History Main / EnlightenedAntagonist

** Enigma a.k.a. Tara Virango from ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' is a woman from Bangladesh who gained supernatural powers and a mystical connection to the Buddhist goddess Tara after being infected with a nano-virus (she is a survivor of an environmental disaster during which her native village was exposed to the viral outbreak). She starts out as a semi-antagonist to Spider-Man, having stolen the precious Star of Persia diamond and even physically attacking Peter on one occasion. However, he soon learns that her motives are noble: she seeks to prove that the outbreak was not an accident, but a deliberate release of a biological agent ordered by the {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s of the company that developed the virus (and the reason why she stole the diamond was that she wanted to demand a large compensation to the survivors to be paid as ransom for it). Once Spider-Man realizes the truth, he assumes Enigma's side and helps her defeat the corporate executives.

* ''Westernanimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Book 3's main antagonist, Zaheer, [[spoiler: is capable of meditating into the Spirit World long before he gained Airbending, managed to sever all his physical ties to the world after the death of his [[UnholyMatrimony beloved]] and mastered the Airbending secret of [[{{Flight}} weightlessness]] that was long believed to be fictional even by current Air Nomads.]] He also [[BombThrowingAnarchists tried to create worldwide anarchy and destroy all governmental systems due to his belief of their creation being the main cause behind planetary imbalance]], though by the end all he really achieved was to open the path for a fascist dictator to seize power. In the fourth book, he acknowledges this when Korra throws it in his face and ends up temporarily becoming an EvilMentor to her on the grounds that said dictator is everything he despises. In the process, he successfully helps her to push past the spiritual block caused by the trauma she underwent at the hands of him and the rest of the Red Lotus, thanks to his sincere speech telling her that she is [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre stronger than she thinks]] (having seen the evidence).

* ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'': The Ancient One from ''Big Appetite in Little Tokyo'' is a ghost who looks like an old wizard, and who demands that the scientists at a Tokyo factory abandon their plans for a new wharf because it would be a threat to the simple traditional Japanese way of life. [[spoiler: The ending implies that he might be RealAfterAll, and the scientists eventually decide to respect his wish.]]

* Axel in ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'' attains a state of "Reverse Nirvana", in which his hatred and bloodlust grew ''so strong'' that he attained enlightenment thereby. Although because it's ''[[BlackComedy Ansem Retort]]'' he isn't an antagonist, despite murder being one of his favourite hobbies; ''[[VillainProtagonist he's one of the protagonists''.

* Axel in ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'' attains a state of "Reverse Nirvana", in which his hatred and bloodlust grew ''so strong'' that he attained enlightenment thereby. Although because it's ''[[BlackComedy Ansem Retort]]'' he isn't an antagonist, despite murder being one of his favourite hobbies; he's one of the ''protagonists''.

* In ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'', we have Albert Simon - who has come to understand both the true nature of humanity and God. He is so disappointed with the former that he seeks to use the latter to wipe us all out.

* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Yūkyūzan Anji is a fallen monk who whose goal is to cleanse the world of evil and deliver salvation, by any means necessary.

* Overwhelmingly common in Hong Kong produced [[MartialArtsMovie Kung Fu flicks]] due to the spiritual underpinnings of Kung Fu in general and its relationship with UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} in particular, both being systems in which enlightenment and violence are not necessarily mutually exclusive. On a more practical level the villain also needs to be good enough at fighting to give the hero a compelling struggle, and making him an OldMaster is one of the easiest ways to write this into the story. In keeping with his role in folklore, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bak_Mei Bak Mei]] is almost guaranteed to get this treatment whenever he shows up.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': Chase Young, a MagnificentBastard KnightOfCerebus who is contrasted with [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Jack]] [[LaughablyEvil Spicer]] and [[SealedEvilInACan generally helpless witch Wuya]] is a martial artist and sorcerer on a level with the series' greatest masters. What makes him this trope rather than a simple KungFuWizard is that he is not only a master of the physical badassery, he fully understands (and is able to instruct others) on the spiritual and philosophical aspects of it too. He is by no means invincible, and most of his appearances end with a loss of some kind (though he is never a pushover and the defeat is never devastating,) but his complete lack of concern in any situation (no matter how ridiculous, dangerous, or world-ending) is not only his total confidence that he can turn the situation to his advantage in the long run, but also a zen-like acceptance of the things it would be impossible or not worth it to change.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': Chase Young, a MagnificentBastard KnightOfCerebus who is contrasted with [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Jack]] [[LaughablyEvil Spicer]] and [[SealedEvilInACan generally helpless witch Wuya]] is a martial artist and sorcerer on a level with the series' greatest masters. What makes him this trope rather than a simple ArrogantKungFuGuy is that he is not only a master of the physical badassery, he fully understands (and is able to instruct others) on the spiritual and philosophical aspects of it too. He is by no means invincible, and most of his appearances end with a loss of some kind (though he is never a pushover and the defeat is never devastating,) but his complete lack of concern in any situation (no matter how ridiculous, dangerous, or world-ending) is not only his total confidence that he can turn the situation to his advantage in the long run, but also a zen-like acceptance of the things it would be impossible or not worth it to change.

