History Main / Cult

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNR8yU4ZxsM Yuri]] lived in a house consisting of four families that she considered as her own family, the big family was led by a woman who she thought was her grandmother, Azami. Yuri was the only one who went to school while the other children didn't. After Yuri told her teacher about her family, they broke apart and Yuri left her mother behind with her father and brother. [[spoiler:It was later revealed that the "family" was actually a religious cult that discouraged education and none of them were biologically related to Yuri's family at all, and Azami was the leader of the cult. Yuri's mother also remained devoted to the cult even after Azami's death.]]
** In one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBnHuWN8RD8 story]], Yuzuriha finds out that her in-laws are followers of a shady cult, [[spoiler:her daughter is eventually indoctrinated by them]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njoZv4ajzB8 Akane, Azami and Yuzuriha]] witnessed Karin saving a cat, they later come to her apartment believing she was a knight and chosen by God for her braveness, much to her annoyance. They also keep returning to Karin's apartment to annoy her with their babbling nonsense. In an attempt to get rid of those women, Karin pretends to be a follower of a cult named "Ramenism" and talks nonsense to them about the nonexistent cult, they decide to stop harassing her afterwards.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmbN0TBWa80 Tachibana]] [[spoiler:is extremely devoted to a cult named Yorozuism, they forbid the use of medicine as they believe using them is an act of defiance against their god, Yorozugami-sama. His devotion to the cult ended up making him neglect his own wife and two daughters. In the end of the episode, it's revealed that Yuri is also a follower of Yorozuism.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDowZANKsyk Azami]] attempts to get Yuzuriha into joining her cult. Fortunately, Yuzuriha is smart enough to reject her offer. However, Azami doesn't give up easily and she decides to get Yuzuriha's mother Tsutsuji into joining the cult after coincidentally seeing Yuzuriha at the hospital. Irritated by Azami's behavior, Yuzuriha tells Azami's father about the cult she's following, causing him to teach her a lesson. Yuzuriha also manages to convince Akamatsu who also attempted to scam her into joining Azami's cult after losing his money and it eventually turns him into a devout follower of the cult.

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' had the Thuggee, a ReligionOfEvil which worships Kali with HumanSacrifice and is planning to TakeOverTheWorld.

In some works, there may be an emphasis on deprogramming. In the 70s in particular, the ''deprogrammer'' was a bit of a subtrope of its own -- a single heroic, knightly figure will rescue (read: kidnap) a cult member, subject them to hours of debriefing, and teach them how to question the cult and its leader. Said cult member is usually an attractive young woman who hooks up with the deprogrammer in the end.[[note]]This particular portrayal was so common -- indeed, even in RealLife (partly due to [[LifeImitatesArt well-meaning counselors taking television examples as instruction manuals]]) -- that deprogrammer Joe Szimhart wrote [[http://www.icsahome.com/articles/persistence-of--deprogramming--stereotypes-in-film a whole article]] on how filmmakers could more realistically portray deprogramming.[[/note]] Anyone who successfully leaves a cult is a CultDefector.

Cults can be [[PlayingWithATrope played a number of ways]]. In a CrimeTimeSoap or PoliceProcedural, they show up as the bad guys. In comedy, they may be relatively harmless but [[CargoCult believe in something truly ridiculous]] like aliens or {{Ancient Conspirac|y}}ies. In ScienceFiction, the aliens they worship might be real, but so {{sufficiently advanced|Alien}} that the cultists cannot understand their technology; or such aliens might be leading the cult in a GodGuise. Many a drama show will [[RippedFromTheHeadlines draw from infamous real-life religious groups]] like the [[UsefulNotes/JimJones People's Temple]][[note]](committed ritual suicide and in the process helped [[TropeNamers name the trope]] DrinkingTheKoolAid)[[/note]], Heaven's Gate[[note]](also committed suicide, hoping to hitch a ride on a UFO)[[/note]], the Branch Davidians[[note]]a subset of the Seventh Day Adventists portrayed in the media as a RightWingMilitiaFanatic group -- the truth is more complex -- most of whom died (including 25 children and two pregnant women) when their home was raided and they were gassed by U.S. federal agents[[/note]], or Aum Shinrikyo[[note]](responsible for the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway)[[/note]]. Many a comedy show, meanwhile, will base a funny cult on the ChurchOfHappyology.

The most stereotypical fictional cult -- and thus the most tropeable -- is a small and relatively obscure group of people, centered around a single charismatic leader, which recruits the credulous and vulnerable and [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashes them]] to believe something weird. The leader is often a grifter who demands absolute loyalty and abuses their power.

* The Children of the Light in ''Literature/MyLifeWithTheLiars'' are a more realistic take on a cult. They live on a compound in the Arizona desert, are led by a corrupt man called Father Prophet, and raise children to believe they are doomed if they aren't formally inducted into the cult by their thirteenth birthdays.

* ''Literature/Area51'': After aliens have been revealed to exist, along with their ships, overnight a religion arises worshiping them as saviors (under leadership of their brainwashed servants). Other sects also get mentioned, with some more like Heaven's Gate, which perform mass suicides like them believing they'll be taken to a better place by the aliens.

