this issue. Yes, Borg can get cute and cuddly again when separated from The Collective...but there are ''billions upon billions'' of Borg. And you'd have to free them ''all'' to beat The Collective. And at first a lot of them might not '''want''' to stop being Borg...so it isn't just as easy as "Hugh"ing them all.

The Villain Decay of the Borg really began in earnest with ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'', with the introduction of the Borg Queen. The reason they were so tough to beat was because they were absolutely decentralized - there was no central locus. The Borg Queen served mainly as a way to personalize the borg threat (the producers recognized that it wasn't very thematic to have the ''Enterprise'' crew interact with an abstract [[Hive Mind]] voice as the villain), but also as a quick fix to the movie's Borg problem.

Oddly enough, before they started to decay, they actually got more dangerous, once they start desiring to assimilate everything and not just civilizations. Before a single ship had very little to fear from a passing cube. But of course, Voyager being only a single ship (and without a civilization to defend), this had to change, otherwise they could just fly through Borg space just fine, as long as they didn't settle any planets or develop superior technology. And with this desire only for large scale assaults out the window, Voyager had to deal with them constantly. Thus, they had to get easier.

That's why TNG only had 6 episodes that dealt with the Borg - it was just too tough to keep the Borg a terrifying enemy and yet still come up with ways to defeat them. And since 4 of those episodes were in pairs of 2-parters, 1 of them didn't even require defeating any Borg, and in 1 of them they were introduced to the Borg by Q and thus only saved from destruction/assimilation by Q's intervention as well (a ''literal'' [[Deus Ex Machina]]), only twice in 7 seasons did the ''Enterprise'' actually defeat the Borg.<ref>In fact, of the two listed 2-parters, only one of them featured the actual Borg collective (the Borg in the other were part of a wussy, de-powered break-away group that had become infected with an Individuality Meme), so in all seven seasons of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the Borg at full power were defeated precisely once, and then only barely, and on a technicality, to boot!</ref> Voyager had to beat them in about 15 different episodes and they quickly became paper tigers.

The decay is later turned on its head in the later ''The Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'' relaunch novels, when the Borg effectively reestablish their handle as one of the greatest threats to the galaxy since...well, ''ever.'' In the span of approximately six months, they {{spoiler|kill Captain Janeway, destroy the planet Pluto, and launch a massive invasion in an attempt to completely annihilate every spacefaring civilization of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, the end result of which was over [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|63,000,000,000 casualties]]. That's 63 billion for those of you who have trouble with zeros.}}

** Likewise Species 8472, who were [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] until "In the Flesh".

** The Ferengi were downgraded from serious threats to comic-relief pests after only two appearances. The Ferengi were ''intended'' to be major recurring villains, but over the course of several makeup revisions, the Ferengi went from impressive to goofy-looking. This probably has as much to do with the fact that when the Ferengi were introduced early on in ''Next Generation'', Gene Roddenberry was still involved with the production, and was trying as hard as possible to recreate the old series. However, characters that would have worked as villains in the much cheesier era of the original series basically just [[Narm|inspired laughter]] in modern audiences. Also, all else being equal it's easier to make [[The Giant|tall guys]] look threatening than short guys. Roddenberry really wanted to have villains who are small in stature yet still dangerous, but it just didn't work out. Not that their status as [[Strawman Political|Strawman Capitalists]] helped much either.

** The non-canon TNG novels have [[~~Retcon|retconned~~]] this in a rather interesting way by having the Ferengi intentionally disseminate rumors of the Ferengi's bloodthirsty nature as a calculated response to a perceived threat from the United Federation of Planets. Essentially, the Ferengi were so worried about first-contact with moneyless society that they hoped give themselves a fearsome image before the first meeting took place. In universe, when first-contact actually occurred, each side underwent almost total [[Villain Decay]] from the perspective of the other.

** The non-canon TNG novels have [[retcon]]ned this in a rather interesting way by having the Ferengi intentionally disseminate rumors of the Ferengi's bloodthirsty nature as a calculated response to a perceived threat from the United Federation of Planets. Essentially, the Ferengi were so worried about first-contact with moneyless society that they hoped give themselves a fearsome image before the first meeting took place. In universe, when first-contact actually occurred, each side underwent almost total Villain Decay from the perspective of the other.

** Q turned from a frivolous yet dangerous omniscient being who nevertheless delivered some important [[Aesop~~|Aesops~~]] to Captain Picard, to a lovesick puppy who goes to Captain Janeway for advice on parental relationships and conflict resolution in the Q Continuum. Q really was one of those characters who were a case of [[Depending on the Writer]], especially in TNG. He's creepy and borderline sadistic in "Encounter at Farpoint", then campy and unwittingly annoying in "QPid", then he's back to being sinister in "True Q". It's debatable whether or not he was even actually a villain, considering how many times he (sometimes indirectly) helped Picard and the crew.

** Q turned from a frivolous yet dangerous omniscient being who nevertheless delivered some important [[Aesop]]s to Captain Picard, to a lovesick puppy who goes to Captain Janeway for advice on parental relationships and conflict resolution in the Q Continuum. Q really was one of those characters who were a case of [[Depending on the Writer]], especially in TNG. He's creepy and borderline sadistic in "Encounter at Farpoint", then campy and unwittingly annoying in "QPid", then he's back to being sinister in "True Q". It's debatable whether or not he was even actually a villain, considering how many times he (sometimes indirectly) helped Picard and the crew.

** The Dominion in ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' suffer heavily from this trope as well. In Starfleet's first military encounter with them, three of the weakest Dominion fighters {{spoiler|destroy the ''Galaxy''-class USS ''Odyssey'', ostensibly one of Starfleet's most powerful ships, with relative ease}}. However, by the end of the show we can see ''Galaxy''-class starships destroy the Dominion fighters ''in one shot''. By the time of the Dominion War, Starfleet ''had'' developed defenses to the phased polaron beams that the Dominion Ships use, and [[Took a Level In Badass|upgraded their weapons]]. Hell they turned the ''[[Glass Cannon|Galaxy]]''[[Glass Cannon|-class Explorer]] into the ''[[Mighty Glacier|Galaxy]]''[[Mighty Glacier|-class Battleship]]. Precisely why the Dominion belong on the [[Villain Decay]] page, and not on [[Fridge Logic]]. The Dominion continued to be a serious threat right up until the final battle of the Dominion War. Often, however, one side in an all-out conflict undergoes villain decay as the natural result of a long, drawn-out struggle. Vichy France, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany all underwent their own separate decay at different points in the war.

** The Dominion in ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' suffer heavily from this trope as well. In Starfleet's first military encounter with them, three of the weakest Dominion fighters {{spoiler|destroy the ''Galaxy''-class USS ''Odyssey'', ostensibly one of Starfleet's most powerful ships, with relative ease}}. However, by the end of the show we can see ''Galaxy''-class starships destroy the Dominion fighters ''in one shot''. By the time of the Dominion War, Starfleet ''had'' developed defenses to the phased polaron beams that the Dominion Ships use, and [[Took a Level In Badass|upgraded their weapons]]. Hell they turned the ''[[Glass Cannon|Galaxy]]''[[Glass Cannon|-class Explorer]] into the ''[[Mighty Glacier|Galaxy]]''[[Mighty Glacier|-class Battleship]]. Precisely why the Dominion belong on the Villain Decay page, and not on [[Fridge Logic]]. The Dominion continued to be a serious threat right up until the final battle of the Dominion War. Often, however, one side in an all-out conflict undergoes villain decay as the natural result of a long, drawn-out struggle. Vichy France, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany all underwent their own separate decay at different points in the war.