This type of villain can be viewed as an AntiHero, AntiVillain, WellIntentionedExtremist, or carrying an OmniscientMoralityLicense if the characters commits to villainy or villainous acts to fulfill a grand purpose that can be seen as beneficial. Such villains will often demonstrate KnightTemplar behavior due to being so absorbed by their ideals that they end up causing trouble despite having supposedly beneficial intentions at heart. However in other stories, enlightenment generally has the effect of causing a HeelFaceTurn or at least making a villain AffablyEvil in the eyes of others.

In Western culture, the trope largely originates from colonial fiction, and many such characters have a non-Western ([[YellowPeril Chinese, Japanese]], Hindu, Native American, etc.) origin. The reason is that, while "Western" villains are usually depicted as having ''rejected'' the moral values of their culture in favor of baser instincts like greed and lust (and, therefore, as more simplistic and unambigously evil), the seeming "villainy" of these characters may be just due to the fact that they come from a foreign culture with a different understanding of the world (based more on spirituality than on science and logic), and, therefore, [[ValuesDissonance a different concept of right and wrong]]. For this reason, they often tend to be depicted more sympathetically, and it may even turn out that their idea of good and evil is closer to the truth than the one of the Western protagonist.

* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', the former fleet admiral Sengoku managed to consume a devil fruit that not only turns him into a giant Buddha at will but also grants a form of enlightenment. However, the enlightenment does not prevent him from decimating any pirates that come his way that he holds no respect for, those he feels should be destroyed in the name of Justice, or whoever is targeted under orders of the World Government.
* In ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', [[MindRape Virgo Shaka]] fits. Whilst he's more of an AntiHero, he's very deceptive. He's an incarnation of Buddha, but in the first series he has aligned himself with the very evil Pope and is only too willing to MindRape and maim the main characters.

* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', the Anti-Spiral race enlightened themselves by understanding the truth of the universe and Spiral Energy in relation to the Spiral Nemesis Event that would annihilate all existence. In response to the knowledge, they made a vow to never use Spiral Energy again to prevent such an event and turned into an Hive Mind entity as a way to express that vow. However, the Anti-Spiral race has also tried to destroy humanity because they can potentially amass high amounts of Spiral Energy and have subjugated/exterminated many different civilizations across time and space to prevent the occurrence of the Spiral Nemesis.

* In ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', we have the case of the Doctor. The Doctor is actually a title given to a human chosen as a form of shaman whose role is to protect the Earth. This position has existed since the beginning of human thought and grants the chosen one god-like mystical abilities, knowledge passed downed from previous Doctors, and the ability to instantly empathize with every creature on Earth (human or otherwise). A Doctor is even given endless access to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, [[EldritchLocation a dimension that is made up of everything good and bad about the human race.]] However, humans chosen to be the new Doctor are not necessarily benevolent despite their empathy nor do they have to be. This is clearly shown in the case of the first shown Doctor being a [[BombThrowingAnarchists violent anarchist]] and the succeeding protagonist Doctors being [[WellIntentionedExtremist violent antiheroes]] at various times. [[spoiler: To put things into perspective, a previous Doctor and late antagonist slaughtered the entire population of three countries in alphabetical order after receiving his power. Humorous considering previous Doctors included Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and famously known humanitarian figureheads.]]

* The Bleeding Monk in ''Comicbook/{{Harbinger}}'' is a considerably ageless grandmaster monk whose students were slaughtered by the soldiers of a past Chinese Emperor due to being feared and hated for their mysterious psychic abilities. During the attack, the Bleeding Monk was impaled by a spear and at the moment near his death he gained the ability to see all possibilities and live every moment of his life simultaneously. He eventually became the right-hand man and advisor to [[WellIntentionedExtremist Toyo Harada]] in a bid to make the world a better place by having Harada secretly conquer it.
* In ''ComicBook/KarmaPolice'', the tale of Drakpa Chugne, the Blood Hat Lama, presented him as this in abundance. He was once a grandmaster monk and lama of great stature that created the Grove who felt that the Karma Grove School he headed was not doing enough to relieve suffering in the world since extinguishing tormented spirits as his students were taught to do only cast about an endless cycle of rebirth that rendered all efforts pointless. Chugne decided to fashion a dagger that would send evil spirits to the Grove, since it was a place outside the endless wheel of rebirth, once slain by the dagger where they could achieve Nirvana, but went crazy when his attempt to rid the world of evil turned into fanaticism. He started to preemptively murder anyone with bad karma, especially innocents, to the point where he killed any one sight and had forced the monks of the Grove to kill him with his own dagger to have his spirit healed of its insanity.

