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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"We're the Hive Five and this is our show now!"''
|Jinx, after interrupting the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' opening.}}
A
In an episodic show, a villain episode is usually used just for the sake of [[Something Completely Different|something different]]. For example, if a show normally revolves around a [[Five-Man Band|group]] of [[Magnificent Seven|heroes]] fighting a [[Monster of the Week]], being defeated, learning [[Aesop|a valuable lesson]], and defeating the monster, a
In an [[Arc]]-based show, a villain episode is a good opportunity for [[Character Development]]. It allows the writers to reveal details about what drives the villain and how they feel about the constant defeats at the hands of the heroes. Often, the villains become more sympathetic after getting such exposure.
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Sometimes the entire episode will be mostly [[Villains Out Shopping]]. Sometimes literally.
Note that in a series with a [[Villain Protagonist]], a
See also [[Breakout Mook Character]], [[Perspective Flip]], [[Sympathetic POV]], [[Lower Deck Episode]], [[A Day in The Slimelight]], [[Something Completely Different]], and [[Villain Shoes]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* ''[[Dorohedoro]]'', in all its [[Grey and Grey Morality|ambiguous]] [[Crapsack World|glory]], usually has at least one every couple of chapters.
* ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' episode "Separated Sisters", which focused on the Black Beauty Sisters.
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* The "Yoshikage Kira" chapters of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' part 4. Part 4 in particular does this so often with Kira that it seems like half the story is being told from his perspective.
** To a lesser extent, the chapters with Doppio {{spoiler|(who's [[Big Bad|Diavolo's]] alter-ego)}} in Part 5, particularly the "King Crimson vs. Metallica" sequence.
* The [[Ecchi]] anime ''Musumet'' did one when it focused on their [[Evil Counterpart
* Lust, from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' received one in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]]. It's basically scary as shit, depressing as eternal damnation, and a [[Downer Ending]] rolled into one Villainous Joint. (The episode is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsnkR8xmlVg "Reunion of the Fallen"].)
* King Dedede and Dr. Escargon/Escargoon of ''[[Kirby:
* After being blown away by Luffy, the ''[[One Piece]]'' anime spent two episodes following Buggy around as he tries to retrieve the rest of his body and find his crew. This was, at first, a story cover-arc in the manga, but was important enough to warrant the anime to expand on it.
** Other villains (Or members of a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]) are given their own cover-story arcs; 'Django's Dance Carnival', which shows Black Cat Pirate Django the Hypnotist joining the Navy, 'Hatchi's Sea-Floor Stroll' where Arlong Pirate Hatchan the fish-man becomes a Takoyaki salesman, 'Wapol's Omnivorous Hurrah'...the list goes on. They also combine these with [[Villain Out Shopping]].
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==
* There was a famous issue during John Byrne's run on ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' that centered on [[Doctor Doom]] and did not feature a single member of the titular team.
** Mark Waid's run on the book also included an issue in the same manner, which served as a prelude to an entire arc featuring Doom.
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* Recently DC made Lex Luthor the main character of [[Action Comics]].
* [[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]] was basically one long villain episode for Marvel.
** The [[Dark Avengers]] concept was specifically revisited in ''New Avengers #18'', which centered around Norman Osborn assembling a new incarnation of the group and forging bonds with HYDRA, A.I.M., and the Hand. Not a single
* Marvel recently put out a series of one shots celebrating [[Captain America (comics)]] 70th anniversary. Each one-shot starring one of Cap's allies. However two of these one-shots star two of Cap's villains. One has [[Complete Monster|Crossbones]] as the protagonist and the other has [[Friendly Enemy|Batroc the Leaper]].
* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic Universe]]'' arc "Scourge: Lockdown" is all about [[Dark Action Girl|Fiona]] and [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|the Destructix]] helping [[Evil Twin|Scourge]] escape from Zone Jail.
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== Fan
* One chapter in ''[[Aeon Natum Engel]]'' is focused to the cultists and the citizens of the Order controlled Iceland, and with what will happen later, it will make you feel somewhat sympathetic for them.
