: Re: How do you escalate a story's plot after killing the Big Bad? Everyone remembers the Death Star and how it was supposed to be the most potent superweapon in the Star Wars-verse. Then in the

@Moriarity138

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The Big Bad, by definition, is the primary antagonist of a story built around the defeat of a primary antagonist. If defeating the Big Bad isn't the end of the story, then either that person wasn't the Big Bad or this isn't actually a Big Bad story. That doesn't mean it might not look like one. Both Black Panther and The Last Jedi use variations on this effectively. In each movie, the figure who initially presents as a stereotypical "Big Bad" is displaced as primary antagonist by a more ambiguous, nuanced, and ultimately more threatening villain. A direct threat of force and power is replaced by a new threat that targets the hero at a more emotional level.

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