** In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski'', Ezekiel Sims is a sort of a spiritual mentor to Spider-Man who teaches him that his superhero powers have a mystical rather than a sci-fi origin, coming from a totemic spider deity called the Great Weaver and a mystic force called the Web of Life (he has similar powers himself). However, it turns out that he also has a dark secret: he acquired these powers through an illegitimate magic ritual [[IJustWantToBeSpecial because he just wanted to be superhuman]], and when an otherworldy being known as the Gatekeeper comes to kill him for that, he tries to sacrifice Peter to the Gatekeeper instead in order to survive. Nonetheless, he has a last-moment change of heart, and gives up his own life to let Peter live.
** Enigma a.k.a. Tara Virango from ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' is a woman from Bangladesh who gained supernatural powers and a mystical connection to the Buddhist goddess Tara after being infected with a nano-virus (she is a survivor of an environmental disaster during which her native village was exposed to the viral outbreak). She starts out as a semi-antagonist to Spider-Man, having stolen the precious Star of Persia diamond and even physically attacking Peter on one occasion. However, he soon learns that her motives are noble: she seeks to prove that the outbreak was not an accident, but a deliberate release of a biological agent ordered by the {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s of the company that developed the virus (and the reason why she stole the diamond was that she wanted to demand a large compensation to the survivors to be paid as ransom for it). Once Spider-Man realizes the truth, he assumes Enigma's side, and helps her defeat the corporate executives.

** In the sequel trilogy beginning with ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', [[BigBad Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order]] is portrayed this way. In contrast to [[EvilIsHammy Palpatine]], he is calm, collected, and wise. While he heads the First Order, TheRemnant of TheEmpire, he does not think that the ideal is pure focus on TheDarkSide. In fact, he considers his disciple [[TheHeavy Kylo Ren]] to be the "ideal embodiment of the Force, [[YinYangBomb a focal point of both light and dark side ability]]," showing that he sees the BalanceOfGoodAndEvil as the best course to power, rather than [[PureIsNotGood abandoning one for the other altogether]]. These traits, combined with his position as the BigBad, paint him not only as a successor to Palpatine, but also as an EvilCounterpart to [[HermitGuru Yoda]].

** ''The Mystery of the Fiery Eye'' is a yet another example when the antagonist is on the right side. Rama Sidri Rhandur aka Three-Dots is the emissary of the Indian Temple of Justice who seeks to return the titular stone to the Temple where it serves a mystical purpose. He resorts to some morally questionable methods (such as hiring a bunch of crooks to find the stone or trying to threaten the Three Investigators into giving it to him), but eventually he agrees to buy it, and the protagonists sell it to him because they understand that returning the stone to India would be the right thing to do.
** Mr. Won from ''The Mystery of the Green Ghost'' also has shades of this. He is a mysterious [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 107 years old]] Chinese man who lives the ancient way, and is skilled in hypnotism and other arcane knowledge that borders on the supernatural (such as extending his lifespan with the use of the Ghost Pearls). Also, while undoubtedly antagonistic, he is shown to be more honorable than the other villains of the story and upholding a moral code of sorts: he intends to stay true to his word and let the protagonists go free once they bring him the Ghost Pearls he was after, and eventually returns the deed to Verdant Valley despite the Ghost Pearls being destroyed.

* ''Series/MrRobot'': Fernando Vera is a philosophising, murdering, manipulating, rapist drug-dealer. He uses his pain as his power to understand the Cosmos and has no problem destroying anyone in his way. He advises Elliot with his viewpoint: "Once you have weathered a storm like yours, you become the storm. And it's the rest of the world that needs to run for cover."

* In ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'', we have Albert Simon - who has come to understand both the true nature of humanity and God. He is so disappointed with the former he seeks to use the latter to wipe us all out.

** In a more limited sense, Daisojou, a member of the Fiend race (filled with different embodiments of death), is a Buddhist monk that underwent a horrid ritual of self-mummification, and received demonic power over light. His SignatureMove is Samsara, the Buddhist word for the cycle of death and rebirth.