* After seeing how much respect the Borg lost during his writing stint on ''Voyager'', Ronald D. Moore rather neatly avoided the trope in his remake of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]''. The villainous Cylons are only sparingly used as a direct threat to the heroes, and typically when the heroes do beat them there's some kind of price. However, one particular Cylon, Caprica-Six has [[Badass Decay|decayed rather badly]]. Given she was only in one episode (the miniseries), where she performed one [[Mercy Kill|mercy killing]] and lectured Baltar and that was it, and then wasn't seen again until the late second season where she followed through on being sad at taking a baby's life by regretting the holocaust in its entirety and missed a man she from the beginning cared about, or why else bother to save him, she didn't have much badass to decay anyway.

** During the "Pegasus" arc and the second-season episodes that followed it, the basestars in particular were almost completely downgraded (to the point that, if the Pegasus launched a head-on attack with its cannon, it would utterly destroy one). This removed a lot of the series' tension. To note, in a late second-season episode, the Pegasus destroys one Basestar and holds out against ''two'' more for several minutes while the acting captain waits for a critical system to be fixed. This decay makes the Pegasus' {{spoiler|sacrifice}} in season 3 all the more illogical.

* Almost every season of ''[[Power Rangers]]'' begins with the villain being replaced by a new ~~one -- because~~ after forty episodes of losing, the old villain doesn't seem as cool. (And of course, a new villain means more [[Merchandise-Driven]].)

* Almost every season of ''[[Power Rangers]]'' begins with the villain being replaced by a new one—because after forty episodes of losing, the old villain doesn't seem as cool. (And of course, a new villain means more [[Merchandise-Driven]].)

** Lord Zedd, when he was introduced he was very dark and frightening. He was deemed too scary for children and he was toned down over time. By the third season he had degenerated into comic relief.

*** Zedd's villain decay is actually discussed and countered in Linkara's [[History of Power Rangers]] series. As he points out, even though Zedd became more goofy, he actually ''started winning'' once the [[Villain Decay]] hit. For most of Season 2 (when he was still menacing), he just kept losing like Rita did. In Season 3, he ''{{spoiler|destroyed the Thunder Zords, kidnaped and nearly killed Kimberly, almost killed Tommy in a straight fight, took over the Ninja Zords, destroyed the power coins, and even BLEW UP THE COMMAND CENTER.}}'' He may have stopped being scary, but he compensated by being more of a threat.

*** Zedd's villain decay is actually discussed and countered in Linkara's [[History of Power Rangers]] series. As he points out, even though Zedd became more goofy, he actually ''started winning'' once the Villain Decay hit. For most of Season 2 (when he was still menacing), he just kept losing like Rita did. In Season 3, he ''{{spoiler|destroyed the Thunder Zords, kidnaped and nearly killed Kimberly, almost killed Tommy in a straight fight, took over the Ninja Zords, destroyed the power coins, and even BLEW UP THE COMMAND CENTER.}}'' He may have stopped being scary, but he compensated by being more of a threat.

** Rita Repulsa and later Lord Zedd's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] Goldar was also hit with this. He went from a menacing figure who was more than a match for the entire Power Rangers squad to being Bulk and Skull's servant. The same thing happened to Rito Revolto.

* Pretty much inevitable for any of the recurring villains on ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

** This was the fate that befell the Doctor's greatest enemies the Daleks after 16 television stories, four cameos and countless appearances in other adaptations, especially when their creator, Davros, began to dominate the stories. They were later made more menacing again; in 1988 they were given the ability to fly, and for their 2005 return in "Dalek", they were given new abilities, such as a [[Deflector Shields|force field]] and the ability to crush a man's head using the plunger arm. However, they may be falling back into this, going in their more recent appearances from one being defeated by its own self-loathing, to a fleet being defeated by a [[Deus Ex Machina]], to millions being defeated by [[Reverse Polarity|reversing the polarity]]. On the other hand {{spoiler|three Daleks, later two Daleks and a Dalek-Human hybrid take two episodes to destroy.}} Because of this, it seems the Daleks suffer from some variation of [[Conservation of Ninjutsu|the Inverse Ninja Law]]. The more there are, the easier they are to defeat.

** This was even lampshaded by Steven Moffatt, who commented that they had lost to the Doctor "400 times" (this was probably exaggeration, but he does have a point as the Daleks have only won ONCE over the past few years). For this reason he is temporarily retiring the Daleks, probably for a good couple of seasons. Considering that they have appeared ten times since the show's revival, it's certainly fair enough.

** Also in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Master particularly suffered from this, with many writers simply using him as a convenient bad guy with little motivation beyond being "eeeevil". The trend arguably started from his very first appearances, since he appeared as the [[Big Bad]] in every episode of Season Eight of the classic series, which arguably diluted his effectiveness right from the off. He always allied with another evil power, which then betrayed him, forcing him to work with the Doctor. Over his many appearances in both classic and new series, writers have tried most of the tricks above to avert Villain Decay, including threat escalation, frequent [[Enemy Mine]] plots, [[Alternate Universe]] victories, and having him murder the family members of series regulars. Probably for the same reasons that the series itself has been so long-lived, despite succumbing to [[Villain Decay]] several times over, the character somehow keeps bouncing back as a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. {{spoiler|The new series attempted to correct this both by giving him a plausible motivation - complete insanity - and by showing how [[Badass]] he could be; not least by stranding the Doctor at the end of time itself, becoming [[President Evil|Prime Minister of Great Britain]], massacring a tenth of the population of Earth and all in all being a rather [[Magnificent Bastard]] before the Doctor managed to [[Reset Button|undo everything]].}}

** Also in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Master particularly suffered from this, with many writers simply using him as a convenient bad guy with little motivation beyond being "eeeevil". The trend arguably started from his very first appearances, since he appeared as the [[Big Bad]] in every episode of Season Eight of the classic series, which arguably diluted his effectiveness right from the off. He always allied with another evil power, which then betrayed him, forcing him to work with the Doctor. Over his many appearances in both classic and new series, writers have tried most of the tricks above to avert Villain Decay, including threat escalation, frequent [[Enemy Mine]] plots, [[Alternate Universe]] victories, and having him murder the family members of series regulars. Probably for the same reasons that the series itself has been so long-lived, despite succumbing to Villain Decay several times over, the character somehow keeps bouncing back as a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. {{spoiler|The new series attempted to correct this both by giving him a plausible motivation - complete insanity - and by showing how [[Badass]] he could be; not least by stranding the Doctor at the end of time itself, becoming [[President Evil|Prime Minister of Great Britain]], massacring a tenth of the population of Earth and all in all being a rather [[Magnificent Bastard]] before the Doctor managed to [[Reset Button|undo everything]].}}

** The Cybermen were ''Doctor Who'''s most [[Egregious]] victim of this trope. In Second Doctor Cybermen stories, they were powerful, some might say too powerful. That may be a good reason they weren't used for the entire Third Doctor run. When they were brought back at the beginning of the Fourth Doctor era, they were given a weakness: gold dust would clog their chest units and suffocate them. All well and good, until someone misinterpreted that to mean that gold itself was their weakness. In ''Earthshock'' it wasn't so bad, as only one was killed, and that weapon (Adric's badge) broke and was unusable. Despite their gold weakness not coming up in ''The Five Doctors'' and ''Attack of the Cybermen'', they were still killed in heavy droves by Rassilon's tower's defenses, the Raston Warrior Robot, and even human weapons. The weakness returned with a vengeance in ''Silver Nemesis'', however, treating us to the wonderful sight of Ace killing Cybermen with gold coins fired from a slingshot. The Cybermen seen that come from a parallel Earth do not have this weakness, and the ones from this universe that returned in the new series were no longer defeated that way (although one flagship was entirely destroyed by the Doctor as part of [[The Teaser]] of "A Good Man Goes to War").

** This trope was one of the reasons why the Mandragora were not used in a story in ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' as it was felt they would be defeated "too easily" (and so were replaced with the Ancient Lights).

