Antagonist

Antagonists, sometimes referred to as archenemies or villains, are the polar opposite of the protagonist of the Grand Theft Auto games. The antagonist of a Grand Theft Auto game is usually a person that has betrayed or hurt the protagonist on a personal and social level or is motivated by revenge for a past action committed either intentionally or unintentionally by the protagonist, and spends the game moving against the protagonist in multiple ways. In this list the main antagonist is listed first for each game.

Description of most antagonists
In the GTA games, the main antagonist is sometimes introduced at the very beginning of the game (i.e. Frank Tenpenny), often as an ally or friend (Catalina, Sonny Forelli). Sometimes, the antagonist is the main reason that the protagonist visits the area that the game is set in (and the reason the game takes place; a perfect example of this is Darko Brevic). In most GTA games, the antagonist usually fakes a friendship or business relationship with the protagonist then eventually reveal their true intentions for the protagonist and betrays them later on, and becomes their main enemy (Lance Vance, Big Smoke, Dimitri Rascalov). This often occurs when he/she abruptly opens fire on the protagonist. The main character always hunts down and eliminates the main antagonist eventually, usually in a major battle at the end of the game.

There are both main and secondary antagonists of the game; the main antagonist is generally the one who causes the most drama to the game's story and ultimately commits the crimes that causes the most emotional anger in the protagonist. Secondary antagonists are characters who end up playing muchly the same role, but to a lesser degree. Often, the secondary and primary antagonists have some sort of affiliation with each other (Sonny Forelli and Lance Vance, Frank Tenpenny and Big Smoke, Devin Weston and Steve Haines). Grand Theft Auto Online is a notable exception to this trend because it barely has any secondary antagonists (minus Cliffford). Instead, the game's antagonists have little to no affiliation with each other and act as the main antagonists of their own individual storylines where they go up against the GTA Online Protagonist. Grand Theft Auto Online is also a progressive game with a timeline matching real-world events so some of its antagonists have made their debut as far back as 2017 while others have shown up as recently as 2021.

Antagonists usually have a gang behind them for protection. The protagonist will battle the antagonist's group and sometimes take over their gang. In all games except for Grand Theft Auto Online, the main antagonist dies (in every case but one by the protagonist's hand) and is sometimes joined by the secondary antagonist at the end of the game in a final battle, which wraps up the main storyline.

Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto 2 does not feature any "real" antagonist or a prominent archenemy for the GTA 2 Protagonists. The game is focused on the players doing several jobs for different gang bosses around three different districts of Anywhere City to gain respect from them, while also secretly working against them. Once all jobs from each gang from a city district are completed, the protagonist themselves betray the gang leaders, tracks down and kills all of them, and later flees the city with the money they earned.

Trivia

 * Out of the entire Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto Online currently holds the record for the game with the highest number of prominent antagonists, totaling seven thus far.
 * Second place goes to Grand Theft Auto V with a total of five prominent antagonists.
 * Ray Boccino, Rocco Pelosi and Ray Bulgarin are antagonists that are killed by another protagonist:
 * Ray Boccino was the rival of Johnny Klebitz and was killed by Niko Bellic.
 * Rocco Pelosi was the rival of Luis Lopez and was killed by Michael De Santa.
 * Ray Bulgarin was the rival of Niko Bellic and was killed by Luis Lopez, although Bulgarin was an enemy of both Niko and later Luis.
 * Lance Vance and Salvatore Leone are also deuteragonists in other games.
 * Furthermore, Lance Vance is also the tritagonist in the same game where he is an antagonist.
 * In Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned, Grand Theft Auto V, and Grand Theft Auto Online, the protagonist can betray a major antagonist, instead of the other way around (as Niko Bellic can betray Jimmy Pegorino in the Revenge ending, Johnny Klebitz betrayed Ray Boccino, Franklin Clinton betrayed Devin Weston and the GTA Online Protagonist betrayed Thornton Duggan).
 * Ray Boccino was betrayed not only by Johnny, but also by Niko and Pegorino, as Pegorino ordered his death and Niko killed him. This makes Ray Boccino the only antagonist that is betrayed by more than one protagonist.
 * Grand Theft Auto V and the Diamond Casino Heist update for Grand Theft Auto Online are the only games in the series where the antagonists are not killed, although in GTA V this applies only if the player chooses Ending A or Ending B.
 * Although it is confirmed that Ending C is canon, leaving GTA Online as the only game in which the antagonists aren't killed.
 * King Courtney, Thornton Duggan, and Juan Strickler are the only antagonists verified to canonically survive. Because of that, they are the only ones that got away with their actions.
 * It's possible that Johnny Guns also canonically survived because his fate is unclear after the mission Don't Fuck With Dre.
 * Grand Theft Auto Advance is the first game in the series where the final storyline mission does not involve the player killing an antagonist.
 * Massimo Torini and Thornton Duggan are the only antagonists who are not enemies of the protagonists.
 * Thornton Duggan has the lowest number of appearances as he does not appear in any missions in GTA Online: The Diamond Casino Heist.
 * Wu Lee has the highest number of appearances, appearing in sixteen missions.
 * Lance Vance and Wu "Kenny" Lee, are the only antagonists that are related to a protagonist (Lance being Victor Vance's brother and Kenny being Huang Lee's uncle).
 * Cliffford is the only antagonist that isn't a human.
 * There are some antagonists, who after their betrayal, never appear again until they are killed. These antagonists are: Big Smoke, Diego Mendez, Dimitri Rascalov, Billy Grey, Ray Bulgarin, Avon Hertz, and Cliffford.
 * There are some antagonists that betray the protagonist in the same mission that they are killed. These antagonists are: Lance Vance, Vinnie, Marty Jay Williams, Wu Lee and Rudy D'Avanzo.
 * Catalina and Molly Schultz are the only female antagonists.
 * Chan Jaoming is the only "antagonist" that never had any bad intentions towards the protagonist. It was the exact opposite, as he treated Huang as his best friend until he came to kill him.
 * Miguel, Frank Tenpenny, Molly Schultz and Jimmy Pegorino in the Deal ending are the only antagonists that aren't killed by the protagonist:
 * Miguel was killed by Catalina.
 * Frank Tenpenny was killed in a traffic accident.
 * Molly Schultz was accidentally sucked into a jet engine.
 * Jimmy Pegorino was killed by Dimitri Rascalov in the Deal ending.
 * Miguel, Ricardo Diaz and Jimmy Pegorino in the Deal ending are the only antagonists that are killed by another antagonist.
 * Miguel was killed by Catalina.
 * Ricardo Diaz was killed by Lance Vance.
 * Jimmy Pegorino was killed by Dimitri Rascalov in the Deal ending.
 * Miguel, Ryder, Chan Jaoming, Rocco Pelosi, Uncle Vince, Molly Schultz and Thornton Duggan are the only antagonists that do not attempt to kill the protagonist.
 * In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto Online, most of the main antagonists/villains do not directly antagonize the protagonist at first, but mainly their bosses.
 * Massimo Torini and Paulie Sindacco to Salvatore Leone.
 * Avery Duggan to the Cheng Family.
 * Juan Strickler to the Madrazo Family.
 * Jonathan Henderson to Dr. Dre.