* ''ComicBook/{{Kobra}}'': Kobra is the perennial Evil Cult in Creator/DCComics. Originally the villains of a short-lived [[AntagonistTitle eponymous]] series by Creator/JackKirby, in which the leader's brother continually thwarts them with the CIA's help, they've since appeared sporadically as enemies of the [[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders Outsiders]] or ComicBook/WonderWoman.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a cult arises that worships the Pah-wraiths, the equivalent of demons in the Bajoran religion, its members think that the Pah-wraiths are the true gods of Bajor, who have been demonized by The Prophets. However, the fact that the cult leader is [[spoiler:Gul Dukat]] makes it clear that the Pah-wraiths are evil.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]:
** ''Doctor Who'', of all things, has a spinoff relating to a cult worshipping paradox itself -- Literature/FactionParadox. DependingOnTheWriter, they're either dangerous madmen, or the only people who can see past Gallifrey's lies to understand how time ''really'' works. Or, of course, both.
** There is also a ''[[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse New Doctor Who]]'' book, entitled ''Night of the Humans'', which features a cult based around a horrible picture of a clown. The whole book is, essentially, a very paranoid and more than slightly creepy rant about religion (but specifically Christianity). The book's entire message is, literally, "Be very very afraid of [[ArtisticLicenseReligion what I imagine religion to be]]".

* In ''Literature/{{Stray}}'', Pufftail is attacked and forced into living in a feral cat community dubbed "the Commune". They act as a cult who worships their tyrannical leader, Tom-Cat. Cats are forced into staying in the Commune by threats and fear, with Tom-Cat saying that only he could protect them the Van which takes them to an AnimalTesting facility. Eventually, most of the cats in the Commune end up [[spoiler:taken into the animal testing lab]].

* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', Jane Kim establishes a cult called the Garden of Cocoons [[spoiler:to cope with her son Wonsu getting Fixed]], where she trains Fixies, or people who were rendered emotionless by the Fixer drug, to be reborn as "Saeras". Whether or not you attend her 3-day training session, she'll give you a role in spreading the word of her group by selling books about it with fake covers. Your customer will feel scammed unless you're part of the cult since Jane tricks you into selling the books if you don't join her. [[spoiler:Because Jane believes that one must become a Fixie first in order to become a Saera, she threatens to stop Prof. Choi's Umbrella project, where he plans to pour the antidote all over Ajik City to cure everyone of Fixer.]]

* The Cultist faction in ''VideoGame/UFOAftershock''.

** "'''The Cult of the Damned!''' ''... I need to print more brochures''"

* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', Jane Kim establishes a cult called the Garden of Cocoons [[spoiler:to cope with her son Wonsu getting Fixed]], where she trains Fixies, or people who were rendered emotionless by the Fixer drug, to be reborn as "Saeras". You can attend her 3-day training session, and she'll give you a role in spreading the word of her group by selling books about it with fake covers. While your customers know they got fooled, they thank you for supporting her cause, anyway, and encourage you to continue doing so. [[spoiler:Because Jane believes that one must become a Fixie first in order to become a Saera, she threatens to stop Prof. Choi's Umbrella project, where he plans to pour the antidote all over Ajik City to cure everyone of Fixer.]]

* ''ComicBook/BatmanTheCult'' deals with the Caped Crusader and his investigation into mysterious goings on with kidnapped vagrants. [[spoiler:A cult ran by Deacon Blackfire captures Batman and [[BreakTheBadass breaks him]] before Jason Todd rescues him. They, then, proceed to take control of Gotham until Batman and Robin reclaim the city.]]

* Kobra is the perennial Evil Cult in Creator/DCComics. Originally the villains of a short-lived [[AntagonistTitle eponymous]] series by Creator/JackKirby, in which the leader's brother continually thwarts them with the CIA's help, they've since appeared sporadically as enemies of the [[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders Outsiders]] or ComicBook/WonderWoman.
* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'' album "De Boze Tongen" it is a sect that is the antagonist. Though the name is not known. All we know is that they want Nero to be their president. They would then carry out a collection of horrible actions under his name. Nero refuses and the sect attempts throughout the whole album to force him to become the president.

* The two people from a small sect that appeared in ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' in album #37, called ''Le réveil du Z'', is this. Their name of it is not known at all and all we probably know else is that they greet with the term Kakebuke. They have aside from the belief that aliens landed on planet earth also the belief that the earth is flat, like a flying saucer. The reason that these two are in the album is to talk with Fantasio about the events that happened in the previous album, which was called ''L'horloger de la comète'', in the hope that it proves that their beliefs are true. After they hear his story they find out that he is not useful enough to justify their beliefs and proceed to make him drunk.
* Back during the Dan Jurgens era of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'', there was a cult of people who praised Superman like a God. [[StopWorshippingMe It wasn't something he liked]]. After [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman Superman died]], they began seeing him as a more messianic light, waiting for the day he would rise from the grave. And when four people bearing the S-Shield rose, ''factions'' took hold, each one rooting for the four bearers. It got to the point where Maggie Sawyer started to worry that a gang war of sorts would break out between the four.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' has an unusual case in the Circle of Light. [[BigGood Optimus Prime]] despises them and always refers to them as a "cult", partially because their leader Dai Atlas is such an abrasive HolierThanThou sort that he accuses Optimus of being not better than [[BigBad Megatron]] and undeserving of bearing the Matrix of Leadership. It doesn't help that while the Autobot/Decepticon war rages, the Circle sets up a {{Utopia}} where there is no conflict or energy shortage[[note]]thanks to being entrusted with the secret resting place of an ancient Titan who was able to provide such energy[[/note]] but refuse to aid outsiders. Unluckily for them, this means that no one knows where they are when they come under attack, and as a result, over 90% of their population are horribly butchered as victims of sadistic experiments.