Like in most other Shonen series, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s main character Yugi generally defeats the show's main antagonists personally, but he shouldn't have actually been the one to defeat the show's biggest villain Marik. That honor should have gone to another duelist that Marik would have lost to if not for his mystical powers.

Marik is the antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s biggest and arguably most important arc of the Battle City Tournament. He is the leader of a group called the Rare Hunters who seek to collect the 3 Egyptian God cards. As the arc goes on, Marik's dark side Yami Marik takes over and begins to duel his opponents more sadistically, facing them in shadow games that do real damage with each attack. After he defeats Mai and traps her in the Shadow Realm, Yugi's friend Joey determines to take him down and free his friend.

Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Best Villain Marik Should Have Lost to Joey

Joey faces off against Marik in the semifinals of the Battle City tournament and the two have an utterly brutal duel. Joey is unused to taking so much real damage in the Shadow Game, but he soldiers on even suffering the attack of Marik's best card, the Winged Dragon of Ra. Through it all he manages to survive until the final turn of the game, when Marik has a low amount of life points with no monsters remaining to protect him. Joey manages to draw a monster and bring it out onto the field, ready to attack Marik directly and win the duel, but at that point, all the damage he has endured finally takes its toll and Joey collapses, unable to order the attack. This causes him to forfeit the duel not based on his merit as a duelist but because of Marik's shadow game powers.

This is especially frustrating given how often Joey is belittled throughout the series. Unlike Yugi or the series' other most important character Kaiba, Joey has no deep ties to the Egyptian magic at the center of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s story. This caused Marik to constantly put him down in their duel, treating him as a mere inconvenience he would inevitably defeat before taking on the Pharaoh. This made it incredibly satisfying when it seemed like Joey was about to win the duel and prove Marik wrong. The show could have then ended the season with a climactic duel between Joey and Yugi, which would have been incredibly fun to watch.

Joey Only Lost To Marik Due To A Plot Device

Ultimately, it feels like the only reason Joey didn’t defeat Marik was as a plot contrivance to ensure that Yugi would be able to defeat him in the finals. This did lead to a very satisfying duel, as Yugi had to overcome the ultimate evil that Marik had morphed into by that point, but it unfortunately came at the expense of a character who never quite received the respect he deserved. In order to rectify this, Yu-Gi-Oh! should have let Joey follow through with his final attack and defeat the anime’s biggest villain instead of Yugi.