Generic doomsday villain



The Generic Doomsday Villain is an overpowering antagonist with no clear motive or plan behind their actions. They do not fancy themselves to be doing the right thing, they're not driven by envy, they have no personal vendetta against any of their victims, they're not being compelled in any way, they are not in it for the money or power, they're not seeking revenge for any real or imagined wrong done to them, they're not trying to satiate their excessive pride, they're not even a sadist who enjoys hurting people. They may have an objective, but they never have a coherent reason behind it. Essentially, a villain who is a flat character, defined solely by the threat they pose.

Important Note: Complete Monsters are required to have a personality and established motivations, therefore they can never be GDVs no matter how boring or poorly written they are, so don't add any CMs here.

Anime

 * Deathgeld (Bikini Warriors)
 * Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School)
 * Diablomon (Digimon Adventure: Our War Game)
 * Demon/Daemon (Digimon Adventure 02)
 * Mephistomon (Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers)
 * Belphemon (Digimon Savers)
 * Most villains in Digimon Adventure tri.
 * Primordial Life Fiber (Kill la Kill)
 * Princess Kaguya Otsutsuki (Naruto: Shippuden)
 * Bottom and Black Hole (Pretty Cure All Stars movies)
 * Most of the villains in Futari wa Pretty Cure
 * Bahamut (Rage of Bahamut: Genesis)
 * Kid Buu (Dragon Ball Z)
 * Broly (Dragon Ball Z: Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan and Broly - The Second Coming)
 * Bio-Broly (Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly)
 * Bojack (Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound)
 * Janemba (Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn)
 * Hirudegarn (Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon)
 * Androids 13, 14 and 15 (Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13; original Japanese version)
 * Hatchiyack (Dragon Ball Z: The Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans)
 * The One-Star Dragon/Syn/Omega Shenron (Dragon Ball GT)
 * Zorc the Dark One, Dartz and the Great Leviathan (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters)
 * Yubel, the Light of Destruction and Sartorius Kumar (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)
 * Anubis (Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pyramid of Light)
 * Professor Nakabachi/Shoichi Makise (Steins;Gate)
 * Jibril (No Game, No Life: Zero)
 * Don Thousand (Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal)
 * The Penguin Empire (Daimidaler: Prince vs Penguin Empire)
 * Rido Kuran (Vampire Knight)

Manga

 * Schmerman Bach, and Firenda/Nikola (Plunderer)
 * Rei Kurorogi, and Wataru Himeji (Magical Girl Apocalypse)
 * The King (Magical Girl Site)
 * Team Jabberwock (Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game)
 * Yhwach, and the Wandenreich (Bleach)
 * Will of the Abyss, and Jack Vessalius (Pandora Hearts)
 * Chief Kakuzawa (Elfen Lied)

Light Novel

 * Daisuke Hiyama and Ehit (Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest)
 * Gabriel Miller, Laughing Coffin, Death Gun, PoH and Oberon the Fairy King/Sugo Nobuyuki (Sword Art Online)
 * The Acceleration Research Society, White Cosmos/White King and Black Vise (Accel World)
 * Loki, Diodora Astaroth, Rizevim Livan Lucifer, Kokabiel and the Fallen Angels (High School DxD)
 * A unmanned Golem (Infinite Stratos)

Visual Novel

 * Shinji Mato (Fate/Stay Night)

Animated Films

 * Krona (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights)

Live-Action Films

 * The Bye-Bye Man (The Bye-Bye Man)
 * Lex Luthor and Doomsday (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)
 * Enchantress and Incubus (Suicide Squad)
 * Dracula's brides (Dracula (1931))
 * Galactus (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)
 * The unnamed killer (Final Exam)
 * Gozer the Destroyer (Ghostbusters)
 * August Kuratov (Guardians)
 * Frank Miller (High Noon)
 * The Aliens (Independence Day)
 * Russell Van Pelt (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle)
 * Malekith the Accursed (Thor: The Dark World)
 * Dormammu (Doctor Strange)
 * Surtur (Thor: Ragnarok)
 * The Elementals (Spider-Man: Far From Home)
 * Ivan Drago (Rocky IV; pre-character development)
 * The Bandit Gang (Seven Samurai)
 * Shinzon (Star Trek: Nemesis)
 * Gavin Elster (Vertigo)
 * El Mascarado (WrestleManiac)
 * Various C-list kaijus

