Disc One Final Boss/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The villain that The Hero fought and defeated isn't the final villain.

  • Straight: Bob defeats Emperor Evulz, but it turns out that Lord Blackheart is the real main villain.
  • Exaggerated: Evulz turns out to be just a Mook Lieutenant in Blackheart's army.
  • Justified: Emperor Evulz is a servant to Lord Blackheart.
  • Inverted: Bob defeats Emperor Evulz, then spends the rest of the story hunting General Drake.
  • Subverted:
    • Later, Emperor Evulz turns out to be The Man Behind the Man to his supposed employer, and survived his supposed defeat by Bob.
    • Evulz starts off as someone looking to be the Big Bad, but other forces show up to prove that he's out of their league, forcing an Enemy Mine.
  • Double Subverted: However, he was only doing this on the orders of someone else, who Bob goes after when he defeats Evulz for good.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Evulz gets defeated, but his impact on the plot remains, to the point where the next Big Bad's rise to power was affected by whatever Evulz caused beforehand.
    • Alternatively, Evulz is defeated, but the heroes are too weakened to handle the next Big Bad, leading to a massive Curb Stomp Battle.
  • Zig Zagged: The story features The Big Bad Shuffle, so it's impossible to know whether Evulz is the Big Bad or not.
  • Averted: Bob defeats Emperor Evulz and the story ends there.
  • Enforced: The Glorious Adventures of Bob is unexpectedly given a full season, so the writer writes in another villain behind Emperor Evulz.
  • Lampshaded: "Emperor Evulz couldn't have been behind this himself. There's got to be someone pulling his strings."
  • Discussed: Bob and his allies discuss whether Evulz was actually working for anyone else after his defeat.
  • Defied: Bob guesses that Evulz isn't the one in charge, so decides to go after Lord Blackheart instead of concentrating on defeating him.
  • Exploited: Bob guesses that Emperor Evulz isn't the one in charge, so deliberately captures him alive for questioning in the hope he'll give up Lord Blackheart's location.
  • Downplayed: Emperor Evulz is Lord Blackheart's most trusted ally and confidant, and Blackheart's defeat follows shortly after Evulz's.
  • Conversed: Anna and Colin are watching The Glorious Adventures of Bob, and know that Emperor Evulz isn't the Big Bad because there's still a few more seasons to go.

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