History Main / ForTheEvulz

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13167363/1/To-Undo-it-All To Undo it All]]'': In the BadFuture, Aizen did thinks like cutting off Uryu's arm and letting hollows eat Rukia's leg just to see if they could find a way to use their abilities without said limbs.

** Example: In one issue of ''Comicbook/TheBatmanAdventures'', [[Comicbook/TwoFace Harvey Dent]] has reformed and is starting a romance with his lawyer Grace Lamont. Joker hints to Harvey that Lamont is dating Harvey's friend Bruce Wayne, and is just seeing Harvey out of pity. Then he gets his assistant Harley Quinn to leak to a newspaper that Lamont is planning to marry Bruce and delivers the newspaper to Harvey. One breakdown, jailbreak, attempted murder and broken heart later, Batman asks the Joker why he caused such a horrible disaster. His response?

** Even when he is out for money, he only really wants it to fund his sadistic plans. One of the first things he does in Brian Azzarello's ''Comicbook/{{Joker}}'' is to rob a bank. While he does get a decent of amount of cash, he considers the robbery itself to be ho-hum at best, due to a lack of carnage.

* Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'s villain Fatalist started a twisted, sick game of emotional manipulation in ''Comicbook/ManyHappyReturns'' that messed with God's Plan and could have destroyed the whole multiverse… just because he could.
* Averted in ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan''. Franchise/{{Superman}} accuses Comicbook/LexLuthor from devastating half a city for the sake of a simple theft. Lex replies that his crimes are always methodical and with purpose.
%% * In ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog, this is [[spoiler: Fiona Fox]]'s reasoning for [[spoiler: turning traitor and joining Scourge, Sonic's anti-universe counterpart.]]

* Comicbook/NormanOsborn. Green Goblin's motivation in ''all'' of the situations is just for evil fun. That's just his Goblin persona. [[SubvertedTrope Osborn himself is usually out to extend his power and influence.]] Sometimes the Goblin's lulz [[DeconstructedTrope actually bite him in the ass.]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'''s Bullseye. It's the reason why ComicBook/TheKingpin and other crime lords hire him. The cops have a hard time figuring out when he kills because he was hired to and when he kills because he felt like it. He even claimed he probably has more money than ''Norman Osborn'' yet doesn't feel the need to spend it and continues killing "because it's fun". Sometimes, he'll even kill his client's own mooks just to entertain himself when he's bored, as lampshaded in [[Film/{{Daredevil}} the film version]] when the Kingpin finds Bullseye sitting in his office with the still warm corpse of his security guard.

* Whenever ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} isn't [[PsychoForHire carrying out a job]], he's either tormenting Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} or slaughtering random innocents. Sometimes he does those things anyways even when he is on a job.

* In the original ''Comicbook/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Mirage}}'' comics, this trope was explicitly stated to be the motivation behind Baxter Stockman's plan to blackmail the city with his mousers. He was using the Mousers to rob banks as well. When April O' Neil tries to explain that [[CutLexLuthorACheck he could have made millions of dollars legally]], Baxter says he just did it because "it was FUN!"

* ''Comicbook/SupremePower'' villain Redstone's reasons for killing: "Because I can, because I'm good at it, and because I like it." He was once a "normal" serial killer, motivated by misogyny and feelings of powerlessness... But once he got his powers, he became inhumanly vicious and ruthless.
* [[Comicbook/{{Empowered}} Willy Pete]]. What else is there to say about a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]] who doesn't even need to eat at all, but just happens to like the taste? (Plenty, actually, but the {{squick}} doesn't need to be mentioned here.)

* Mr. Mxyzptlk in ''Comicbook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' He explained that since [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality is boring]], he tries out different things to break the monotony. He spent 2,000 years not moving at all, another 2,000 years being purely good, and then the last 2,000 years being a mischievous prankster. Now he's going to be evil. Things gets ugly, ''fast''.
* The "Reaver-Cleaver" killer from ''Comicbook/{{Preacher}}'' confesses to one of the protagonists that he only does what he does because it's fun; amused at having gotten away clean with killing a man in a drunken hit-and-run, he just kept on killing to see how far he could push his luck.
* Cletus from Comicbook/TheAuthority

* Gary "[[StepfordSmiler The Smiler]]" Callahan, the PresidentEvil of ''Comicbook/{{Transmetropolitan}}''. He flatly tells protagonist Spider Jerusalem that he ran for President simply because he likes to hurt people and wants to do it on as grand a scale as possible. By the time he's done, Spider is almost nostalgic for Callahan's predecessor, a thinly-veiled UsefulNotes/RichardNixon {{Expy}} dubbed "The Beast."

