Big Bad is a term originally used for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer to describe its major antagonists but has since been used by some critics and fans for multiple other shows, including Supernatural.
The title is divided into the main villains and the secondary villains. The Big Bad is the main villain(s) of the season, orchestrating events behind the scenes, while the secondary villain(s) often (but not always) serve the Big Bad, appearing more regularly and antagonizing the heroes. In some cases, there are several antagonists that also work against each other, other than just antagonizing the Winchesters. Some Big Bads are introduced early on into the season and act as the Big Bad throughout the major arc, while some are later revealed to simply be secondary villains, and are then replaced by the season's true Big Bad or some other character also playing an antagonist role.
Season Villains
Season 1
Season 2
- Main Villain: Azazel
- Secondary Villains: The Special Children, Gordon Walker and Dean's Crossroad Demon
Season 3
- Main Villain: Lilith
- Secondary Villain: Bela Talbot
Season 4
Season 5
- Main Villain: Lucifer
- Secondary Villains: Zachariah, Michael and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Season 6
- Main Villains: Raphael, Crowley and Castiel
- Secondary Villains: Eve, Soulless Sam and Samuel Campbell
Season 7
- Main Villain: Dick Roman
- Secondary Villains: Edgar and Lucifer (Hallucination)
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10
- Main Villains: The Mark of Cain and Rowena
- Secondary Villains: Demon Dean, Styne Family and Metatron
Season 11
- Main Villain: The Darkness
- Secondary Villain: Lucifer
Season 12
- Main Villains: Doctor Hess and Lucifer
- Secondary Villains: Arthur Ketch and Dagon
Season 13
- Main Villains: Alternate Michael and Lucifer
- Secondary Villain: Asmodeus
Season 14
- Main Villain: Alternate Michael
- Secondary Villain: Nick
Season 15
- Main Villains: God and Billie
- Secondary Villain: The Shadow
The Winchesters
- Main Villains: Joan Hopkins, the Akrida and the Akrida Leader
- Secondary Villains: The Akrida Stalker
Trivia
- Lucifer is the most recurring Big Bad in the series.
- Naomi, The Darkness and God are the only antagonists not to have been killed.
- The Mark of Cain is the only Big Bad that is not a living being.
- Everyone of the main cast has been a Big Bad in one season: Soulless Sam and Castiel in Season 6, and Demon Dean in Season 10.
- While not a Big Bad, a soulless Jack Kline was a major threat in Season 14.
- Metatron's death in Season 11 was the first time that a Big Bad had been killed since Abaddon in Season 9, although Metatron was no longer a bad guy when he died.
- Of the Big Bads, Metatron, Arthur Ketch and Rowena MacLeod all met their final ends as redeemed characters and allies of the Winchesters.
- Rowena, Arthur, Lucifer and Lilith have all been resurrected after their initial demise, but only Lucifer and Lilith truly resumed their evil ways upon their returns.
- In Season 15, main antagonist Billie and secondary antagonist Belphegor both appeared to be allies if not good guys for most of their time helping the Winchesters. It wasn't until near the end that both were revealed to be bad guys who were after ultimate power using the Winchesters.
- Of the six seasons featuring multiple antagonists, Season 9 is the only time where they never interact with each other, though Metatron does mention Abaddon by name in Do You Believe In Miracles?.
- The Winchesters is the only time that an entire species is the main bad guy with the Akrida having been created by God for the sole purpose of destroying all of Creation if he was ever defeated.