History Main / PlanetBaron

* ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'' has the CompanyTown version, as the entire solar system you're in was [[OneNationUnderCopyright bought out by a few conglomerates]], and this is reflected in the colonies they established.

** Lrrr is the ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8, a fact that is reiterated [[{{Catchphrase}} every single time he appears on the show]].

* ''Anime/VoltesV'' has the [[TheBeautifulElite Boazanian]] [[AristocratsAreEvil Royal]] [[SpaceEvolesFamily]], but for most of the series, the PlanetBaron is [[RichBitch Emperor]] [[EvilUncle Zambajil]]. [[spoiler: Zambajil became King by using sly tricks to orchestrate the arrest of his cousin, [[FallenPrince Prince]] [[GadgeteerGenius Gohl]], and seeks to annihilate his own nephew [[LongHairedPrettyBoy Prince]] [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Heinel]], because he's secretly the true heir to the throne. It becomes a SelfFulfillingProphecy when Heinel finds out that Zambajil has been plotting against him this entire time, and kills him.]]

** Most of the Emperor's known lost Primarchs, by the time he reunited with them, had risen to become the rulers of the planets on which they landed as babies. (And as future history would bear out, impressing the old man never got any easier from that point forwards.)

* Gehn from the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' series is this. By extension, his ancestral race, the D'ni, had the power to either write-into-existence, or just create links to already-existing, worlds through books. (Either one is not specified) Because they saw this power as infinite in possibilities, the D'ni often subjugated the inhabitants of these worlds. However, Gehn is even moreso this, because he doesn't just subjugate these populations, but forces them to worship him. (Extreme even by the already-twisted standards of the D'ni.) Even worse, his writing is extremely flawed, which produces links to worlds that fall apart and eventually collapse in on themselves. He tries to sweep the issue aside by claiming that these flaws are his doings, to keep the populace in-line, and quash any rebellion.

** The Hutt crime lords practically control entire star systems. Jabba Desilijic Tiure practically controlled Tatooine, to the point that his death in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' left a power vacuum not entirely resolved as of ''Series/TheMandalorian''.

* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': [[WellIntentionedExtremist Thaal Sinestro]] had his homeworld of Korugar locked up like a safe before he met Hal Jordan, thanks to his [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Green Lantern abilities]] giving him both the opportunity and power to do so.
* Darkseid of the ComicBook/NewGods is the undisputed master of Apokolips, and seeks to extend his control over all of creation. While it is often stated that the forces of Darkseid have conquered [[GalacticConqueror a vast insterstellar empire for him]], we rarely see any of it outside of his minions invading and subjugating worlds in brief scenes, and Darkseid and his inner circle spend most of their time on Apokolips. The planet is also in another dimension which would technically make him a DimensionLord, but he has to share the spot with Highfather of New Genesis, and it doesn't seem like this "higher dimension" consists of much more than those two enemy planets anyway.
* Dr. Eggman strives to be this for Mobius over the course of the original run of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', opposed by Sonic and his [[LaResistance band of rebels]].

* Ming the Merciless of ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' fame is an [[UnbuiltTrope early]] example. Despite his claims to emperorship over the planet Mongo, his regime is still contested by the rightful ruler, Prince Barin, as well as a number of other less powerful royal contenders, such as King Vultan and his Hawkmen, Queen Fria of Frigia, King Kala of the Shark Men, and so on. The situation is so unstable that a single [[PunyEarthling earthman]], his girlfriend, and a MadScientist entering into the equation results in the rise of an organized resistance against him, eventually leading to his downfall.

** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the rulers of Naboo are elected monarchs who change office every few years (though that only concerns the surface dwellers, the aquatic Gungans have a chief of their own, Boss Nass).

** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Lando Calrissian is the baron administrator of Cloud City on Bespin, and it is the only inhabited colony on the gas giant. He basically controls the tibanna gas extraction on it.
** The Hutt crime lords practically control entire star systems. Jabba Desilijic Tiure practically controlled Tatooine, to the point his death in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' left a power vacuum not entirely resolved as of ''Series/TheMandalorian''.
** Also in ''Film/ANewHope'', Tarkin explains to his generals and admirals that, in the absence of an Imperial Senate, regional governors have been given direct control over their systems. This is what led, in the aftermath of the death of the Emperor, to so many planets and planetary systems being controlled by one person in the expanded universe, since many then split off from the Empire to form their own holdings.

* In ''Literature/{{Armor}}'', there are mentions of several planets that are ruled as absolute monarchies; it's suggested that they were founded by self-aggrandizing billionaires. The Masao, who rules one such planet, appears about halfway through the book, leading to the revelation that one of the main characters is the former ruler of another planet, who abdicated after a series of events that left him disenchanted with the system and his place in it.
* In ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'' the father of protagonist Jinto Lin's surrendered their home planet Martine to the massive fleet of the Humankind Empire Abh without firing a shot. In exchange for their surrender Lin's father is accepted into Abh society as a noble and hereditary ruler of the planet.