* Didier, the BigBad of the ''Anime/BloodPlus'' fic ''FanFic/{{Nobility}}''. ''Everything'' he does is for the sole purpose of making [[CainAndAbel his brother]] Anjou suffer, even starting a war to this end. It's been noted that he's had several chances to kill Anjou, but passed them over in favor of MindRape.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''

* Dionne's impetus to do pretty much anything in ''WebComic/{{Precocious}}''. [[http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2010/01/26 Example.]] Not that the Gemstone Estates kids usually cite any ''other'' reason..
* Starfish in ''WebComic/{{Unsounded}}'' is a fairly practical version. He does a lot of bad things for practical reasons, but when he does things purely for cruelty it's something he thinks won't come back to bite him. [[spoiler: He beats his already dying henchman to death rather than just letting him bleed out. After all, either way he's dead, but it's more fun. And he tries to make Matty watch his father die because he already intends to dispose of him too.]]
* Milkman Dan in ''WebComic/RedMeat''. Anything is fair game to him. "I hate you Milkman Dan" indeed.
* In ''WebComic/{{NekoTheKitty}}'', [=McJefferstein=], the 'evil' counterpart of Jeff, often says, "The evil is the fun part!", even though he rarely does anything particularly harmful.

* ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/evil-ethics "Evil Ethics"]], a couple of kids discuss ethical theories they supposedly subscribe to, which advocate doing the evil-sounding things that different existing moral theories could lead to and being happy about it.

* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest''

* In Script/{{Migraine}}'', the protagonist, serial killer Kenneth Jason Muntz, ruins a couple's relationship out of simple schadenfreude.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'''s BigBad Monokuma (who is actually [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]]) is an intentional creation of this kind of character. Head scenario writer Kazutaka Kodaka [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2015-07-22/interview-danganronpa-creator-kazutaka-kodaka/.90760 feels that giving a villain]] a FreudianExcuse is "cheating," and so crafted the villain to be defined by a complete lack of purpose in creating the DeadlyGame that the series is based around.

[[caption-width-right:350:"It's not about money. It's about sending a message: ''Everything burns''."[[note]]Not pictured: the corrupt banker tied up on top of the pile of burning money, or the Chechen gangster hauled off to be cut into pieces and fed to his own dogs.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"It's not about money. It's about sending a message: ''Everything burns''."[[note]]Not pictured: the corrupt banker tied up on top of the pile of burning money, or the Chechnyan gangster hauled off to be cut into pieces and fed to his own dogs.[[/note]]]]

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Why else would [[NoNameGiven the bully]] have jumped out of nowhere donned in a grotesque to terrify Italy, a guy who had been brutally beaten just earlier ''with bruises all over his body'' to prove it?

* Anything relating to [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} yukkuri abuse]] tends to revolve monsters of humans who delight themselves in causing harm and death towards defenseless head-like creatures just because they can. Then there's [[RootOfAllEvil the factory]], which all yukkuri are naturally afraid of. They say it won't let them "take it easy", but it's way more sinister than that. There are even yukkuri shops people can go to select their "victim" on some works.

* In ''FanFic/MegaManRecut'', Proto Man is only working for Wily because he wants to do whatever he wants.

* Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2295134/1/Project-Mobitropolis-Act-One-Evil-Rises Project Mobitropolis Act One: Evil Rises]] has Robotnik respond to Sonic questioning why he's done so much evil with, "Because I can."

