10 Coolest Video Game Villains Whose Potential Was Cut Short

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Adrian Gerlach

Gaming - August 8th 2025, 17:00 GMT+2

Sonic Forces Infinite — 10. Infinite – Sonic Forces (2017)

To be completely honest, this spot would've fallen to Black Doom or Mephiles the Dark if they hadn't made their grand comeback in *Sonic x Shadow Generations* (2024). It's fairly rare for a main antagonist from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series to not just be Dr. Eggman or one of his robots, so when this mysterious masked jackal with reality-bending abilities alongside an intriguing theme song was teased for *Sonic Forces* (2017), fans had every reason to be excited. However, due to the rushed development of the game, he would ultimately end up feeling somewhat one-dimensional, despite his numerous in-universe successes (like conquering 99.9% of the planet). After a final confrontation, he got absorbed by the Phantom Ruby that granted him his powers, meaning that we'll likely never see Infinite again outside of small cameos. | © Sega

SSBB Tabuu — 9. Tabuu – Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)

In its nature as a crossover series, *Super Smash Bros.* rarely provides a fully-fledged story that contextualizes how and why its impressive cast from all across gaming history takes up its arms. The main exception here is *Super Smash Bros. Brawl* (2008), which has the heroes fight the Subspace Army under the control of Master Hand, itself under the control of the powerful Tabuu. Aiming to rip apart the world and managing to send entire locations to his home dimension, where he can create new orderly worlds out of them, Tabuu manages to impress within the little screen time afforded to him. However, after his defeat at the end of the Subspace Emissary campaign, this mysterious figure never show up again. With many question regarding his origin and symbolic meaning left unanswered, many fans have been clamoring for Tabuu's return (some even for him to become a playable character), but so far to no avail. | © Nintendo

Metal Gear Rising Armstrong — 8. Senator Armstrong – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)

Among the lineup of *Metal Gear* antagonists, 2013's Senator Armstrong stands out – not only due to being one of about three main characters not named some version of "Snake" or the many internet memes surrounding him, but also thanks to his unmatched stage presence. The fictional US politician who wants to use reactionary anti-estbalishment rhetoric, artificially-inflamed conflict and the phrase "Make America Great Again" to tighten his grip on power feels... oddly prophetic, in retrospect. His speeches, mannerisms and nanomachine-enabled fighting style – all with the intention to reconstruct the USA with a social darwinist ideology – has captivated fans and makes him getting his heart ripped out at the end of the game honestly even feel slightly disappointing. | © Konami

Tloz Skyward Sword ghirahim — 7. Ghirahim – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)

With the majority of *The Legend of Zelda* titles relying on the returning main antagonist Ganondorf (and, to a much lesser extent, Vaati), there were really only two standouts: Skull Kid from *Majora's Mask*, who feels like its character arc was taken to its logical conclusion and Ghirahim, who just... disappears. Being the personification of the sword wielded by the demon Demise (who is continuously reincarnated as Ganondorf), this flamboyant sociopath felt predestined to be summoned again in later *Zelda* titles. Alas, his unique visual style as well as a blend of bloodlust and feigned politeness would sadly only ever return in the non-canonical Spin-Off *Hyrule Warriors* (2014). | © Nintendo

Cropped Atlas Bioshock 2007 — 6. Frank Fontaine – BioShock (2007)

The dichotomy between the two central antagonists of *BioShock* – ideological visionary-turned-dictator Andrew Ryan and greedy, self-styled rebel leader Frank Fontaine – toys with both the expectations and morals of the player. A bit unfair, then, that Ryan gets to exert his influence far more prominently in later titles. Hiding behind the friendly voice of the working-class revolutionary "Atlas", Fontaine manipulates the player into dismantling the very system of Ryan’s underwater city, Rapture, all to serve his own black-market empire. In the end, Fontaine overdoses on ADAM, the gene-altering substance on which he built his business empire, sadly ensuring we'll never get to see more of his fascinating schemes unfold in the future. | © 2K

Pokémon XY Lysandre — 5. Lysandre – Pokémon X & Y (2013)

The human antagonists of the *Pokémon* games rarely get much opportunity to shine outside of their respective game of origin (notable exceptions being Giovanni and Ghetsis), but Lysandre from *Pokémon X & Y* (2013) really got shafted. As a media mogul and tech billionaire with contacts in the upper echelons of his home region, he uses his influence to maintain the image of a squeaky-clean philanthropist in public, but only until he sees no further use in doing so (sound familiar?). In reality, he controls the crime syndicate Team Flare with the aims of constructing a Pokémon-weapon that could wipe out the vast majority of humanity to allow for the creation of his own utopia. It would've been very interesting to see how exactly he wields his influence, but sadly, he gets destroyed alongside his weapon way too early, with only an alternate-universe version of him later making a brief cameo in *Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon* (2017). | © The Pokémon Company