** Byakuren is a [[TheHeretic heretical]] Buddhist nun who, following her little brother's demise, was driven by her fear of her own death to achieve eternal youth through the use of dark arts, a process that made her lose her own humanity. However, she's only an "antagonist" by the loosest possible definition, being an AllLovingHero who treats everyone, regardless of whether they're human or youkai, with kindness, and only wants for mankind and youkaikind to live in peace and harmony with each other. The primary reason why she and the protagonists ever fought in the first place was because [[{{Miko}} Reimu]] was being a JerkAss and [[CuteWitch Marisa]] was being, well, [[StickyFingers Ma]][[KleptomaniacHero ri]][[BloodKnight sa]].
** The entire Taoist faction qualifies as well, being a group of people who [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers seek enlightenment specifically in order to gain the superpowers that comes with]] AscendingToAHigherPlaneOfExistence.

** Demiurge [[MadOracle Jadis]] perceived the true shape of the universe and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went mad from the revelation]] -- which manifests as [[TheOmniscient complete omniscience of past, present, and future]] and concomitant [[StrawNihilist utter nihilism]], as she knows firsthand that [[PrescienceIsPredictable the universe is deterministic]] and therefore that free will is an illusion. Except her perfect knowledge of all that was and will be doesn't drive her to wishing to destroy it all. [[AndIMustScream She simply wants to die.]]

* From ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'', there is Master Zan. Master Zan was the high mystic of a group of spiritual monks who protected the cosmos from evil and sealed away a group of [[EldritchAbomination creatures]] called the Dark Ones. He was also once [[WarriorMonk Antauri's]] master in the mystic arts and taught him in the ways of mystical energy and the [[SentientCosmicForce Power Primate]]. He was later revealed to be corrupted by the [[BigBad Skeleton King]] and considered serving him and the Dark Ones as the true fate of the cosmos.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', we have Spellbinder. Spellbinder was a mystic who acquired a ThirdEye after years of an intense form of meditation in the Far East. The power of the Third Eye was said to be a state of awareness so pure and potent that the achiever could project visions into reality and allowed the user to levitate. Spellbinder uses his power to brainwash butlers into stealing valuables from their rich employers for him to collect. In Alfred Pennyworth's own words: "[Spellbinder] possesses an enlightened mind and a corrupted soul."
* ''Westernanimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Book 3's main antagonist, Zaheer, [[spoiler: is capable of meditating into the Spirit World long before he gained Airbending, managed to sever all his physical ties to the world after the death of his [[UnholyMatrimony beloved]] and mastered the Airbending secret of [[{{Flight}} weightlessness]] that was long believed to be fictional even by current Air Nomads.]] He also [[BombThrowingAnarchists tried to create worldwide anarchy and destroy all governmental systems due to his belief of their creation being the main cause behind planetary imbalance]], though by the end all he really achieved was to open the path for a fascist dictator to seize power. In the fourth book, he acknowledges this when Korra throws it in his face, and ends up temporarily becoming an EvilMentor to her on the grounds that said dictator is everything he despises. In the process, he successfully helps her to push past the spiritual block caused by the trauma she underwent at the hands of him and the rest of the Red Lotus, thanks to his sincere speech telling her that she is [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre stronger than she thinks]] (having seen the evidence).
* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'': {{Parodied}} with [[MonsterOfTheWeek one of the episodic villains]], Yin-Yang. He is a Feng Shui guru who intends to rearrange the continents into a yin yang image, which would obviously have catastrophic consequences for the world. {{Lampshaded}} when he captures the protagonists and tells them that his Chinese tea "will remove their fears of a new natural world order", and Alex points out that [[AffablyEvil he's pretty nice for a villain]]... and then it turns out that [[NotSoHarmlessPunishment he LITERALLY intends to drown them in a large cauldron of hot tea]].

** Demiurge [[MadOracle Jadis]] perceived the true shape of the universe and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went mad from the revelation]] -- which manifests as [[TheOmniscient complete omniscience of past, present, and future]] and concomitant [[StrawNihilist utter nihilism]], as she knows firsthand that the universe is deterministic and therefore that free will is an illusion. Except her perfect knowledge of all that was and will be doesn't drive her to wishing to destroy it all. [[AndIMustScream She simply wants to die.]]

** Demiurge [[MadOracle Jadis]] perceived the true shape of the universe and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went mad from the revelation]] -- which manifests as [[TheOmniscient complete omniscience]] and concomitant [[StrawNihilist utter nihilism]], as she knows firsthand that the universe is deterministic and therefore that free will is an illusion. Except her perfect knowledge of all that was and will be doesn't drive her to wishing to destroy it all. [[AndIMustScream She simply wants to die.]]