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* The Source of All Evil in ''[[Charmed]]'' went from an angel-winged, black cloaked, seemingly omniscient entity, to a big guy in a black cloak who tried to kill the Charmed Ones with about as much success as every enemy before {{spoiler|although he did become the only character to succeed in having one of the sisters permanently murdered, but that may have been defined above as during his first phase}}, and being severely wounded by one renegade demon throwing fireballs at him. Eventually he lost not just the wings but the menacing hood as well and revealed a goofy face before dying, and it was revealed that The Source of All Evil is a transferable title. The new ones? Were ''never'' threatening.

** Any and all demonic threats in general suffered from villain decay; early demons, albeit being a [[Monster of the Week]] in most cases, were a threat to the sisters individually; later on, when all-purpose vanquishing potions were produced by the gallon, they were mere nuisances most of the time. Perhaps this is why villains in later seasons consisted of {{spoiler|one of the Elders who supposedly oversaw all "good magic," beings capable of removing people from reality at their whim, and finally, other witches.}}

* Scorpius in ''[[Farscape]]'' managed to remain a [[Magnificent Bastard]] throughout the second and third seasons, thanks in large part to the writers letting him achieve total victory in the second season finale. The third season thus became about the heroes trying to reverse their earlier loss. However, by the end of the third season the show introduced a new villain who served as Scorpius' superior, and by the fourth he had lost all his fearsomeness. {{spoiler|Grayza and Braca even have him crawling on a leash like a dog, and he licks Grayza's boot! How much [[Villain Decay]] do you WANT!?}}. Thankfully, he still had enough magnificent bastardry left in him to survive the fourth season and the TV movie, regaining his position in the process.

* Scorpius in ''[[Farscape]]'' managed to remain a [[Magnificent Bastard]] throughout the second and third seasons, thanks in large part to the writers letting him achieve total victory in the second season finale. The third season thus became about the heroes trying to reverse their earlier loss. However, by the end of the third season the show introduced a new villain who served as Scorpius' superior, and by the fourth he had lost all his fearsomeness. {{spoiler|Grayza and Braca even have him crawling on a leash like a dog, and he licks Grayza's boot! How much Villain Decay do you WANT!?}}. Thankfully, he still had enough magnificent bastardry left in him to survive the fourth season and the TV movie, regaining his position in the process.

** Mind you, there's something to be said for a villain who manages to get himself (begrudgingly) accepted as a part of the hero's crew ''even though'' he freely admits that his goals and motivations haven't changed a jot since when he last tried to kill everyone. And boy howdy, it pays off big-time in season 4's three-parter. ''That'''s [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificent]].

** In the first season, the early-on [[Big Bad]] was Bialar Crais, the senior local Peacekeeper who was chasing them because he blamed Crichton for his brother's demise. He is usurped (and ruined, professionally) by Scorpius at the end of Season 1 but reappears later and becomes (uncomfortably for all) a semi-crew member due to his symbiotic relationship with Moya's child.

*** Harvey (the neural clone of Scorpius inside Crichton's head) was specifically introduced to avoid this trope. This way Scorpius could appear as a constant threat without downgrading this menace by having Crichton escape at the end of the episode.

*** The clone itself was subjected to extreme villain decay when the chip that generated it was removed from Crichton's head. While it did survive this, it lost all ability to control Crichton, and its personality degenerated from an exact clone of Scorpius to something that bore at least as much resemblance to Crichton.

*** Grayza began to suffer decay as the Scarrans became the main villains of season four- and ended up kidnapped by them due to her own gullibility. Particularly blatant was the revelation that [[Mauve Shirt|Captain Braca]]- who she'd supposedly enslaved with her infallible pheromone ~~glands -- was~~ actually still working for Scorpius; he went on to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|personally remove her from command]] to prove it. And just to rub it in, her command carrier was retaken by Scorpius, who'd recovered from ''his'' bout of villain decay.

*** Grayza began to suffer decay as the Scarrans became the main villains of season four- and ended up kidnapped by them due to her own gullibility. Particularly blatant was the revelation that [[Mauve Shirt|Captain Braca]]- who she'd supposedly enslaved with her infallible pheromone glands—was actually still working for Scorpius; he went on to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|personally remove her from command]] to prove it. And just to rub it in, her command carrier was retaken by Scorpius, who'd recovered from ''his'' bout of villain decay.

* Shows up quite a bit in the ''[[Stargate Verse]]''. In the interest of fairness, it does have to be granted that there's a [[Justified Trope|justification]] for aliens suffering some decay, in that part of the SG teams' ''missions'' is to ''promote'' Villain Decay; that is, a large part of the purpose of the Stargate program is to go forth and find out what's out there, and ways to defend Earth ''from'' those threats. If they were at all successful, Villain Decay was simply the logical extension of their success. Now, whether or not this makes for good television writing [[Your Mileage May Vary|is very open to debate]].

** ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' fits this trope like a Goa'uld hand device. The Goa'uld were introduced as merciless, brutal and could effortlessly obliterate Earth as well as having a firm grip on much of the galaxy, held back only by in-fighting caused by their lust for power. When our heroes encounter just a small group of Jaffa, they manage to escape in one piece if lucky. But as the series progressed they became a bunch of arrogant, scheming, childish fools with a [[The Napoleon|Napoleon complex]] and their mighty Jaffa armies become [[Lowered Monster Difficulty|P90 fodder]]. Their flanged voices sounded cool and creepy when spoken slowly and calmly, but sounded ridiculous when they put any real emotion into it. By the end of the series, a Goa'uld encounter is just an inconvenience as our heroes have bigger fish to fry. It should be noted that in the original movie, the heroes only fought one Jaffa one-on-one (well, two or three on one, really) and then only really survived because Daniel ringed down in the exact right place at the exact right time. Since that's not exactly a viable tactic for an ongoing series, the Jaffa get progressively wimpier as the show goes on. Free Jaffa, however, seem much more badass than their enslaved counterparts, partially because there are fewer of them, and therefore the writers don't have to worry about tipping the scales too much.

** ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' fits this trope like a Goa'uld hand device. The Goa'uld were introduced as merciless, brutal and could effortlessly obliterate Earth as well as having a firm grip on much of the galaxy, held back only by in-fighting caused by their lust for power. When our heroes encounter just a small group of Jaffa, they manage to escape in one piece if lucky. But as the series progressed they became a bunch of arrogant, scheming, childish fools with a [[The Napoleon|Napoleon complex]] and their mighty Jaffa armies become [[Lowered Monster Difficulty|P90 fodder]]. Their flanged voices sounded cool and creepy when spoken slowly and calmly, but sounded ridiculous when they put any real emotion into it. By the end of the series, a Goa'uld encounter is just an inconvenience as our heroes have bigger fish to fry.

It should be noted that in the original movie, the heroes only fought one Jaffa one-on-one (well, two or three on one, really) and then only really survived because Daniel ringed down in the exact right place at the exact right time. Since that's not exactly a viable tactic for an ongoing series, the Jaffa get progressively wimpier as the show goes on. Free Jaffa, however, seem much more badass than their enslaved counterparts, partially because there are fewer of them, and therefore the writers don't have to worry about tipping the scales too much.

** The Replicators, on the other hand, largely avert this trope, as each time the heroes meet a bunch of those things, it has required an even more insane plan than the last one to merely stall them. Trapping them in a time-stop bubble (they escape), sending then into a black hole (escape too), finding a ancient-made BFG specially designed to destroy them (become immune) and friggin' finally, using a weapon that can fry the entire Milky Way to destroy them all at the same time once and for all. Their Asuran brethren in ''Atlantis'' required a similarly insane plan to put them down once and for all.

** The Wraith in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' also went the way of the Goa'uld, as first the Atlantis Expedition develop a retrovirus to turn Wraith into humans, but then get reduced to in-fighting amongst themselves over dwindling food (read: human) resources. The Wraith lost their powers to cause hallucinations after their first appearance. Even though they can regenerate from wounds quickly, their scab-masked grunts quickly become just so much [[Lowered Monster Difficulty|cannon fodder]]. Back around "The Lost Boys" (season 2), it was a difficult prospect for a small team to infiltrate a Wraith hive; by the later seasons ("The Queen" or "The Shrine"), the good guys are almost nonchalant about walking into Wraith territory. Of course, the Wraith's decay wasn't helped by the introduction of the new [[Big Bad~~|Big Bads~~]] on the block, the Asurans (who were really just the Replicators, but ''less'' threatening).