* ''FanFic/{{Webwork}}'' has [[spoiler: Simon Leston]], the new Squid Khan General, who intends to [[OmnicidalManiac kill everyone on the planet]], partly because he [[MisanthropeSupreme hates people and thinks they deserve it]], but mostly simply because he now ''can''. [[SealedEvilInACan Tarakudo]] and [[FallenHero Jade]] are both [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgusted by this]], with the former describing villains with this kind of motivation to be like viruses.
* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', when the [=CP9=] investigated several countries that formed a trading coalition, said coalition was found to be completely innocuous. Rather than simply withdraw, they utilized the worst case scenario to pit every country at war with the others and stole all possible liquid assets which were added to the Celestial Dragons' tribute.

* ''FanFic/QueenOfShadows'': Shendu's first appearance in the [[RewritingReality rewritten reality]] sees him [[KillItWithFire incinerate]] a slave dancer on the flimsy excuse that she'll probably never dance as well as she just did, so she's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness expendable]]. Judging by the reactions of his court, this is a regular occurrence.

* ''FanFic/RoarOfTheLION'': A mix of this and ForScience is Inori's entire motivation. When she creates Virtue, her first [[KillerRobot Extermination Armor]], the very first thing she does is order it to go on a massacre and sends it to attack Vale General Hospital.

[[caption-width-right:350:"It's not about money. It's about sending a message: ''Everything burns''."[[note]]Not pictured: the corrupt banker tied up on top of the pile of burning money.[[/note]]]]

* This is the only discernible reason why [[DesignatedHero Christian Weston Chandler's]] enemies continually try to ruin his Love Quests in ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}''. In fairness, Chris is a Jerkass at best, so it's probably the same reason why many people troll him in RealLife-[[AssholeVictim they think he deserves to be trolled.]]

--> I need a victim to do things sickening, I just want to make you bleed!
--> I'm going to kill you just because I want to make you bleed!

** ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': In in alternate version of the DCU, the Joker's main reason to nuke Metropolis, link the trigger to Superman's wife Lois and trick the Man of Steel into killing him is to see if someone would become just as evil as he is from his nihilistic viewpoint. Also the reason he targets Superman in the prequel: he was bored of losing to Batman, so he decided to go on "easy mode." He thinks it was as good as "beating a puppy to death with a kitten." [[TheBadGuyWins The Joker wins here]], as he manages to turn Superman into something as evil as himself after giving him a nasty BreakingSpeech. To him, it doesn't matter at all if he was killed as a consequence, as the fact that he is laughing maniacally as Superman kills him says it all.

** ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': In in alternate version of the DCU, the Joker's main reason to nuke Metropolis, link the trigger to Superman's wife Lois and trick the Man of Steel into killing him is to see if someone would become just as evil as he is from his nihilistic viewpoint. Also the reason he targets Superman in the prequel: he was bored of losing to Batman, so he decided to go on "easy mode." He thinks it was as good as "beating up a puppy to death with a kitten." [[TheBadGuyWins The Joker wins here]], as he manages to turn Superman into something as evil as himself after giving him a nasty BreakingSpeech. To him, it doesn't matter at all if he was killed as a consequence, as the fact that he is laughing maniacally as Superman kills him says it all.

Some variants of For the Evulz characters, such as the StrawNihilist and most notably Comicbook/TheJoker, compensate for this character flaw through using philosophy; they question and challenge the heroes' concept of justice, order, reason, and the workings of the world, especially when it's a CrapsackWorld where those who do evil without any reason whatsoever can [[KarmaHoudini get away with it]]. These people are very likely to give a BreakingSpeech that deconstructs the other characters' assumption that there should be a logical, beneficial, realistic reason behind every behavior.

* ''[[FanFic/UltimateSpiderWoman Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light]]'' features Jack O' Lantern, who starts out with bank robberies before graduating to hostage-takings, gassings, MindRape, and finally orchestrating a city-wide gang war. He implies that the reason he commits these increasingly ghastly crimes is, quite simply, because he knows it's wrong. Jack O' Lantern also brags about being so superior to people who in his mind [[AtLeastIAdmitIt hide their impulses behind their civilized facades]], and develops an almost insane hatred for Spider-Woman in part for defending those people and in part for interfering with his fun.

* In ''[[Fanfic/AceCombatEquestriaChronicles Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'', [[spoiler: Gilda]] breaks Medley's wings after a prolonged torture for no other reason than her own entertainment and (perhaps) driving Rainbow Dash into a HeroicBSOD.

