Villain Episode: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

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.

Sometimes the entire episode will be mostly [[Villains Out Shopping]]. Sometimes literally.

 

 

 

* ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has a few of these. In particular, in the [[All There in the Manual|second Sound Stage]] of the first season, which featured the backstory of the then [[The Dragon|Dragon]] Fate, and in two volumes of the second season's [[Comic Book Adaptation|supplementary manga]], which portrayed the daily lives of [[Anti-Villain|Hayate and the Wolkenritter]], Nanoha didn't even appear at all.

** 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.

** 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]].

* In the anime version, Tier Harribel of ''[[Bleach]]'' got one of these in the form of a [[Whole-Episode Flashback]], largely to make up for the fact that in the manga, she's one of the only Espada ranked among the top 6 out of 10 that doesn't either get a fair amount of [[Character Development]] or a flashback explaining their motives. This episode ended up turning her from possibly the least developed Espada to one of the most developed.

 

 

* 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.

** Another issue is devoted to a shapeshifting alien spy, who is deciding whether or not he should give a go signal to invade the Earth. {{spoiler|He does}}.

** Despite technically being the ''Samaritan Special'', one issue concerns Samaritan's archenemy Infidel far more than his heroic counterpart.

* Several issues of ''Avengers: The Initiative'' during the ''[[Secret Invasion]]'' crossover event are told from the perspective of Crusader, secretly an advance scout for a Skrull invasion.

** Key word there -- ''a'' Skrull invasion. The particular Skrull invasion featured in ''Secret Invasion'' was a surprise to even Crusader himself.

** An earlier [[Fifth Week Event]] was "New Year's Evil".

* [[Geoff Johns]]' run on ''[[The Flash]]'' featured periodic issues spotlighting one of the [[Rogues Gallery]].

* Recently DC made Lex Luthor the main character of [[Action Comics]].

** And the "Scrambled" arc is about [[Big Bad|Eggman]] dealing with [[The Starscream|Snively's]] latest betrayal.

 

 

 

== Film ==

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In the [[Sword of Truth]] series, a novel called "The Pillars of Creation" deals with two half-siblings of the main protagonist. He has no idea they even exist until they meet towards the very end of the book, when the main cast [[Deus Ex Machina|shows up]] to interact with them. The only main character of the series to show up in the novel at any point up to that is the main antagonist (to manipulate the half-siblings) and the [[Badass Grandpa|First]] [[Badass Bookworm|Wizard]], [[The Archmage|who]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|blows up]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|half the big bad's army]] in one scene. '''''[[Noodle Implements|With Spittle]]'''''. [[Beyond the Impossible|While he]] [[Anti-Magic|was in custody]]. '''[[Underestimating Badassery|Being]] [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|interrogated]]'''. But, other than that [[Everybody Remembers the Stripper|one scene]], the novel was the second-worst of the series.

* ''Visser'', of the ''[[Animorphs]]'' series, is a book written from the perspective of Visser One (the first one; the Yeerk that infests Marco's mother). Individual chapters of ''Hork-Bajir Chronicles'' are written from the perspective of the Yeerk that would later become Visser Three (and, even later, the ''other'' Visser One).

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[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.

** The later episode "Working Stiffs" also has the perp as the main character.

** "Across the Sea" as well, since it give sympathetic backstory to the Man in Black.

** 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.

 

 

 

== Web Animation ==

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** And, on a smaller scale, the occasional plot threads that follow [[Big Bad|Xykon]] or [[The Psycho Rangers|the Linear Guild]] for a while.

* Emergency Exit does this for Kyran and the 'villains' from time to time.

** There's also the Doc Scratch intermission.

 

 

** {{spoiler|In all three, Karma is both swift and merciless. Interestingly enough, the Bad Seeds are all Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains at worse, though Jobe is competent. Jadis herself wants to be a ''hero''!}}

* 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 ==

** "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.

* Happens occasionally on ''[[Transformers]]''

** ''Generation 1'' episode "Triple Takeover" was about [[Evil Versus Evil|Blitzwing and Astrotrain wresting leadership of the Decepticons from Megatron]]. The Autobots did appear, but didn't really do very much. The later episodes "Starscream's Brigade" and "Webworld" were similarly Decepticon-centric.

** Also "Game Slave 2," which focuses on Gaz rather than Zim or Dib. She's not ''[[Sociopathic Hero|technically]]'' a villain...but she's pretty close.

* ''[[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]].

** "Aliens Among Us", focusing on Agent Bishop as [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|he plans his own alien invasion and kidnaps the president in order for him to get respected]].

** "Insane in the Membrane" has Stockman attempting to regain a human body, [[Body Horror|but it all went wrong]].

** "Hun on the Run" focuses on Hun as he tries to rescue Karai from Bishop.

* [[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]] has "The Last One", which focuses on the Mooninites gathering together every villain in the series so far, to destroy the Aqua Teens. Predictably, all of them [[Hilarity Ensues|fail miserably]].

 

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[[Category:Something Completely Different]]