** The Wraith in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' also went the way of the Goa'uld, as first the Atlantis Expedition develop a retrovirus to turn Wraith into humans, but then get reduced to in-fighting amongst themselves over dwindling food (read: human) resources. The Wraith lost their powers to cause hallucinations after their first appearance. Even though they can regenerate from wounds quickly, their scab-masked grunts quickly become just so much [[Lowered Monster Difficulty|cannon fodder]]. Back around "The Lost Boys" (season 2), it was a difficult prospect for a small team to infiltrate a Wraith hive; by the later seasons ("The Queen" or "The Shrine"), the good guys are almost nonchalant about walking into Wraith territory. Of course, the Wraith's decay wasn't helped by the introduction of the new [[Big Bad]]s on the block, the Asurans (who were really just the Replicators, but ''less'' threatening).

** Among their human opponents, Harry Maibourne starts as a menacing [[Knight Templar]], then winds up doing a semi [[Heel Face Turn]] and eventually just gets [[Put on a Bus]].

* Adam Monroe, formerly [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' season 2. When he returned in Season 3, he was downgraded from a [[Magnificent Bastard]] to comic relief. ''Then'' he was killed off by the new villain, {{spoiler|Mr. Petrelli}}, in an [[Eviler Than Thou]] moment. Oh, and all this took less than ''two episodes'', possibly setting a new record for 'fastest villain decay ever'.

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* Dr. Smith on ''[[Lost in Space]]'' may be one of the most iconic examples of this trope. He was originally a dangerously intelligent saboteur attempting to kill the Robinsons, but by a few episodes in he had deteriorated to complete pest/buffoon status. Early attempts at character development soon puttered out, and he became simply annoying comic relief.

* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'': {{spoiler|The mummy wasn't nearly as badass in "Wizards vs. Werewolves" as he was in the "Chronicles of Moises" arc, and his defeat was ridiculously easy.}}

* Ben Linus from ''[[Lost]]'', through a mix of [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] and [[Character Development]]. In seasons 2 and 3, he comes across as the ultimate in [[Magnificent Bastard~~|Magnificent Bastardry~~]] (and [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably]], he's still got most of those skills), but season 4 saw the introduction of his arch-nemesis, Charles Widmore, a guy that Ben is actually afraid of, and the conclusion of season 5 reveals that Ben {{spoiler|has been the [[Big Bad|Man in Black]]'s unwitting pawn all along}}. Adding to that, circumstances saw Ben becoming the Losties' [[Token Evil Teammate]] from season 4 onwards. But in this case, [[Villain Decay]] doesn't preclude being awesome, thanks to Ben's always-entertaining approach to solving problems and Michael Emerson's award-winning performance, and despite working with the Losties for three seasons he doesn't actually make a [[Heel Face Turn]] until {{spoiler|season 6's "Dr. Linus"}}.

* Ben Linus from ''[[Lost]]'', through a mix of [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] and [[Character Development]]. In seasons 2 and 3, he comes across as the ultimate in [[Magnificent Bastard]]ry (and [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably]], he's still got most of those skills), but season 4 saw the introduction of his arch-nemesis, Charles Widmore, a guy that Ben is actually afraid of, and the conclusion of season 5 reveals that Ben {{spoiler|has been the [[Big Bad|Man in Black]]'s unwitting pawn all along}}. Adding to that, circumstances saw Ben becoming the Losties' [[Token Evil Teammate]] from season 4 onwards. But in this case, Villain Decay doesn't preclude being awesome, thanks to Ben's always-entertaining approach to solving problems and Michael Emerson's award-winning performance, and despite working with the Losties for three seasons he doesn't actually make a [[Heel Face Turn]] until {{spoiler|season 6's "Dr. Linus"}}.

* Brad Bellick of ''[[Prison Break]]''. [[Corrupt Cop]] and [[Smug Snake]] in season 1, he serves as the main antagonist there and was quite cunning. He becomes much less of a threat in season 2. When season 3 sets in, he's completely ''pathetic'', being the lowest of the low in Sona prison and being treated like shit by everyone. In season 4, he joins the protagonists and pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Everyone mourns for him, apparently having completely forgotten what an utter bastard he was in the first season.

* Partly due to [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]], Jerri Manthey in ''[[Survivor]]''. She was seen as the original survivor villain mostly because she was the first to be called that. (Richard Hatch is probably more of the "original" survivor villain) She was actually booed off the stage in ''All Stars'', yet years later after the likes of Boston Rob controlling the game, Russell Hantz sociopathically pushing his way to the finals and ''admittedly'' griefing his fellow players, Jonny Fairplay lying to get a sympathetic advantage, [[Straw Feminist|Ami Cusack]], and players like Naonka, Corrine, and Randy just being a [[Jerkass]]...When Jerri showed up on stage in ''Heroes vs. Villains'' and wasn't like ''any'' of those, people actually ''applauded'' for her.

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== Tabletop Games ==

* The Necrons of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' are an interesting case of this. When first formally introduced, they were supremely enigmatic horrors serving even more horrific beings, known for mysterious harvests of life, unknown plans, and ridiculously advanced technology. Fan perception of them quickly made them [[Omnicidal Maniac~~|Omnicidal Maniacs~~]] to the public eye, and they began to be perceived as a race-wide [[Creator's Pet]]. The 5th Edition Codex has resulted in a serious hit to the Necrons' previously unknown and unstoppable nature in favor of shifting the focus towards the Tyranids and Chaos as the greatest threats facing humanity.

* The Necrons of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' are an interesting case of this. When first formally introduced, they were supremely enigmatic horrors serving even more horrific beings, known for mysterious harvests of life, unknown plans, and ridiculously advanced technology. Fan perception of them quickly made them [[Omnicidal Maniac]]s to the public eye, and they began to be perceived as a race-wide [[Creator's Pet]]. The 5th Edition Codex has resulted in a serious hit to the Necrons' previously unknown and unstoppable nature in favor of shifting the focus towards the Tyranids and Chaos as the greatest threats facing humanity.

** This happens all the time in W40k. Whenever a new army is introduced, they start as existential threats to the entire setting for a year or two and then decay into just another faction. The orks started off as a galaxy wide tide of death and destruction but degenerated into pub brawlers over time. Tyranids also started off as unstoppable, galaxy-devouring horde of alien locusts but their impending, full-scale invasion and eating of the galaxy kept getting delayed and delayed and then the tyranids inexplicably adopted an "attack in small numbers" strategy that made them less of a threat to the setting.

** This is invoked half-deliberately and half-facesave. When introducing the new armies, they were very excited and wanted to pump them up, even if it didn't make any sense. However, if they actually took their own word seriously, it would atomically spell the end of the game: there's only so many times you can say "Uh...the Elder fixed it with an ancient artifact" before the fans start to look elsewhere. Thus, they simply damp down the new kids once they get established.

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== Video Games ==

* Bowser of the ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]]'' series does this depending on the type of game. In most of the main platformers, he is shown as a genuinely powerful threat to the Mushroom Kingdom (and in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy|Galaxy]]'', the ''entire universe''). In the sports spinoffs, he is the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Go-Karting with Bowser]] who is actually on friendly terms with Mario. In the RPGs, barring the first ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'', he is upstaged by another [[Big Bad]] while he provides comic relief. Played with in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]''. He goes through his usual [[Villain Decay]] like he always does in the RPGs, but it establishes him as a legitimate [[Badass]] at the same time.