* In FanFic/SonicEvilRebornZero, the Serdist aristocrat, Malfiore de Torquemada sets a dying apprentice on a ridiculously simple mission for her, then complicates it to nigh-unbelievable levels, sabotaging her own mission for this reason. Malfiore is also a {{Troll}} so it's in character.

* [[VideoGame/{{SCP Containment Breach}} SCP-106]] goes on a killing spree for the same reason he kills period.
* ''FanFic/PlayTheGame'' has Bardot, a zoner who, due to his white chalk, red chalk combination, does not really care about what he does, and does it for no other reason other than sadistic pleasure.

* Tsali from ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'' has shades of this. Though he has actual reasons to want revenge against the Seedrians, he butchers entire worlds simply because he can, even if [[MisplacedRetribution they had nothing to do with his enemies]].

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness'':

* In the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''[[FanFic/BoundDestiniesTrilogy Wisdom and Courage]]'', Veran displays this trait to a T. Using the SinsOfOurFathers card as a poor excuse to mask her own immense bloodlust, she constantly goes above and beyond to [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans gather power]] so she can use/abuse said power to cause as much collateral damage and kill as many innocent people as she possibly can, simply ''because'' she can.

This may be because EvilFeelsGood while GoodIsBoring [[GoodIsDumb and dumb]], but The Evulz is different from ItAmusedMe in that the Evulz-seeker need not find any pleasure in their evil acts -- in some cases they themselves (also) suffer as a consequence of the [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans crapsack world they inflict upon themselves and others]]. In other words, while many villains who follow this trope enjoy what they're doing, their actions also possess an underlying sense of indifference. Note that [[ItAmusedMe self-centered and immoral types merely seeking amusement]] wouldn't bother doing something bad [[PragmaticVillainy if it harmed them too]].

A non-comedic character whose personality is ''defined'' by this trope can be a CompleteMonster, the Complete Monster being defined as, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin completely monstrous]] -- needing no justifications for doing evil and having no humanising or sympathetic elements (e.g., [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intent]] or [[AntiVillain self-doubt]]) whatsoever. Note, however, that the reverse is not true -- the Monster, after all, is a character defined by their boundless heinousness, not by having reasonless evil as their only possible motivation; some may be PragmaticEvil types who want to TakeOverTheWorld. Other villainous personality types associated with For The Evulz include the PsychoForHire (who is very likely to be AxCrazy), the StrawNihilist, TheSociopath, the more extreme and hedonistic kinds of {{sadist}}, and variants of the ChaoticEvil character alignment.

Some variants of For the Evulz characters, such as the StrawNihilist and most notably Comicbook/TheJoker, compensate for this character flaw through using philosophy; they question and challenge the heroes' concept of justice, order, reason, and the workings of the world, especially when it's a CrapsackWorld where those who do evil without any reason whatsoever can [[KarmaHoudini get away with it]]. These people are very likely to give a BreakingSpeech that deconstructs the other characters' assumption that there should be a logical, beneficial, realistic reason behind every behaviour.

VideoGameCrueltyPotential is when the player of a game is allowed or even encouraged to do things For The Evulz. If a whole race has a motive like this, it's AlwaysChaoticEvil (but Always Chaotic Evil can have other flavours of shared evil). Compare ItAmusedMe, for (comedically) callous or amoral seekers of amusement, IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten for the demand of evil acts as proof of evil, and {{Troll}}s.

** Quite a few Dark Eldar and followers of Chaos have lost whatever reasons they once might have had for their journey to what lies beyond the MoralEventHorizon and are now in it for the giggles. The Dark Eldar are a particularly stellar example as the reason for their current predicament (hiding in the Webway and constantly hunted by the god of perversion) is that their entire civilization imploded in an orgy of hedonism and depravity, and they have no intention of stopping ([[DeconstructedTrope while this is buried away in some fairly obscure canon, the Dark Eldar carry on as they are out of a deep-seated spiritual dread. All the evuls are to try and stave off the attention of the god of perversion for just a bit longer]]).

