Honestly I think I hate the āBUT I HAVE MY FRIENDS!ā trope, like man it took several people to take down one antagonist, letās forget the battle outcome, IT TOOK SEVERAL PEOPLE, to take down ONE. Itās not that the antagonist was weak cuz they didnāt have any people man. They simply needed people of their caliber on their side. And thatās what they lacked.
Let have a true āvillainā, one that actually battles for a true cause. Get sent back in time, and find a person worthy. Send them through a constant loop of time searching for the person. Only to realise that such a person simply doesnāt exist.
:)
Then we an take several routes,
The villain comes to realise this so they decide to create the person, by putting a side character or even better they original hero through many trials until they come to see their views! (Have hero still retaliate would be awesome)
Or have them decide that if they canāt achieve it with what they have, they must simply strengthen themselves further.
Or maybe just find a group of ppp that works as one