big bad

noun

variants or Big Bad

plural big bads or Big Bads

: a major villain or antagonist (as in a movie, show, or game)

When Ursula, the story's big bad, took to the screen, I would run behind the entertainment center and cover my eyes, a fact my mom loves to remind me about whenever she gets the chance.—

KT Hawbaker

As the show [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] aged, the Big Bads became more dangerous and the lessons more adult, but Buffy never gave up …—

Kaitlin Thomas

The Big Bad this time around is the wind mage Vaati, who has captured Zelda, and it's your quest to defeat him and prevent the unholy union of princess and evil eyeball-blob-thing.—

Tony Ponce

Examples of big bad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web However, Marvel fired Jonathan Majors, who was set to star as Kang, the pivotal big bad for this next phase of movies and shows, following the actor's guilty verdict in his assault trial. —

Nick Romano, EW.com, 28 July 2024 The big bad wolf may be a fairy tale character, but wolves have an infamous reputation in real life too. —

Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 29 July 2024 Jonathan Majors, who was supposed to play the Thanos-level big bad Kang the Conqueror in the next two Avengers movies was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment and dropped by Marvel and Disney. —

Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 28 July 2024 The new title indicates that the MCU is shifting its focus to a new big bad: Doctor Doom. —

Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for big bad

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'big bad.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.