** Demiurge [[MadOracle Jadis]] is TheOmniscient and also a villainous force. Except her perfect knowledge of all that is doesn't drive her to wishing to destroy it all. [[AndIMustScream She simply wants to die.]]

* The Bleeding Monk (who acts as the trope picture example) in ''Comicbook/{{Harbinger}}'' is a considerably ageless grandmaster monk whose students were slaughtered by the soldiers of a past Chinese Emperor due to being feared and hated for their mysterious psychic abilities. During the attack, the Bleeding Monk was impaled by a spear and at the moment near his death he gained the ability to see all possibilities and live every moment of his life simultaneously. He eventually became the right-hand man and advisor to [[WellIntentionedExtremist Toyo Harada]] in a bid to make the world a better place by having Harada secretly conquer it.

* ''Westernanimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Book 3's main antagonist, Zaheer, [[spoiler: is capable of meditating into the Spirit World long before he gained Airbending, managed to sever all his physical ties to the world after the death of his [[UnholyMatrimony beloved]] and mastered the Airbending secret of [[{{Flight}} weightlessness]] that was long believed to be fictional even by current Air Nomads.]] He also [[BombThrowingAnarchists tried to create worldwide anarchy and destroy all governmental systems due to his belief of their creation being the main cause behind planetary imbalance]], though by the end [[PyrrhicVillainy all he really achieved was to open the path for a fascist dictator to seize power]]. In the fourth book, he acknowledges this when Korra throws it in his face, and ends up temporarily becoming an EvilMentor to her on the grounds that said dictator is everything he despises. In the process, he successfully helps her to push past the spiritual block caused by the trauma she underwent at the hands of him and the rest of the Red Lotus, thanks to his sincere speech telling her that she is [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre stronger than she thinks]] (having seen the evidence).

* ''Series/MrRobot'': Fernando Vera is a philosophising, murdering, manipulating, rapist drug-dealer. He uses his pain as his power to understand the Cosmos and has no problem destroying anyone in his way. He advises Elliot with his viewpoint:"once you have weathered a storm like yours, you become the storm. And it's the rest of the world that needs to run for cover".

* In ''Manhua/FengShenJi'', Zhen Chan is a modest and humble enlightened deity who only wishes to unravel the truths of the universe. However, he abides by a core belief that beautiful and good should not be replaced by barbaric and ugly and mercilessly slaughters those he considers evil and vicious as to him they had no place living to begin with. [[spoiler: He also conceals a psychotic inner dark self named Er Chan that manifests when faced with others who will not heed his words and fanatically kills them whether they are fellow gods or not.]]

* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Sensui utilizes Sacred Energy/Holy Chi, a form of energy so great that it requires not only years of discipline and training but an understanding of the world to operate on a higher plane and transcend the physical realm. Despite this achievement, he planned to initiate a complete genocide of all humanity and is not above slaughtering whoever gets in his way.
* In ''Manga/ButsuZone'', the main antagonist, Ashura, is a Bodhisattva who diverged from the general Bodhisattva rule of ThouShaltNotKill through callous slayings of others. He is also a MisanthropeSupreme who desires the extinction of humanity itself due to the sinful actions that have been committed by humans over time.

* ''Anime/TheTaleOfThePrincessKaguya'': The one bringing Kaguya back to the moon (forgetting all about her adoptive parents in the process) is apparently the Buddha.
* In ''Anime/InuYasha'', an undead Buddhist priest named Hakushin is able to create a holy purification barrier so powerful that no demon can pass it. However, he is doing so in service to Naraku, the BigBad, who manipulated him due to his fear of death and his resentment over having to sacrifice his life for others.

* During the Death of the ''ComicBook/NewGods'' storyline, there was a mysterious being slaughtering notable residents of Apokolips and New Genesis. [[spoiler:After extensive searching by Metron and Superman, it was discovered that the Source, the actual consciousness of the DC Comics Universe and the "source" of all that exists, was the true culprit behind the assassinations in its plan to build a new "Fifth World." Using its agent, the Infinity Man, to kill the New Gods and store their souls in a second Source Wall and Mister Miracle as the user of the Anti-Life Equation, the Source planned to breach the primary Source Wall and reunite with its Anti-Life other half in order to become a perfect God to build its new creation. When this was over, the Source told Superman that his work was done and later [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence left for a higher plane of existence.]]]]