* The ''[[Homestuck]]'' fanfic [http://archiveofourown.org/works/125998 "IMP"]. Focuses on one of the eponymous [[The Goomba|imps]], as he keeps getting killed by [[The Hero]] and respawning elsewhere, accepting this fate in a happy-go-lucky manner.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120503151418/http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4318613/60/The_Tainted_Grimoire Chapter 60] of [[The Tainted Grimoire]] focuses on Khamja and Duelhorn ending with Duelhorn {{spoiler|declaring war on Khamja}}.
* A planned miniseries for ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender Revised
* ''[[Queen of All Oni]]'' already has Jade as a [[Villain Protagonist]], but chapters still tend to be evenly mixed between focusing on her and on the J-Team's attempts to stop and capture her. Then comes chapter 10, where aside from two very short cameo scenes, the heroes don't show up at all, and the chapter focuses on [[Smug Snake|Lung's]] attempts to [[Evil Versus Evil|break Jade to his will]], and [[Co-Dragons|Left and Right's]] attempts to save her.
** The following chapter, the heroes likewise barely appear, as the plot focuses on Drago's attempts to [[Make Wrong What Once Went Right|alter history]] in his
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* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' shows the POV of a Wraith named Michael in the eponymous episode, which makes the main characters look morally ambiguous if not downright evil for their treatment of the Wraith-turned-human. The sympathies of the audience remain with Michael during most of the episode, and for a large part of the fanbase, well after Michael became a threat to the team in his own right.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "The Corps Is Mother, The Corps Is Father", which focused on Bester and the Psi Corps. The opening is even [[Special Edition Title|modified]] replacing the Babylon 5 shield with the Psi Corps insignia.
* [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|The new ''
* ''[[CSI]]'' episode "Killer" - as its title suggests, it focused on the murderer.
** The later episode "Working Stiffs" also has the perp as the main character.
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** Also the aptly named ''Villains'' in Volume 3, which served as backstory for that volume's [[Big Bad]] and expanded it for a few other characters.
* The ''[[Undeclared]]'' series finale episode Eric's POV does this for the most part, focusing on the protagonist's main rival and his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend Eric and his friends. The protagonist and his friends are given subplots and Eric is fleshed out.
* In ''[[Star Trek:
** Not to mention the ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' two-parter ''In A Mirror Darkly'' focusing entirely on the [[Mirror Universe]] characters. Complete with different intro scenes.
* The third-season ''[[Farscape]]'' episode 'Incubator' focused on [[Big Bad|Scorpius]], [[Dark and Troubled Past|his backstory]], [[Character Focus|and how he came to be the person he is]].
* The second season ''[[Prison Break]]'' episode "Unearthed" is that show's best example of a
* The ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "True Night" is arguably an example of this, as it has about 75% of the screentime going to the killer. We don't even get to see the BAU deliver the profile, which is otherwise a [[Once Per Episode]] occurrence. Instead, we see the different parts of the profile on a whiteboard in the police station when the killer is brought in.
* The third-season finale of ''[[Homicide: Life
* The fifth-season ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Fool For Love" focuses on Spike and his backstory. At that time, present-day Spike [[Villain Decay|wasn't that much of a villain any more]], but flashback-Spike certainly was.
==
* One of the [[Downloadable Content]] for ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' takes the point of view from [[The Empire|The Imperial]] [[Armies Are Evil|Army]], as led by Selvaria, [[The Emperor|Prince Maximillian's]] [[Love Martyr]] [[The Dragon|Dragon]].
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days|Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days]]'', which focuses on Roxas and his life with Organization XIII in the year leading up to the events of ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''.
* One of the [[Downloadable Content]] packs for ''[[Dragon Age]]'' lets you play as the darkspawn.
* There are six points of view available in ''[[Suikoden III]]'', slowly added as you get further into the game, one of which only becoming unlocked upon beating the game with all 108 characters. {{spoiler|The final POV focuses on the villains of the story, and what they were up to throughout the game's events. It's actually really interesting, and strikes a good balance between making the villains seem sympathetic while retaining their status as clear villains.}}
== Web Animation ==
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== [[Web
* The first season of ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'' included a three part villain story, "Subjects Apprehended"/"Psychological Torture"/"Communication Terminated".