* Comicbook/NormanOsborn. Green Goblin's motivation in ''all'' of the situations is just for evil fun. [[SubvertedTrope That's just his Goblin persona. Osborn himself is usually out to extend his power and influence.]] [[DeconstructedTrope Sometimes the Goblin's lulz actually bite him in the ass.]]

* Lady Tremaine in ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' and its sequels despises her stepdaughter and does everything she can to make her life miserable. And for what reason? [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic All because she didn't push Cinderella out of her cooch.]] Cinderella's stepsisters also apply in the first film, though Anastasia is redeemed in the sequels.

* ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'' has Maleficent. She tries to murder the titular character. And when that fails, she captures her PrinceCharming so she can send him back when he's old and grey. Why? 'Cuz she's "[[LargeHam the mistress of all evil]]!" That and she didn't like the fact [[DisproportionateRetribution she wasn't invited to the little baby princess's birthday party.]]

* Madam Mim in ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'' despises anything pleasant (such as flowers and sunshine) and tries to murder Arthur just because Merlin sees something good in him.
* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'': At the climax of the movie, the BigBad [[spoiler:King Candy]] [[EvilGloating gloats to Ralph]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero that because of his gamejumping]], [[spoiler:the [[TheAssimilator giant mechanical bugs]] Ralph introduced to Sugar Rush have turned the King into one. This has made him powerful enough to take over the whole arcade]]. Still, he tries to kill Ralph first, apparently just because he feels like it.

* The Coachman from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', who actually kidnaps naughty young boys, brings them all to Pleasure Island, turns them all into donkeys, and locks them all up in crates headed either for the salt mines or the circus just for the fun of it! And to make matters worse, he's actually a KarmaHoudini![[note]]Though not in the LicensedGame[[/note]]

Most villains have logical motivations for (morally) reprehensible actions and intentions. {{Ambition|IsEvil}}, [[KnightTemplar zeal]], {{greed}}, {{pride}}, [[DrivenByEnvy envy]], {{lust}}, [[UnstoppableRage wrath]], [[DirtyCoward fear]], {{love|MakesYouEvil}}, [[ThePowerOfHate hatred]], [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain bigotry]], {{revenge}}, [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery misery]], [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]], [[TheResenter resentment]], [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds anguish]], [[MisanthropeSupreme misanthropy]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]], [[DarkAndTroubledPast a troubled]] [[FreudianExcuse childhood]], [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the desire for utopia]], [[VisionaryVillain and other warped "ideals"]] can all drive people to evil in ways that we understand and may be familiar with. If a villain's motivations can just be understood, they can [[KirkSummation be reasoned with]] -- sometimes.

** The Orks, meanwhile, are an ''entire species'' who embark upon interstellar campaigns of genocide for entertainment purposes. "[[FunetikAksent Orkz wuz made fo']] [[BloodKnight fightin' an' winnin'!]]"

-->'''Jovian''': Why is it that whenever we can't find somebody your first instinct is to blow up everything around you?\\

* [[SinisterMinister Kirei Kotomine]], the BigBad of the Fate route in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', was going to [[spoiler:empty the contents of the Holy Grail, an ArtifactOfDoom containing a tangible form of all of man's evil upon the world]], causing untold amounts of death and destruction. When TheHero asks him why he's doing it, he replies with a speech that can be summed up as: "Just as some people find music or art entertaining, I can only find amusement in watching other people suffer".

* In a sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Accentus, the oldest of the Seven Brothers of Orre is introduced wielding a sword and a machine gun before going on a rampage to kill every Pokémon in a forest sanctuary. At the same time, an evil shiny Aegislash named Dainsleif appears in a human village and mind-controls half the denizens and orders them to kill the other half. When asked why they're doing it, they both give the same answer: "Because I ''can''".

Of course, TropesAreTools without fail. Poor writing of this trope can lead to StupidEvil territory when villains do [[EvilIsPetty petty]] things or even [[TooDumbToLive dumb things that lead to their own downfall.]][[note]]though it can also be used to deconstruct this, as it's a great way to show off just how asinine, pointless, and childish blind cruelty and petty displays of dominance really are[[/note]] Laziness in regards to this motivation can also lead to writing a GenericDoomsdayVillain, since some writers tend not to put any characterization behind the motive to make it believable.