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski'', Ezekiel Sims is a sort of a spiritual mentor to Spider-Man who teaches him that his superhero powers have a mystical rather than a sci-fi origin, coming from a totemic spider deity called the Great Weaver and a mystic force called the Web of Life (he has similar powers himself). However, it turns out that he also has a dark secret: he acquired these powers through an illegitimate magic ritual [[IJustWantToBeSpecial because he just wanted to be superhuman]], and when an otherworldy being known as the Gatekeeper comes to kill him for that, he tries to sacrifice Peter to the Gatekeeper instead in order to survive. Nonetheless, he has a last-moment change of heart, and gives up his own life to let Peter live.
** Enigma a.k.a. Tara Virango from ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' is a woman from Bangladesh who gained supernatural powers and a mystical connection to the Buddhist goddess Tara after being infected with a nano-virus (she is a survivor of an environmental disaster during which her native village was exposed to the viral outbreak). She starts out as a semi-antagonist to Spider-Man, having stolen the precious Star of Persia diamond and even physically attacking Peter on one occasion. However, he soon learns that her motives are noble: she seeks to prove that the outbreak was not an accident, but a deliberate release of a biological agent ordered by the {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s of the company that developed the virus (and the reason why she stole the diamond was that she wanted to demand a large compensation to the survivors to be paid as ransom for it). Once Spider-Man realizes the truth, he assumes Enigma's side, and helps her defeat the corporate executives.
* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': {{Parodied}} with the Guru from ''Almost Live from Big Puce''. He is a corrupt mystic with supernatural powers who can create astral projections (basically hologram-like images) when he meditates. He was paid to use his power to create the image of a ghost, which is why the gang initially believed that the ghost was real (since it was neither a man in a costume nor a hologram).

* In ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', we have the case of the Doctor. The Doctor is actually a title given to a human chosen as a form of shaman whose role is to protect the Earth. This position has existed since the beginning of human thought and grants the chosen one god-like mystical abilities, knowledge passed downed from previous Doctors, and the ability to instantly empathize with every creature on Earth (human or otherwise). A Doctor is even given endless access to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, [[EldritchLocation a dimension that is made up of everything good and bad about the human race.]] However, humans chosen to be the new Doctor are not necessarily benevolent despite their empathy nor do they have to be. This is clearly shown in the case of the first shown Doctor being a [[BombThrowingAnarchists violent anarchist]] and the succeeding protagonist Doctors being [[WellIntentionedExtremist violent antiheroes]] at various times. [[spoiler: To put things into perspective, a previous Doctor and late antagonist slaughtered the entire population of three countries in alphabetical order after receiving his power. Humorous considering previous Doctors included Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and famously known humanitarian figureheads.]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' has Fakir, a Muslim Sufi ascetic with magical powers who is also a key member of an international drug cartel and one of Tintin's most dangerous enemies.

* Overwhelmingly common in Hong Kong produced [[MartialArtsMovie Kung Fu flicks]] due to the spiritual underpinnings of Kung Fu in general and its relationship with UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} in particular, both being systems in which enlightenment and violence are not necessarily mutually exclusive. On a more practical level the villain also needs to be good enough at fighting to give the hero a compelling struggle, and making him an OldMaster is one of the easiest ways to write this into the story. In keeping with his role in folklore, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bak_Mei Bak Mei]] is almost guaranteed to get this treatment whenever he shows up.

* In ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'', we have Kama Banki. [[MeditatingUnderAWaterfall After standing and concentrating under a waterfall for a period of time]], Kama Banki reached a state of enlightenment that increased his [[MasterOfIllusion illusionary abilities to their zenith]]. His achievement made him no less malevolent and he nearly trapped the Sentai team in a permanent Illusion world.

'''Wesley:''' Of a sort, yes,
* Fernando Vera from ''Series/MrRobot''. He's a philosophising murdering manipulating rapist drugdealer. He uses his pain as his power to understand the Cosmos and has no problem destroying anyone in his way. He advises Elliot with his viewpoint:"once you have weathered a storm like yours, you become the storm. And it's the rest of the world that needs to run for cover".
* ''Series/{{The Good Place}}'' revolves around this trope, as the morally impoverished but well-meaning Eleanor is constantly in danger of some semi-omniscient cosmic being or another determining that she deserves eternal suffering. One of them sums it up nicely: "I know everything that happened in your life, and it was all stupid."

* In the ''TabletopGame/WorldOfDarkness'':
** Thaumaturges potentially [[MultipleChoicePast (it's complicated)]] derive the ability to use magic not from innate [[MageSpecies supernatural connections]], but from intense and prolonged spiritual and occult study. This spiritual enlightenment doesn't necessarily require morality and does not prevent the occurrence of evil members.
** More generally, any character from TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening with high Gnosis and low Wisdom is someone who understands great magical secrets and wields powerful Arcana with very few scruples about using them.
* The ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement Secrets of Japan outright says that the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos and its human cultists are actually this trope - including the Buddha himself!