* The [[Whateley Universe]] has done this several times. The story "It's Good to be the Don" centers on Don Sebastiano, the head bad guy of the Alphas at Whateley Academy. "Ask Not For Whom Belle Tolls" centers around four supervillains at the school who have some problems of their own to handle - like covering up a murder. "Bad Seeds" focuses on a campus club that you can't get into unless you're the child of a supervillain.
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* ''[[Alternate History: The Series|AH Dot Com the Series]]'' did this twice, once with the "Counterfactual" three-episode miniseries in Season 2 and then again with the episode "Whatever Happened to the CF.netters?" in Season 5.
* When [[The Nostalgia Chick]] is captured by [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Dark Nella]], the latter decides to do a [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/nostalgia-chick/30777-tron review] of ''[[Tron]]'' in an effort to understand (and mock) the nerdy mind.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' had two:
** "Zuko Alone", in which [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Zuko was the only main character to appear]] (except in flashbacks).
** "[[Beach Episode|The Beach]]", which spent substantially more time on [[Fan Nickname|the Zucrew]] sunbathing and [[Breakfast Club
* ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' had two:
** "Pepper, Interrupted", despite its title, focused mostly on Gene and his dealings with the Maggia and Pepper's attempts to form a friendship with him.
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* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode "Just Another Manic Mojo" features Mojo Jojo going through a normal day - which, for him, consists of [[Villains Out Shopping|getting breakfast, reading the paper]], and plotting to destroy the titular heroes. The Powerpuffs themselves show up later on, but the focus still remains on Mojo.
** In "Custody Battle" he and Him fight over who gets to be the father of the [[The Psycho Rangers|Rowdyruff Boys]] and in "Prime Mates" he has to deal with Mopey Popo (the girls appear briefly in the latter).
* ''[[The Fairly
* The ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Hail Doofania!" turns the show's [[Strictly Formula|usual formula]] on its head by focusing on Doofenshmirtz's daily scheme, inverting some of the lines (Phineas spouts the "entire tri-state area" line, Norm asks "Whacha doing?"), and instead of Phineas and Ferb's plan for the day being disposed of by Doofenshmirtz's invention, their invention disposes of his.
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' had "Aku's Fairy Tales" where Aku, tired of all the hero worship Jack gets from the children, decides to tell stories with him as the hero and Jack as the villain. Jack himself only shows up in these stories.
** Two more showed up in the final season. "The Princess and the Bounty Hunters" concerned an [[Anti-Villain]] bounty hunter who convinces several others to gang up on Jack to capture him. Jack shows up near the end [[Shaggy Dog Story|and defeats them easily]]. Another, "The Tale of X9", involves an old robot of Aku's with an [[Personality Chip]] forced to go after Jack after Aku steals the only thing he cares about. As you could expect, [[Downer Ending|it doesn't end well]].
* ''[[Dexter's Laboratory|Dexters Laboratory]]'' had two episodes devoted to [[The Rival|Mandark]]. The first centered around his attempts to impress Dee Dee in a surfing contest, with Dexter not appearing at all. Though the effectiveness of that episode wavers a bit considering, other than using his science to cheat in a surfing contest, he wasn't up to anything particularly villainous. The second was pure [[Villains Out Shopping]], with Mandark going through his morning routine to the meter of his [[Evil Laugh]] before going out to battle Dexter.
** [[Hostile Show Takeover|Taken one step further]] when a set of shorts were all dedicated to
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' gives us "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" and "The Story of Jimmy Rebel", both of which star [[Boomerang Bigot]] Uncle Ruckus (no relation) and relegate the Freeman family to minor supporting roles. The episodes usually try to portray Ruckus as a slightly sympathetic figure (but only slightly). In the first, his self-hatred almost drives him to commit suicide. In the second, meeting him convinces a [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] version of Johnny Rebel to give up anti-black music ({{spoiler|but not racist music}}).
* ''[[Wakfu]]'' has a bonus episode focusing on [[Tragic Villain|Nox's]] [[Start of Darkness]]. It's as much a [[Tear Jerker]] as one would expect.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Something Completely Different]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Plot Thread Tropes]]
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