* Bowser of the ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]]'' series does this depending on the type of game. In most of the main platformers, he is shown as a genuinely powerful threat to the Mushroom Kingdom (and in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy|Galaxy]]'', the ''entire universe''). In the sports spinoffs, he is the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Go-Karting with Bowser]] who is actually on friendly terms with Mario. In the RPGs, barring the first ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'', he is upstaged by another [[Big Bad]] while he provides comic relief. Played with in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]''. He goes through his usual Villain Decay like he always does in the RPGs, but it establishes him as a legitimate [[Badass]] at the same time.

* [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik]] went through this starting with ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'', which is when he started to get into his habit of releasing [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed evil in cans]] and constantly [[Aesop Amnesia|failing to learn]] that [[Evil Is Not a Toy]]. In nearly every game since ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'', he started to be constantly upstaged by the game's [[Big Bad]] while he is forced to help the heroes defeat him. ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' managed to get him back into the spotlight by having him refrain from trying to unseal an evil and made him go back to using his [[Mecha-Mooks]] to destroy Sonic {{spoiler|and attempting to mind-control the entire Earth}}.

* [[Sonic Generations]] plays with this: At first, the [[Big Bad]] just seems to be a pretty generic [[Eldritch Abomination]], and Eggman's role is reduced to being a mere victim. {{spoiler|But in the end, it turns out the Time Eater was really a robot piloted by the Eggmen all along. Yes, Eggmen, [[My Future Self and Me|plural.]]}}

* The Space Pirates from the [[Metroid Prime]] series get hit ''hard'' with this in ''Echoes''—after being the [[Big Bad|driving menace ]]of the first game, they are abruptly downgraded into a [[Goldfish Poop Gang|recurring nuisance]] to Samus— but this can be justified by the game wanting to play up the threat of the Ing and Dark Samus, and the fact that the Pirates on Aether were a small, marooned colony that got many of their crew killed or Ing-possessed.

* The Space Pirates from the [[Metroid Prime]] series get hit ''hard'' with this in ''Echoes''—after being the [[Big Bad|driving menace]] of the first game, they are abruptly downgraded into a [[Goldfish Poop Gang|recurring nuisance]] to Samus— but this can be justified by the game wanting to play up the threat of the Ing and Dark Samus, and the fact that the Pirates on Aether were a small, marooned colony that got many of their crew killed or Ing-possessed.

* LeChuck from the Monkey Island series. In the first game he is quite creepy, as is his ship and crew. By the third game he has been Flanderized into a rather humorous albeit sadistic character who enjoys hurting Guybrush for the hell of it.

* [[Tales of Monkey Island]] furthers this even more, and after the intro he's transformed into a genuinely nice guy who Guybrush is suddenly worried about Elaine legitimately falling for. {{spoiler|1=Then the end of chapter four manages to reverse four games worth of decay in a few scenes, and LeChuck manages to revert into the evil bastard he used to be}}

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* The HK-50 droids in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2''. In Peragus, one droid was able to make the entire mining colony its bitch over a few days. Than a squad of three of them showed up at Telos and jobbed against the hero, before finally three more were defeated by [[Non-Action Guy|T3-M4]].

* The original Big Core of the ''[[Gradius]]'' series has undergone significant Villain Decay; while the original game's bosses were almost nothing ''but'' Big Cores, bigger and more powerful Bacterian technology in subsequent games slowly phased this boss out until, in ''Gradius V'', it became a regular, if large and heavily-armored, enemy.

* {{spoiler|Vizier Khilbron}} (a.k.a. the [[Department of Redundancy Department|Undead Lich]]) and Shiro Tagachi were the [[Big Bad~~|Big Bads~~]] in the first two chapters of ''[[Guild Wars]]'', and each of them made a challenging opponent at the time. But when they show up again in Chapter 3, ''Nightfall'', even the two of them teamed up are merely just another speedbump on the way to the new Big Bad, Abaddon.

* {{spoiler|Vizier Khilbron}} (a.k.a. the [[Department of Redundancy Department|Undead Lich]]) and Shiro Tagachi were the [[Big Bad]]s in the first two chapters of ''[[Guild Wars]]'', and each of them made a challenging opponent at the time. But when they show up again in Chapter 3, ''Nightfall'', even the two of them teamed up are merely just another speedbump on the way to the new Big Bad, Abaddon.

* Maleficent from Disney's ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' was [[The Man Behind the Man|to a degree]] the main villain of the original ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''. When she is revived in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' she only can control Heartless, is left plotting in a wreck of a castle as opposed to the magnificent one she had in the original game, and has only one loyal servant left...''[[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Pete]].'' However, this is often [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]], and by the end of the game she seems to recapture her former glory by {{spoiler|conquering Organization XIII's castle once Xemnas is destroyed.}}

** Maleficent goes ''right back'' up to villain status in ''Birth By Sleep''. She manipulated Terra to do what she wants and despite that Ventus and Aqua both whoop her ass, she clearly doesn't give up there (especially after Ventus defeats and she immediately reappears without a single fuck to give.) She doesn't even die when she did in the movie! One of the parts of the [[Bittersweet Ending]] is that you realize Maleficent has Aurora captured by ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' and has destroyed Enchanted Domain...[[Fridge Horror|all Ventus and Aqua did was just delay the inevitable.]] Villain Decay still qualifies though, as this was chronologically the first entry in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. It was a downward slope for her after that.

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** In the cinematic after defeating Arthas in Ice Crown Citadel, Arthas reveals the whole point of allowing the players to live and defeat his lieutenants and defeat HIM was so he could kill/resurrect them as his NEXT batch of lieutenants. What, the Ling King doesn't have enough power - he can only support enough Big Bads to fill a raid with?

** {{spoiler|And apparently, this was "intended". In the next raid, [[The Obi-Wan|Uther]] speculates that Arthas' piss poor attempt at war is the only thing keeping the Scourge from rolling over Azeroth.}}

** Kael'thas in ''Magister's Terrace''. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that he's been resurrected since killed in Tempest Keep and the process didn't go too well for him. It still feels weird to be fighting such a big name character with five people and then cut off his head to hand in to a quest NPC, but it feels even weirder that [[Flunky Boss|Priestess Delrissa]], [[Turns Red|Vexallus]], and even [[Scrappy Level|every trash pull in Magister's Terrace]] were by far trickier affairs than the ~~prince -- much~~ less that his second phase could be soloed by any self-healing class ([[Bladder of Steel|given enough time]]).

** Kael'thas in ''Magister's Terrace''. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that he's been resurrected since killed in Tempest Keep and the process didn't go too well for him. It still feels weird to be fighting such a big name character with five people and then cut off his head to hand in to a quest NPC, but it feels even weirder that [[Flunky Boss|Priestess Delrissa]], [[Turns Red|Vexallus]], and even [[Scrappy Level|every trash pull in Magister's Terrace]] were by far trickier affairs than the prince—much less that his second phase could be soloed by any self-healing class ([[Bladder of Steel|given enough time]]).

** Happened to the entire race of Ogres. In [[Warcraft]] they were [[Lightning Bruiser~~|Lightning Bruisers~~]] who beat things to death with [[Elemental Punch|firey fists]]. They could even be upgraded into Ogre-mages, [[Magic Knight|magical powerhouses]] with [[Genius Bruiser|super intelligence]] and the gamebreaking spell Bloodlust. By [[World of Warcraft]] ogres were slow, almost always used weapons instead of [[Good Old Fisticuffs]], and even the super intelligent Ogre-mages were speaking in [[You No Take Candle]].

** Happened to the entire race of Ogres. In [[Warcraft]] they were [[Lightning Bruiser]]s who beat things to death with [[Elemental Punch|firey fists]]. They could even be upgraded into Ogre-mages, [[Magic Knight|magical powerhouses]] with [[Genius Bruiser|super intelligence]] and the gamebreaking spell Bloodlust. By [[World of Warcraft]] ogres were slow, almost always used weapons instead of [[Good Old Fisticuffs]], and even the super intelligent Ogre-mages were speaking in [[You No Take Candle]].

