Villains who want to take over the world

[Murkrow]

In a lot of fiction (especially video games that needs an easy plot to get the gameplay going!) there are baddies who don't want anything more than to take over the world or universe just for the sake of having power. It's understandable to want to be in charge, but what I don't understand are the few that want power over literally everything.

For instance Davros in the modern Doctor Who wanted to destroy everything in reality except for himself and the Daleks. In Stargate, there was an episode where Anubis wanted to destroy every lifeform in the galaxy except for himself.
I can't think of any examples of this - but I'm sure there have been things where the villain wants to turn everyone into mindless zombies who will obey any order.

So what I'm asking here is - why? Wouldn't that be boring? If you had complete control over everything, what left is there to do? If every living thing is your zombie slave, even having them build a giant statue of you or have a trillion-way paintballing match would be boring because you'd be the only one able to appreciate anything.

I know this is a pretty silly thing to be making a thread about, but I just want to see other people's takes on this kind of character. Whenever I see a character like that, it just makes them seem unrealistic (not that zombies and lasers etc are realistic but still) unless you just go with "they're insane", in which case they're not a character with much depth to them.

Also, is there a TVTropes page for that kind of thing?

 

[Valerunner]

World Domination is usually fueled by revenge. Revenge against the world for denying them something. Either that or an obsession with control. Or blind with righteous fury. Or just greed.

Basically, I want to take over the world because:]
-The world took away something I loved.
-The world today is morally wrong and I have to make it right.
-I have to control it.
-I want it.

 

[M&F]

There's a (likely) non-canon ending to Mortal Kombat Armageddon that kind of desconstructs the idea. In it, the villain (Shao Kahn) defeats Blaze and thus obtains power to conquer all of existance; he does so, but eventually goes mad from the lack of things to conquer, and ends up locked up for the rest of his existance, tortured by former allies.

 

[SquishierCobra]

World Domination is usually fueled by revenge. Revenge against the world for denying them something. Either that or an obsession with control. Or blind with righteous fury. Or just greed.

Basically, I want to take over the world because:]
-The world took away something I loved.
-The world today is morally wrong and I have to make it right.
-I have to control it.
-I want it.

I concur.;

 

[H-land]

Does Brain count as a villain? Because he definitely wants to take over the world, but he's kind of the protagonist.

 

[Dannichu]

Just a sec, let me put my Giant Nerd Hat on.

For instance Davros in the modern Doctor Who wanted to destroy everything in reality except for himself and the Daleks.

Here's the thing: Davros in the old Doctor Who wanted to destroy everything in reality except for himself and the Daleks. The Daleks don't screech EXTERMINATE because it's fun, it's out of a need to destroy everything around them that isn't Dalek. A Dalek who can't destroy things has no purpose, it's literally all they can do, and that's been the way it's been since the very earliest Dalek episodes.

So why, so many newWho fans ask, are Daleks the most enduring of all Who villians? When their design is so crazy and their evilness so dull and uninspiring?

Because their evilness was terrifying to the audiences who watched Doctor Who when it was initially broadcast. The guy who invented Daleks (along with a sizable chunk of the audience) had lived through the London Blitz and based them on the Nazis because to him and pretty much everybody else at the time, nothing was more terrifying than these unstoppable, faceless, merciless creatures who existed only to wipe out all races but their own.

Maybe to modern audiences they do seem unrealistic, and I'll admit that aside from Dalek there haven't been any especially scary Dalek episodes in the new series, but the reason Daleks have endured is because what they represented was, to much of the audience at the time, terrifyingly realistic.

 

[Murkrow]

Does Brain count as a villain? Because he definitely wants to take over the world, but he's kind of the protagonist.

I would call him both!

Just a sec, let me put my Giant Nerd Hat on.
Here's the thing: Davros in the old Doctor Who wanted to destroy everything in reality except for himself and the Daleks. The Daleks don't screech EXTERMINATE because it's fun, it's out of a need to destroy everything around them that isn't Dalek. A Dalek who can't destroy things has no purpose, it's literally all they can do, and that's been the way it's been since the very earliest Dalek episodes.

So why, so many newWho fans ask, are Daleks the most enduring of all Who villians? When their design is so crazy and their evilness so dull and uninspiring?

Because their evilness was terrifying to the audiences who watched Doctor Who when it was initially broadcast. The guy who invented Daleks (along with a sizable chunk of the audience) had lived through the London Blitz and based them on the Nazis because to him and pretty much everybody else at the time, nothing was more terrifying than these unstoppable, faceless, merciless creatures who existed only to wipe out all races but their own.

Maybe to modern audiences they do seem unrealistic, and I'll admit that aside from Dalek there haven't been any especially scary Dalek episodes in the new series, but the reason Daleks have endured is because what they represented was, to much of the audience at the time, terrifyingly realistic.

In the old Doctor Who, Davros created the Daleks because he was obsessed with creating a species that would last forever. He didn't want them to kill everyone, he just wanted them to survive.
In fact at the very end of Genesis of the Daleks, when he realised he had created a monster he tried to press the 'stop the Daleks' button before he was "killed" for the first time.
The Daleks themselves are fine, since they were created to have the personality they do, but what I don't get is why new Davros has gone from wanting for Daleks to survive, to being just as evil as the Daleks.

(Although if this is explained in some other Davros episode, tell me? I find those episodes really hard to come by, (even illegally D:) so I haven't had a chance to see all of them D:)

 

[Harlequin]

afair Anubis wanted to destroy all life and then rebuild it in his image using the Dakara weapon!

 

[opaltiger]

afair Anubis wanted to destroy all life and then rebuild it in his image using the Dakara weapon!

You're right, and I think this is the most common motivation for villains of this type. Presumably it's easier to rule over life created in your image than it is to rule over life you've just mercilessly conquered.

 

[Green]

megatron from transformers had what'd i call a somewhat original world domination goal. he wanted to rule cybertron (while also scouring earth for resources and blowing up shit in the process), which was the whole motif for optimus becoming leader of the autobots and what sparked the great war.

this is the old 1984 on continuity i'm talking about btw, not the newer movies.

 

[Valerunner]

megatron from transformers had what'd i call a somewhat original world domination goal. he wanted to rule cybertron (while also scouring earth for resources and blowing up shit in the process), which was the whole motif for optimus becoming leader of the autobots and what sparked the great war.

this is the old 1984 on continuity i'm talking about btw, not the newer movies.

Megatron fit my Second Rule of World Domination: Righteous Fury. He feels that the Decepticons deserved the right to Cybertron, and he stopped at nothing to do so. He believed that the Decepticons ahd rule over Earth, being advanced creatures.

Davros also fits the Second Rule, but originating from the Fourth Rule; he wanted to create a race that lasted forever, and by doing that, they have to eliminate all other variables.

Brain is the Fourth Rule all over.

 

[Phantom]

Raise your hands if you started singing the "Pinky and the Brain" theme when you read this thread title.

*raises hand*

*crickets chirp*