* Tamapara, the resident EvilOverlord in ''TabletopGame/AgainstTheDarkYogi'', is an extremely powerful yogi and ascetic who has turned his spiritual abilities against the cosmic order and is trying to hasten the end of the current cycle of the universe.

* The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Enlightened]] in ''VideoGame/{{Ingress}}'' can be perceived as a literal example, they are empowered by the Exotic Matter and believed that the Exotic Matter can ascend humanity. Of course, they only qualify if you're part of LaResistance; their true villainy is undetermined, as they may yet be right.

* [[spoiler: Chakravartin]] from ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' certainly qualifies for this trope. He strongly resembles a Buddha until [[spoiler:he takes on his OneWingedAngel form]], proclaims an understanding of the Wheel of Life and Mantra, and speaks of bringing enlightenment to the world. However, when [[DestructiveSavior Asura]] doesn't pass one of his "trials" and defies his will, he decides to destroy the world so he [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans can remake it and try again.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'', we have the Master. The Master was a Furon who fled to Earth where he crash-landed off the coast of China. While there, the Master realized that the beliefs of enlightenment and philosophy in the East could help him improve his mental abilities and his years of meditation allowed him to unlock the Temporal Fist, [[TimeMaster a long-forgotten Furon ability to control time.]] [[spoiler: However, he is revealed to be one of the main antagonists of the game and was the main conspirator in a plan to become the New Emperor of the Furons.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FateExtra'', the FinalBoss, the BigBad's [[TheDragon Dragon]], is an aspect of the Buddha. Though he does not agree with his master's plans, the Servant chooses to serve him and hopes he'll find enlightenment. He's still a formidable combatant.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' has [[spoiler:Kerghan the Terrible]], who, courtesy of spending nearly ''two thousand years'' in contemplation (and necromantic experimentation), has concluded that death is preferable to life, and makes a reasonably fair point when confronted about this belief. [[OmnicidalManiac He consequently wishes to enforce this]], which turns him into the game's BigBad. The real kicker is [[spoiler:[[TheExtremistWasRight he's right]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'', we have Albert Simon - who has come to understand both the true nature of humanity and God. He is so disappointed with the former he seeks to use the latter to wipe us all out.

* During the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' storyline, Sinestro fused with the White Entity, the living embodiment of the White Light of Creation that gave birth to all living things in the universe, and became the first White Lantern. Despite being connected to all living things and gaining universal knowledge, Sinestro was still as vicious as he ever was and determined to prove his superiority as the greatest Lantern. [[spoiler: His antagonism was downplayed by the fact he was focused on defeating an even greater force of evil at the time.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. After traveling throughout the universe and assimilating untold knowledge, Amazo gained cosmic clarity and virtual godhood. Disillusioned by feelings of existential purposelessness after obtaining his godly status, Amazo traveled back to Earth to destroy Lex Luthor for manipulating him in the past and took down the entire Justice League along the way. [[spoiler:Amazo relented after Luthor convinced him to find his own purpose in life by continuously evolving.]]

* ''Westernanimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Book 3's main antagonist, Zaheer, [[spoiler: is capable of meditating into the Spirit World long before he gained Airbending, managed to sever all his physical ties to the world after the death of his [[UnholyMatrimony beloved]] and mastered the Airbending secret of [[{{Flight}} weightlessness]] that was long believed to be fictional even by current Air Nomads.]] He also [[BombThrowingAnarchists tried to create worldwide anarchy and destroy all governmental systems due to his belief of their creation being the main cause behind planetary imbalance]], though by the end [[PyrrhicVillainy all he really achieved was to open the path for a fascist dictator to seize power]]. In the fourth book, he acknowledges this when Korra throws it in his face, and ends up becoming an EvilMentor to her on the grounds that said dictator is everything he despises. In the process, he successfully helps her to push past the spiritual block caused by the trauma she underwent at the hands of him and the rest of the Red Lotus, thanks to his sincere speech telling her that she is [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre stronger than she thinks]] (having seen the evidence).

* Overwhelmingly common in Hong Kong produced [[MartialArtsMovie Kung Fu flicks]] due to the spiritual underpinnings of Kung Fu in general and its relationship with UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} in particular, both being systems in which enlightenment and violence are not necessarily mutually exclusive. On a more practical level the villain also needs to be good enough at fighting to give the hero a compelling struggle, and making him an OldMaster is one of the easiest ways to write this into the story. Inkeeping with his role in folklore, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bak_Mei Bak Mei]] is almost guaranteed to get this treatment whenever he shows up.