*** It sort of got better as World of Warcraft progressed. Burning Crusade featured the Ogre clans united under Gruul the Dragonkiller, himself a horrifyingly powerful and nearly God-like figure amongst the Ogres. His names comes from the time he killed off dozens of Black Dragons(a previous big deal enemy to the player) by picking them up and slamming them into the spiked landscape. Cataclysm features the return of Cho'Gall, who puts the Magi in Ogre Magi as an insane cultist leader with a ton of eldritch abomination powers. He also makes good use of the remaining Ogres as muscle.

* ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'':

** Magus. The first time you fight him is a complex affair of constantly shifting [[Super Effective|weak points and debuffing his defenses]]. He lasts long and hits hard enough that you will probably have to actually reference the inventory you probably only previously used to chug potions out of combat. The second time, ~~he -- with~~ none of his stats changed since then save a slight drop in Defense -- [[Duel Boss|gets soloed]] by Frog, Lucca, or Marle. He joins your party later, and since [[Good Is Dumb]], has been dropped down to your stats and has to relearn all his spells. He still arguably manages to remain a [[Badass]] in spite of this.

** Magus. The first time you fight him is a complex affair of constantly shifting [[Super Effective|weak points and debuffing his defenses]]. He lasts long and hits hard enough that you will probably have to actually reference the inventory you probably only previously used to chug potions out of combat. The second time, he—with none of his stats changed since then save a slight drop in Defense -- [[Duel Boss|gets soloed]] by Frog, Lucca, or Marle. He joins your party later, and since [[Good Is Dumb]], has been dropped down to your stats and has to relearn all his spells. He still arguably manages to remain a [[Badass]] in spite of this.

** Done literally with the Tyranno. It's called Black Tyranno when you first meet it, but if you find it again in the [[Infinity+1 Sword]] search quests, it has decayed into Rust Tyranno. Actually a subversion, though, as this version is somewhat stronger than the previous one.

* All the final bosses from the ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' series could fall under this category. Through all three games the [[Big Bad~~|Big Bads~~]] will come chase you down every once in awhile, during which the player can't even get an option to attack them and it's an instant kill if they so much as touch you. Suddenly though in the end you can fight them back. Rather easily even.

* All the final bosses from the ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' series could fall under this category. Through all three games the [[Big Bad]]s will come chase you down every once in awhile, during which the player can't even get an option to attack them and it's an instant kill if they so much as touch you. Suddenly though in the end you can fight them back. Rather easily even.

** The Kusabi suffers this a bit in the third game, where he returns as a boss but loses his [[One-Hit Kill]] abilities. On the other hand, he gained flight and a huge amount of speed, making him a much more terrifying opponent, so...maybe it evens out.

** Reika from ''III'' [[SNK Boss|laughs at this trope]]. She actually got a fair bit ''more'' powerful for her final fight.

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* Rodrigo Borgia from ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' starts out as the menacing [[Big Bad]] in the game by slyly walking around Italy making sure everything is going according to plan and even has a [[Buffy-Speak|cool dark reddish-black]] [[Black Cloak|hooded robe]], but at the end {{spoiler|he ditches the cloak for not as cool majestic Pope robes and shows off how much of a fat bald guy he is. Then he ditches his [[Magnificent Bastard]] demeanor and rambles about religion. If that's not enough he gets the stuff KNOCKED out of him by a bare handed Ezio. And finally the next game has him being upstaged by his kids with them disobeying orders and is eventually killed by an apple}} To be fair it is [[Shown Their Work|based on history]].

* Kerrigan from ''Starcraft''. In the original she was little more than an [[Axe Crazy]] [[Psycho for Hire]] [[Elite Mook]] to the Overmind. In Brood Wars she ascended into a [[Magnificent Bitch]] of her own right, manipulating ALL the other sides against each other, [[Hero-Killer|eliminating one key figure after another]] and eventually crippling her enemies and proclaiming herself Queen Bitch of the Universe. And it WAS NOT an empty boast. Then...came Wings of Liberty. Sarah suffered from a sever case of [[Orcus on His Throne|"Arthas Syndrome"]], and for the whole Terran campaign stayed in the background, being repeatedly thwarted by the humans, spurting some cliched villanious trites interlaced with some fatalistic emo crap, and finally being rescued by the hero, who carried her on his arms into the sunrise. All the hopes now lie in the upcoming Zerg campaign which is supposed to rehabilitate our beloved [[Femme Fatale]].

* In ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert]]'', the [[Reds with Rockets|Soviets]] are fear-inspiring Nazi replacements who want to [[Take Over the World]] and cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]] several times. Over the course of the games, they become increasingly goofier and sillier, eventually becoming [[Harmless Villain~~|Harmless Villains~~]] in ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'', compared to the new antagonist, the [[Katanas of the Rising Sun|Empire of the Rising Sun]].

* In ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert]]'', the [[Reds with Rockets|Soviets]] are fear-inspiring Nazi replacements who want to [[Take Over the World]] and cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]] several times. Over the course of the games, they become increasingly goofier and sillier, eventually becoming [[Harmless Villain]]s in ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'', compared to the new antagonist, the [[Katanas of the Rising Sun|Empire of the Rising Sun]].

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* Jacob of ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' is all over this trope. In the Visions of Doom arc, he was introduced as a near-unstoppable necromancer who fought a powerful spellwolf to a standstill, out-maneuvered his seer brother and manipulated an evil cult into conducting a dark ritual before killing them with ease so he could use their body parts to make a necromantic golem. Later, he and his golem tries to team up with the Chosen to unleash the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Storm of Souls]], but their plans are ultimately defeated and his own creation turns on him. He gains a bit of credibility by tearing off his own flesh, but never really regains the Badass status that he once held. In the most recent arc, he gets owned by Huk Thak/Roki, is murdered by the Shintula Chief and is finally betrayed once again by his servant Neilen and left to rot in the orc version of the afterlife. The character's future is uncertain but it's clear he'll never attain the coolness that he once had.

* Happens in-universe to the [[Fluffy the Terrible|Vampire Lord Fluffy]] of ''[[A Modest Destiny]]'', turning him from an unstoppable [[Necromancer]] to [[Weird Trade Union|a freelance contractor for people looking to fill their dungeons with pre-made monsters]]. {{spoiler|Later subverted when it turns out he's as [[Faux Affably Evil]] as ever, just [[The Chessmaster|more patient than he looks]].}}

* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]''~~-- In~~ their first appearance, the [[Space Pirates|Pirates of Ipecac]] were goofy, but they had big guns and a spaceship and came across as a credible threat. In the current storyline, Fructose Riboflavin has taken a bit of a [[Took a Level In Badass|Level In Bad Ass]] and forced them to become his cringing [[Mooks|lackies.]]

* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]''—In their first appearance, the [[Space Pirates|Pirates of Ipecac]] were goofy, but they had big guns and a spaceship and came across as a credible threat. In the current storyline, Fructose Riboflavin has taken a bit of a [[Took a Level In Badass|Level In Bad Ass]] and forced them to become his cringing [[Mooks|lackies.]]

* This was done (probably deliberately) to Faz in ''[[Shortpacked]]!'' In his first appearances, he was an insufferable [[Smug Snake]] who managed to become Galasso's favorite employee via manipulation and undermining his coworkers all while rubbing it in their faces. Now he's the most pathetic member of the cast and treated as little more than a nuisance.

* After Kelelder from [http://www.drunkduck.com/Jix Jix] was killed the first time by Jix (though, this term is used loosely since he's an immortal), he's become somewhat of a Kenny type character. The creator didn't want him to be seen like this, so Kelelder made an agreement with another character to back off from the main character and stop trying to kill her.

* Subverted in [[Girl Genius]]: [[Deliberately Distressed Damsel]] and general [[Magnificent Bastard]] Zola has habit of ''recovering'' from [[Villain Decay]] and becoming stronger and smarter than she was before in the process.