* The title character of ''Literature/TheLittlePrince'' is this, by virtue of the fact that the only inhabitants of the small planet which he calls home are himself and a rather demanding rose. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in that the Prince isn't a despot at all, and his planet is extremely tiny. Later in the book, the Prince travels to various other tiny planets, each with a single inhabitant. A few play this trope straight:

* Mark Watney of ''Literature/TheMartian'' fits this trope both in fact and [[AwesomeEgo attitude]] during his solo tenure on the planet.
* Ray Bradbury's ''Literature/TheMartianChronicles'' uses this trope in a minor key for several of its stories when Mars becomes almost totally depopulated of human settlers. Easy to be king of the world when you're the only one there:

* The Vicountess Sallivera Darktail in ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'' becomes the planetary governor of her family's colony Greenholme after claiming it for her house at the end of the second book. Though the population is only the size of a small city at first.
* Kier Grey of ''Literature/{{Slan}}'' fame is described as this, and proves it by [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership murdering his entire advisory council in the first thirty pages]].
* ''Space Viking'' by Creator/HBeamPiper features multiple "planetary kings". Monarchical rulers of a single planet are essentially the norm in that particular time and place of Piper's "future history" (the "Sword-Worlds"); an ambitious aristocrat on the protagonist's homeworld vying to ''become'' a planetary ruler is an important side-plot, while the main plot concerns the protagonist of the novel successfully transitioning from being a "space viking" and owner of a single starship to being a sovereign planetary prince in his own right.
* In ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'', by Creator/RobertHeinlein, Valentine Michael Smith ends up owner of Mars thanks to his descent from the ''Envoy'' crew and by right of discovery, a contract enacting common property, and his being the legal child of all 4 of the crew due to a combination of paternity laws and infidelity. Not that the Martians particularly care about Earth laws but he does use the money to start a religion.

[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_rco001_1469470715.png]]]]

* Kier Grey of ''Literature/{{Slan}}'' fame is described as this, and proves it by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority murdering his entire advisory council in the first thirty pages]].

[[/folder]]

** The Organa family, the rulers of the planet Alderaan (seen in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', hinted at in ''Film/ANewHope'').

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'': As in the comics, Eggman seeks to control all of Mobius by hook or [[UnwillingRoboticization conversion into robot slave]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsChocolateWithNutsMermaidManAndBarnacleBoyV Chocolate with Nuts]]", one of [=SpongeBob's=] lies is the promise of becoming this.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': The TropeNamer by way of a fictitious video made by Eddy to try and impress his brother with his staggering wealth in "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS4E4AnEdIsBorn An Ed Is Born]]". When Eddy claims that he might buy a couple more planets, already owning Saturn and Pluto, Double D is so unimpressed he inadvertently reveals Ed [[ItMakesSenseInContext slapping dollar signs on garbage bags]]:

'''Double D:''' Sorry Eddy, the "planet baron" story threw me off.

* In ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'', by Creator/RobertHeinlein, Valentine Michael Smith ends up owner of Mars thanks to his descent from the ''Envoy'' crew and by right of discovery, a contract enacting common property, and the fact he was the sole surviving descendant of the crew. Not that the Martians particularly care about Earth laws but he does use the money to start a religion.

** Amy Wong's parents claim ownership of literally the entire northern hemisphere of Mars as part of "Wong Ranch", among other ventures.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Being the creator of the [[Characters/DoctorWhoDaleks Daleks]], the mastermind Davros reigned supreme on their home planet Skaro, gaining absolute power after converting the [[HumanAliens Kaleds]] into Daleks and eradicating their rivals, the Thals.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing The Conscience of the King]]", [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Kodos the Executioner]], while initially a legitimate governor, was temporarily dictator of the colony after declaring martial law due to a famine. He ends up executing half of its population. Kudos tries to justify this as the best way to save the colony, but he selects those who don’t fit his eugenic requisites.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E17TheSquireOfGothos The Squire of Gothos]]", the titular Squire of Gothos is a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien with his own planet, though he only uses a portion of it - outside a small habitable zone, the rest of the planet’s atmosphere is dangerous.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", Khan becomes this after he is defeated but given a planet to colonize and rule, though we learn in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' that the planet was devastated, prompting Khan to seek revenge on Kirk for marooning him there.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E8IMudd I, Mudd]]", Mudd has become ruler of a planet of androids, though by the end of the episode the robots are more his captors than his subjects.

** In the TNG episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E13DevilsDue Devil's Due]]", a con artist was claiming to be a planet's ancient deity and using advanced technology to work apparent miracles to back up her claim to ownership of the entire planet, the crew of the Enterprise wondered if she might actually be Q in disguise. Picard shot that down, saying that Q wouldn't be interested in the planet's economic forecasts like the con artist was.
* The villains of ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger'' are all members of the evil space empire Jark Matter, which has a distinct hierarchy. The Daikaan are planetary-level overlords; with the exception of Earth, each planet has only one Daikaan ruling over it.

** In the TNG episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E13DevilsDue Devil's Due]]", a con artist was claiming to be a planet's ancient deity and using advanced technology to work apparent miracles to back up her claim to ownership of the entire planet, the crew of the Enterprise wondered if she might actually be Q in disguise. Picard shot that down, saying that if Q wanted a planet, he'd just create one.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The planetary governor's job is holding authority over a planet or the entire star system in the name of the Emperor of Mankind. Since the Imperium rules over a million star systems, so long as the governor pay his taxes, keep the mutant and psyker population in check, paying the tithe in form of pskyers, and actually maintaining order, they can do whatever they want with the planet. It's notable that the role of planetary governor is an Administratum role and bureaucrati* c fiction that's applied to whomever the Administratum considers the party responsible for discharging those above mentioned responsibilities, and how exactly one comes to the job is largely irrelevant to them. A planetary governor may be a hereditary role like a monarchy, or it may be an appointed or elected one.

** Although, considering the state of most human colonized worlds in the Firefly Universe, controlling a planet or moon might just mean being the leader of a few thousand people scattered around a few colony towns.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing The Conscience of the King]]", [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Kodos the Executioner]], while initially a legitimate governor, was temporarily dictator of the world Kirk grew up on after declaring martial law due to a famine and executing a large chunk of its population to save the others.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E17TheSquireOfGothos The Squire of Gothos]]", the titular Squire of Gothos is a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien with his own planet, though he only uses a portion of it.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", Khan becomes this after he is defeated but given a planet to colonize and rule, though we learn in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' that the planet later died, prompting Khan to seek revenge on Kirk for marooning him there.