* In ''ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan'', Ezekiel Sims is a sort of a spiritual mentor to Spider-Man who teaches him that his superhero powers have a mystical rather than a sci-fi origin, coming from a totemic spider deity called the Great Weaver and a mystic force called the Web of Life (he has similar powers himself). However, it turns out that he also has a dark secret: he acquired these powers through an illegitimate magic ritual [[IJustWantToBeSpecial because he just wanted to be superhuman]], and when an otherworldy being known as the Gatekeeper comes to kill him for that, he tries to sacrifice Peter to the Gatekeeper instead in order to survive. Nonetheless, he has a last-moment change of heart, and gives up his own life to let Peter live.
* Enigma aka Tara Virango from ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker: Spider-Man]]'' is a woman from Bangladesh who gained supernatural powers and a mystical connection to the Buddhist goddess Tara after being infected with a nano-virus (she is a survivor of an environmental disaster during which her native village was exposed to the viral outbreak). She starts out as a semi-antagonist to Spider-Man, having stolen the precious Star of Persia diamond and even physically attacking Peter on one occasion. However, he soon learns that her motives are noble: she seeks to prove that the outbreak was not an accident, but a deliberate release of a biological agent ordered by the {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s of the company that developed the virus (and the reason why she stole the diamond was that she wanted to demand a large compensation to the survivors to be paid as ransom for it). Once Spider-Man realizes the truth, he assumes Enigma's side, and helps her defeat the corporate executives.

* In ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', we have the case of the Doctor. The Doctor is actually a title given to a human chosen as a form of shaman whose role is to protect the Earth. This position has existed since the beginning of human thought and grants the chosen one god-like mystical abilities, knowledge passed downed from previous Doctors, and the ability to instantly empathize with every creature on Earth (human or otherwise). A Doctor is even given endless access to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, [[EldritchLocation a dimension that is made up of everything good and bad about the human race.]] However, humans chosen to be the new Doctor are not necessarily benevolent despite their empathy nor do they have to be. This is clearly shown in the case of the first shown Doctor being a [[BombThrowingAnarchist violent anarchist]] and the succeeding protagonist Doctors being [[WellIntentionedExtremist violent antiheroes]] at various times. [[spoiler: To put things into perspective, a previous Doctor and late antagonist slaughtered the entire population of three countries in alphabetical order after receiving his power. Humorous considering previous Doctors included Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and famously known humanitarian figureheads.]]

* In the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperheroes'', Element Lad became one in the "Legion Lost" arc. After saving his teammates from being trapped in a space-time rift, Element Lad was accidentally left behind within the rift and stayed trapped there for [[TimeAbyss billions of years]]. During that time, he managed to watch the stellar life-cycles of stars, improved his powers to the point he could create entire worlds, and gained an understanding of life that allowed him to create entirely new sentient species and observe abnormalities even super-geniuses couldn’t detect. It progressed to the point that he became known as [[TheMaker The Progenitor]] of his new respective cosmos. Unfortunately, [[GoMadFromTheIsolation his time spent in isolation]] [[ImmortalityImmorality drove him to become considerably callous to all mortal life due to his immeasurable lifespan]] and he began purging any creature he saw as a “variant” to his designs. After seeing him, [[TheSmartGuy Brainiac Five]] admitted Element Lad was not evil as the Legion understood, [[DrivenToVillainy but was working at a level so far removed from conventional life that his view of life became callous by default.]]

** Thaumaturges potentially [[MultipleChoicePast (it's complicated)]] derive the ability to use magic not from innate [[WitchSpecies supernatural connections]], but from intense and prolonged spiritual and occult study. This spiritual enlightenment doesn't necessarily require morality and does not prevent the occurrence of evil members.

** {{Parodied}} with the Old Monk from the "[[Recap/JackieChanAdventuresS2E16TheLotusTemple Lotus Temple]]" episode. He is a Buddhist monk with supernatural powers (including [[LevitatingLotusPosition levitating in the lotus position]]) who [[ProverbialWisdom speaks in cryptic proverbs]], and nonetheless, he turns out to be [[MonsterOfTheWeek the villain of the episode]] and a dark Chi sorcerer who is after the magical Scroll of Hung Chao.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: {{Parodied}} with [[MonsterOfTheWeek one of the episodic villains]], Yin-Yang. He is a Feng Shui guru who intends to rearrange the continents into a yin yang image, which would obviously have catastrophic consequences for the world. {{Lampshaded}} when he captures the protagonists and tells them that his Chinese tea "will remove their fears of a new natural world order", and Alex points out that [[AffablyEvil he's pretty nice for a villain]]... and then it turns out that [[NotSoHarmlessPunishment he LITERALLY intends to drown them in a large cauldron of hot tea]].