Live-Action TV

 * The First Evil (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
 * The Judge (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
 * The Beast (Angel)
 * The Night King (Game of Thrones)
 * Great Satan (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger)
 * Deboth (Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger)
 * Dark Spectre (Power Rangers in Space)
 * Omni the Magnificence (Power Rangers S.P.D.)
 * Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar and Eva McCulloch (The Flash)
 * Damien Darhk, Prometheus and Ra's Al Ghul (Arrow)
 * Children of Juru, Selena, Gamemnae, Leviathan, Project Cadmus, Lex, and Lillian Luthor (Supergirl)
 * Alice, Safiyah Sohail, and Black Mask (Batwoman)
 * Vandal Savage, Mallus, The Fates, Lachesis, Neron (Legends of Tomorrow)
 * Master Xandred (Power Rangers Samurai)
 * Emperor Marvo (Power Rangers Super Megaforce)

Video Games

 * Federation of the Americas (Call of Duty: Ghosts)
 * Global Liberation Army (Command & Conquer: Generals)
 * Most of the villains in Devil May Cry 2
 * The Cloud of Darkness (Final Fantasy III)
 * Shan Yu (Kingdom Hearts II)
 * Prince Hans (Kingdom Hearts III)
 * Bellum (The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass)
 * Malladus (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks)
 * The White Masks (Rainbow Six: Siege)
 * NEO Umbrella (Resident Evil 6)
 * Herrscher of the End (Honkai Impact 3rd)

Western Animation

 * GOLB (Adventure Time)
 * Ragnarok (Ben 10: Alien Force)
 * Diagon (Ben 10: Ultimate Alien)
 * Pariah Dark (Danny Phantom)
 * Nocturne, Vortex and various other Season 3 villains (Danny Phantom)
 * Vaatu (The Legend of Korra)
 * Brimstone (Justice League Unlimited)
 * Ender (Megas XLR)
 * Gurrkek the Planet-Killer (Megas XLR)
 * King Sombra (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; pre-Season 9)
 * Mr. Kat (Kid vs. Kat)
 * Baron Mordo and Spider-Carnage (Spider-Man: The Animated Series)
 * Green Goblin (The Spectacular Spider-Man)
 * Strike (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)
 * The King of Shadows (Rainbow Brite)
 * ManBearPig (South Park)
 * Titanium Chef (Sushi Pack)
 * Volcanus (SWAT Kids)
 * Master Frown (Unikitty!; until his redemption in "The Birthday to End All Birthdays, Part 2")
 * Puppet King, Cinderblock, Plasmus, Overload, the Cironielian Chrysalis Eater and Kardiac (Teen Titans)

Comics

 * The Church of Humanity (Uncanny X-Men)
 * The Jackal (Spider-Man comics)
 * Prometheus (Justice League: Cry for Justice)
 * Mother Machine (Kamandi: At Earth's End)
 * Twin clones of Adolf Hitler (Superman: At Earth's End)
 * Onslaught (Marvel Comics)
 * Darkthorn (Youngblood)
 * The Terrorists (Holy Terror)

Why This Trope Sucks

 * 1) Nearly every time this is used, the character is basically a walking plot device who only exist to cause conflict to their world.
 * 2) They never have any properly explained motivations for their actions, or even any defining personality traits or entertainment factors to make up for it, which makes the villain very dull to watch.
 * 3) With the villain in this position, the audience can't really have a proper reaction towards them.
 * 4) Very often, these characters will be portrayed as an absolute threat or extremely dark and menacing, even though they barely do anything warranting that title.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Having a clear-cut villain with obviously evil motives and no redeeming qualities can be preferable to the modern trend for villains who try to be somehow sympathetic, but fail completely at this, and/or are being used as a way for the writers to lecture the viewers about their political beliefs.
 * 2) Some of them, like Steppenwolf from DCEU, have improved with better motivations.

Comments