* Subverted in [[Girl Genius]]: [[Deliberately Distressed Damsel]] and general [[Magnificent Bastard]] Zola has habit of ''recovering'' from Villain Decay and becoming stronger and smarter than she was before in the process.

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* The first ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987]]'' animated series used heavy [[Lampshade Hanging]] ("at last, Shredder, you've done something right!") to underscore how completely the Shredder had become a joke villain. While he was mildly threatening in the first season (although to what extent this is the case is cause for debate), villain decay set in very quickly after that, as it did with most of the series' villains.

* The Shredder of the '''second''' ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'' cartoon series, on the other hand, managed to emerge seven seasons mostly unscathed by villain decay, growing more powerful to the point where the turtles stopped being able to defeat him with martial arts alone. However, not all the series villains are so ~~lucky--the~~ Shredder's [[The Dragon|dragon]], Hun, in particular, vent from "tough" to "joke" in the space of one season, before regaining some measure of respectability during the last third of the show's second season, which he ~~retains--mostly~~ by not featuring him in any extended battles with the ~~turtles--until~~ the end of the show... {{spoiler|and gains a considerable power upgrade upon becoming a [[Badass Abnormal]] in ''[[Turtles Forever]]''}}.

* The Shredder of the '''second''' ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'' cartoon series, on the other hand, managed to emerge seven seasons mostly unscathed by villain decay, growing more powerful to the point where the turtles stopped being able to defeat him with martial arts alone. However, not all the series villains are so lucky—the Shredder's [[The Dragon|dragon]], Hun, in particular, vent from "tough" to "joke" in the space of one season, before regaining some measure of respectability during the last third of the show's second season, which he retains—mostly by not featuring him in any extended battles with the turtles—until the end of the show... {{spoiler|and gains a considerable power upgrade upon becoming a [[Badass Abnormal]] in ''[[Turtles Forever]]''}}.

* Sideshow Bob from ''[[The Simpsons]]'' didn't suffer from this until many seasons into the show. His subsequent appearances always outdid the last and became a lot more violent and heinous, but he still never won. Around his fifth or sixth appearance he lost it though. Even worse, Mr. Burns used to be a greedy, heartless, megalomaniac [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]], the villain of many episodes. He was regularly depicted as decrepit and with the mindset of a more reactionary era, but that didn't stop him from being entertainingly pure evil. Come Season 10 and beyond, he was inexplicably transformed into an inoffensive old man, most of the jokes about whom revolved around his senility and physical frailty. In other words, yet another victim of the terrible case of [[Flanderization]] which has plagued the series.

** Burns also showed a very dynamic sympathetic side, where he's almost a Scrooge like figure feeling the effects of a plentiful...but empty life. This is still shown occasionally but of course in a lighter manner.

** This trope is invoked in-universe in the Halloween special ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]'' parody. {{spoiler|after Groundskeeper Willie (in the Freddy Kruegar role) is defeated, Bart and Lisa contemplate his return. He appears moments later, but has been reduced to an ineffectual villain whose bufoonery is even accompanied by jaunty music}}.

* Cobra Commander, the main villain of ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', follows other aforementioned 80s cartoon villains' example but he's worth special mention because in parallel to his bumbling persona in the cartoon, his original comic book persona remained a ruthless [[Magnificent Bastard]] all throughout to its final issues. This Decay was probably intentional because his bloodthirsty ways needed to be toned down for the Sunbow series. Though also worth mention is that while the cartoon Commander was mostly inept by the end of GI Joe's second season, at least he was a part of the sub-plot concerning an internal civil war within Cobra where Commander and a few others made up the secret sub-group Coil in an effort to slowly wrestle control of Cobra away from Cobra emperor Serpentor, giving the villain at least some credibility by the end. However in the [[G.I. Joe: The Movie|animated movie]], Coil is never mentioned and Cobra Commander goes beyond becoming everyone's [[Butt Monkey]] for the film in a literal sense, in a way decaying the character in two different ways. Fans of GI Joe tend to not like the movie very much based on this, and the fact the movie attempts to retcon what is known about the Commander's past to something beyond ludicrous...even by 80s cartoon standards.

* On ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', it took an age-ified Nigel and the rest of the team to take Father down in his first appearance (Op GROW-UP). Then a few cadets took him down in his next appearance (Op TRAINING), making him more of a comic-relief pest. Then the writers escalated his crimes by turning the KND into animals (Op GRADUATES), and after that was taken care of, they had him extend school hours to 8:25 p.m. (a big deal, since the protagonists are school-hating children - Op PRESIDENT). In Operation ZERO, he was reduced to being completely ineffectual when faced with his father.

* On ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', it took an age-ified Nigel and the rest of the team to take Father down in his first appearance (Op GROW-UP). Then a few cadets took him down in his next appearance (Op TRAINING), making him more of a comic-relief pest. Then the writers escalated his crimes by turning the KND into animals (Op GRADUATES), and after that was taken care of, they had him extend school hours to 8:25 p.m. (a big deal, since the protagonists are school-hating children - Op PRESIDENT). In Operation ZERO, he was reduced to being completely ineffectual when faced with his father.

** Z.E.R.O. actually plays with this however. {{spoiler|after his father banishes him for not being competent enough, he goes into a state of depression which takes his moral opposite brother to pull him out of. Together they face their father and even though Father is still afraid he tries to stand up for himself. Soon after he gets sucker punched and Grandfather begins to rag on him a bit and sets off his [[Berserk Button]]. His unstoppable rage is so fierce that it makes his heroic brother, who was previously shown to not be afraid of anything, step back and makes Grandfather, the unstoppable evil who has basically conquered the world, afraid. But before he can do anything he gives up because he's too depressed.}} This shows that it's not the lack of ability that holds him back but rather the lack of self-confidence.

* The 2008 animated television revival of ''[[Speed Racer]]'' had Zile Zazic, the main villain of the show, oil tycoon and trustee of the Racer Academy...who went through every possible process in which decaying villains could go through! It didn't help that he only carried out his plans first-hand two-thirds of the way through the season. By the end of the show, his plans became boring and predictable.

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** Also from BTAS, Killer Croc. In his first appearance he came up with a pretty good plan to frame Harvey Bullock, and gave Batman a pretty good fight. After that, he was mostly treated as [[Dumb Muscle]] comic relief, and [[The Worf Effect|was used to demonstrate how awesome Bane and the Judge were by getting his ass kicked]].

** In his second appearance, while the [[Clock King]] did gain a device that actually let him control time, he also didn't show a lot of what made him such a formidable opponent in his debut episode (his ludicrously precise timing and planning). This resulted in the man who was able to physically match Batman in combat being taken out the instant his device broke.

* Carface, in ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' was legitimately menacing in the original film (it was his henchmen who were [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|incompetent jokes]]). The scene where he and his gang threaten Itchy at Charlie's Club may indeed be [[Nightmare Fuel]] for some. However, in ''All Dogs Go to Heaven 2'', he loses several IQ points, and becomes the idiot henchman. The [[Villain Song]], 'It Feels So Good to Be Bad', sung by Satan to Carface, seems to be about reversing [[Villain Decay]] and going in the complete opposite direction, but nothing ever comes of it. Carface never really regains the menacing quality he had in the first film, and ends up being sent to [[Fire and Brimstone Hell]] because he made a really stupid [[Deal with the Devil]]. While this plot point seems to be retconned in the series, he seems to only get worse, ending up playing a Scrooge archetype in "An All Dogs Christmas Carol". To elaborate, this was a chain-smoking, [[Evil Sounds Deep|gravel-voiced,]] [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Bad Boss]] that waits until Charlie's wasted and [[No Kill Like Overkill|rolls a car into Charlie that if he didn't die from the impact would drown,]] took everything Charlie had, manipulated an orphan for gambling tips, beat Itchy with a gang of Mooks within an inch of his life then almost killed Charlie ''again'' until he himself was eaten by King Gator. Essentially '''if you're a Don Bluth villain in a sequelized franchise, prepare to be decayed.''' The only way out of that is to never appear in the sequels at all, which many Bluth villains do not.