Super Paper Mario Dimentio — 4. Dimentio – Super Paper Mario (2007)

When one thinks of *Super Mario* series villains, the antics of a certain princess-kidnapping, fire-breathing turtle first come to mind. But how about a dimension-manipulating jester magician who wants to fulfill a dark prophecy by destroying the world and rebuilding it in his image after fusing with Luigi and the Chaos Heart? *Super Paper Mario* (2007) leans heavily into its absurd narrative and Dimentio benefits from it by easily becoming the most cunning antagonist Mario and the crew have ever faced. After enabling the heroes to defeat his master and then taking his spot, Dimentio comes very close to wiping out all of existence until ultimately vanishing alongside the Chaos Heart after a very emotional sacrifice. He has since become emblematic of the type of the more complex stories the *Paper Mario* series has – much to many fans' dismay – abandoned after *Super*. | © Nintendo

Ace Attorney Manfred Von Karma — 3. Manfred von Karma – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2001)

Out of the many prosecutors which protagonist Phoenix Wright has to go up against in the *Ace Attorney* series, the "final boss" of the first game has to be the most imposing one. Manfred von Karma is an excellent manipulator in total control of the court who stops at nothing to get his Guilty verdicts. Having murdered defense attorney Gregory Edgeworth to preserve his flawless reputation and win streak after being accused of forging evidence, he would go on to adopt his son, raising the latter to become a ruthless prosecutor as an act of revenge. This son, Miles Edgeworth, goes on to become protagonist Wright's main rival, until he is gaslit by von Karma into believing that he murdered his own biological father. After this is uncovered, Manfred finally gets convicted and soon dies in jail, making way for his equally psychotic, but much less impressive daughter Franziska to take up his mantle. | © Capcom

Metroid dread raven beak — 2. Raven Beak – Metroid Dread (2021)

Before the appearance of Raven Beak, players always heard a lot about the Chozo – the adoptive people of series protagonist Samus Aran – without ever meeting them in person. Raven Beak, leader of the Mawkin tribe of the Chozo, finally marked the end of decades of anticipation and was extremely menacing while doing so. After having assisted the Thoha tribe with the creation of the Metroid bioweapons, he orders the slaughter of the clan to take the Metroid's power for himself, only to later find that Samus had already wiped them out in, with the last remaining DNA being injected in herself as a vaccine. Raven Beak lures Samus – to whom he had originally provided his Mawkin DNA upon her adoption in order to give her the signature powers on display throughout the series – in a trap to extract the Metroid DNA from her. He views her as his biological daughter, but what could've turned into a *Star Wars*-like epic struggle between generations sadly gets cut short when Samus' Metroid abilities activate just in time to kill her genocidal, bird-alien dad. | © Nintendo

FFVI Pixel Remaster Kefka — 1. Kefka Palazzo – Final Fantasy VI (1994)

Despite most *Final Fantasy* games being self-contained, several main antagonists have been elaborated on after their initial appearance, like Chaos from *Final Fantasy* (1987) and Sephiroth from *Final Fantasy VII* (1997). It really makes you wonder why the same was never done for Kefka, one of the most popular video game villains of all time. Introduced as the court mage of an evil empire, he would go on to leave a lasting impression with his sheer cruelty and nihilism, betraying his master, driving the world to ruin and then ruling it as a god. Granted, it's difficult to follow up on that, but a prequel detailing his fall to insanity would certainly feel more appropriate than him being delegated to non-canonical Spin-Offs. | © Square Enix

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One of the most fun aspects of a good video game is a solid villain. Having someone the player is motivated go up against – be it because they're especially hateable or just fun to be around – can make or break the experience. Consequently, one might expect developers to keep utilizing their best designs once they've struck gold. Unfortunately, many of the best main antagonists are killed off before it feels like their respective franchise really gave them enough time to shine. Exactly these are the cases we'll take a look at today: The best adversaries whose franchises moved on without them, much to the dismay of the fans – or in other words: The 10 Coolest Video Game Villains Whose Potential Was Cut Short. For variety's sake, we'll limit ourselves to one villain per franchise.