* Carface, in ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' was legitimately menacing in the original film (it was his henchmen who were [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|incompetent jokes]]). The scene where he and his gang threaten Itchy at Charlie's Club may indeed be [[Nightmare Fuel]] for some. However, in ''All Dogs Go to Heaven 2'', he loses several IQ points, and becomes the idiot henchman. The [[Villain Song]], 'It Feels So Good to Be Bad', sung by Satan to Carface, seems to be about reversing Villain Decay and going in the complete opposite direction, but nothing ever comes of it. Carface never really regains the menacing quality he had in the first film, and ends up being sent to [[Fire and Brimstone Hell]] because he made a really stupid [[Deal with the Devil]]. While this plot point seems to be retconned in the series, he seems to only get worse, ending up playing a Scrooge archetype in "An All Dogs Christmas Carol". To elaborate, this was a chain-smoking, [[Evil Sounds Deep|gravel-voiced,]] [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Bad Boss]] that waits until Charlie's wasted and [[No Kill Like Overkill|rolls a car into Charlie that if he didn't die from the impact would drown,]] took everything Charlie had, manipulated an orphan for gambling tips, beat Itchy with a gang of Mooks within an inch of his life then almost killed Charlie ''again'' until he himself was eaten by King Gator. Essentially '''if you're a Don Bluth villain in a sequelized franchise, prepare to be decayed.''' The only way out of that is to never appear in the sequels at all, which many Bluth villains do not.

* Sharpteeth in ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' [[Sequelitis|sequels]]. The original Sharptooth was an unstoppable killer and a true force of nature who had seemingly supernatural stamina. As the series continued (and became progressively more kiddy), all the carnivorous dinosaurs in general have decayed to the point of no return. It got so bad in ''The Land Before Time'' TV series that Littlefoot and the other kids were able to chase off two raptor-like Sharpteeth and one Tyrannosaur just by throwing fruit at them. It's especially bad considering how Red Claw is constantly referred to as the "biggest, meanest, most scary Sharptooth ever". Yes, the Tyrannosaurus rex that runs from some fruit is supposed to be more big, bad and gruesome than the Tyrannosaurus rex who violently ended the life of Mama Longneck and terrified both the dino-kids and real kids.

* Magnacat from ''[[Monster Allergy]]'' is a serious threat to the Tamers, but not anymore when his plans kept on failing, {{spoiler|he becomes bankrupt}}. Hector Sinistro becomes this as well.

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** Even worst with the Forever Knight, who went from a mysterious evil organisation to ridiculously weak villains who basically served as the heroes' punching ball (to the point in one episode, Gwen felt like it was more important for Ben to assist his girlfriend's tennis match than keeping an eye on them). Fortunately corrected in season 2 of [[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]].

** Charmcaster may not have suffered any decay in ''Ben10'', but she was hit by it pretty hard in her second ''Alien Force'' appearance, where she killed Gwen of an alternate timeline and kept on boasting about it to the present Gwen...[[Anticlimax Boss|only to get her ass kicked by Gwen several times afterwards]] [[Faux Action Girl|despite her claims of power.]] Her first appearance in ''Ultimate Alien'' then made it worse, turning her into a mook who barely held off Kevin, the team [[The Worf Effect|Worf]], for a few minutes, and needed the help of two other bad guys to stand a chance against the heroes. So basically, at this point, it's probably for the best that her next appearance had her as an [[Anti-Villain]] who makes a [[Heel Face Turn]].

** Darkstar was fairly threatening in ''Alien Force'', but was hit by decay when he reappears in the first season finale of ''Ultimate Alien''. He is so starved for energy that he's been reduced to skulking in alleyways preying on stray animals just to survive. He has also become predictable in his ~~treachery -- the~~ heroes stop his attempt to backstab them in the very end with a [[Anticlimax Boss|literal push of a button and he gets taken out with a single punch.]]

** Darkstar was fairly threatening in ''Alien Force'', but was hit by decay when he reappears in the first season finale of ''Ultimate Alien''. He is so starved for energy that he's been reduced to skulking in alleyways preying on stray animals just to survive. He has also become predictable in his treachery—the heroes stop his attempt to backstab them in the very end with a [[Anticlimax Boss|literal push of a button and he gets taken out with a single punch.]]

* In ''[[Gormiti: The Lords of Nature Return]]'', this was the fate that befell Orrore Profondo (Deep Horror), who, in the [[All There in the Manual|backstory narrated in the toyline]], was a terrifying opponent, feared by all the Gormiti siding with the Wise Old One. He even managed to {{spoiler|trick the Air Gormiti into doing a [[Face Heel Turn]]}}...but in the series (which takes place many millennia after the toyline story), he seems to play second banana to [[Evil Overlord]] Magmion and doesn't really show the competence a villain of his caliber should. Note, however, that this only seems to apply to his anime self: in the comics, as of now, he has retained all of his credentials and Magmion is just one of his underlings.

* Satan was big and scary in his first appearance in ''[[South Park]]'', but he's become "a whiny little bitch" in God's own words ever since he was first established as the lover of Saddam Hussein. It's arguable that he started out pre-decayed, though. He LOOKED intimidating, but his master plot in his first appearance was conning the city out of a lot of betting money, rather than, you know, the End of Days or anything like that.

* Mandark's first appearance in ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' established him as clearly superior to Dexter in terms of brains, to the point where he could read minds, and saying his name invoked [[The Scottish Trope]]. He was quickly brought down to being Dexter's equal, with his telepathy disappearing. In fact, "[[The Movie|Ego Trip]]" even stated he had to resort to stealing Dexter's ideas to get ahead. Justified in that Mandark was badass until meeting [[Achilles' Heel|Dee-Dee]] in that very episode, so as long as she's around, he's too lovestruck to do anything, even while she wrecks his lab. The '''real''' [[Villain Decay]] for Mandark came in the final season where he [[Retcon|has a Flashback episode, revealing his birth name was "Sue," an innocent flower child that met Dexter years ago, taking the name Mandark after being refused friendship by Dexter,]] despite the fact that his debut ep introduced his real name as Ivan Astronomonov with the aforementioned nickname [[The Scottish Trope|Mandark.]]

* Mandark's first appearance in ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' established him as clearly superior to Dexter in terms of brains, to the point where he could read minds, and saying his name invoked [[The Scottish Trope]]. He was quickly brought down to being Dexter's equal, with his telepathy disappearing. In fact, "[[The Movie|Ego Trip]]" even stated he had to resort to stealing Dexter's ideas to get ahead. Justified in that Mandark was badass until meeting [[Achilles' Heel|Dee-Dee]] in that very episode, so as long as she's around, he's too lovestruck to do anything, even while she wrecks his lab. The '''real''' Villain Decay for Mandark came in the final season where he [[Retcon|has a Flashback episode, revealing his birth name was "Sue," an innocent flower child that met Dexter years ago, taking the name Mandark after being refused friendship by Dexter,]] despite the fact that his debut ep introduced his real name as Ivan Astronomonov with the aforementioned nickname [[The Scottish Trope|Mandark.]]

* Metallo from ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' became less and less of a credible threat with each appearance. Probably intentional, too. Metallo's appearance over the episodes maintained the damage he suffered from each prior appearance, implying that he wasn't getting internal repairs, either.

* While ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'''s Heinz Doofenshmirtz has always been a [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]], Buford was introduced as a truly nasty bully. By the second season he's mostly just cranky and posturing and is in fact a friend of [[Phineas and Ferb]]. Also, Tri-State Unification day episode contains both of these elements. He tries to ruin the parade, but also has a [[With Friends Like These...]] relationship with Baljeet whom he used to pick on.