History Main / PlanetBaron

* ''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 ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'', Mumm-Ra compliments Lion-O's ancestor Leo on his skills in finding [[MineralMacguffin the Power Stones]], musing that when he rules the universe Leo will be given his own planet to rule.

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** In the episode "Jaynestown' there is "Higgins' Moon" which is ruled by a ceramics exporter named Higgins who uses slave labor to essentially farm mud that gets used to make ceramics. Since the whole moon is named after him, it is implied that Higgins rules it.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': The villain of the episode "[[Recap/FireflyE13HeartOfGold Heart of Gold]]" is a wealthy rancher who uses his considerable wealth to control his local planet ("backwater moon") and appoints himself the local law enforcement, [[KnightTemplar executing anyone he finds unsavory]]. As the leader of the group standing up to him points out, he ''could'' use his wealth and position to invest in the colony and improve the lives of everyone there (and make himself richer), but he'd ''rather'' keep it small and poor so he can "play cowboy".

* ''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.

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

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* 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, along with a contract enacting common property and the fact he was the sole descendent.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': The villain of the episode "[[Recap/FireflyE13HeartOfGold Heart of Gold]]" is a wealthy rancher who uses his considerable wealth to control his local planet ("backwater moon") and appoints himself the local law enforcement, [[KnightTemplar executing anyone he finds unsavory]]. As the leader of the group standing up to him points out, he ''could'' use his wealth and position to invest in the colony and improve the lives of everyone there (and make himself richer), but he'd ''rather'' keep it small and poor so he can "play cowboy"

* ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom'' has successfully conquered Earth twice using MindControl both times. He subjugated all governments, instituted healthcare and income equality for everyone, then gave it up out of boredom and let the former governments take over again. Then he took it over the 2nd time and again gave it up, both out of boredom. He has also conquered an alternate version of Earth created by [[RealityWarper Franklin Richards]]. Such feats technically allows him to lay claim to such a title of being a Planet Baron, and he could easily do it again if he desired.

* In ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'', by Creator/RobertHeinlein, Valentin Michael Smith ends up owner of Mars thanks to his descent from the ''Envoy'' crew and by right of discovery, along with a contract enacting common property and the fact he was the sole descendent.

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* ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom'' has successfully conquered Earth twice using MindControl both times. He subjugated all governments, instituted healthcare and income equality for everyone, then gave it up out of boredom and let the former governments take over again. Then he took it over the 2nd time and again gave it up, both out of boredom. He has also conquered an alternate version of Earth created by [[RealityWarper Franklin Richards]]. Such feats technically allows him to lay claim to such a title of being a Planet Baron, and he could easily do it again if he desired.

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** 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.
** 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 ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Quark's cousin Gaila owns his own moon. This is one of Quark's desires as well. Every time Gaila is mentioned his moon inevitably comes up.
** 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.

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--> '''Insano''': "Fifteen years after this movie, the only thing Ferris Bueller would be qualified to do is be a frycook on Venus. But nerds will own the restaurant, and ''I'' will own Venus!"

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* ''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/EdEddNEddyS4E23AnEdIsBorn "An Ed Is Born"]]. Double D is so unimpressed he inadverdantly reveals Ed [[ItMakesSenseInContext slapping dollar signs on garbage bags]]:
--> '''Eddy''': Don't film that!
--> '''Double D''': I'm sorry, the "planet baron" story threw me off.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Kang becomes ruler of the Earth twice, in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E7TreehouseOfHorrorII "Treehouse of Horror II"]], and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E1TreehouseOfHorrorVII "Treehouse of Horror VII"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsChocolateWithNutsMermaidManAndBarnacleBoyV "Chocolate With Nuts"]], one of Spongebob's lies is the promise of becoming this.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'', Mumm-Ra compliments Lion-O's ancestor Leo on his skills in finding [[MineralMacguffin the Power Stones]], musing that when he rules the universe Leo will be given his own planet to rule.
-->'''Mumm-Ra''':...supervised, of course.

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

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': The villain of the episode "[[Recap/FireflyE13HeartOfGold Heart of Gold]]" is a wealthy rancher who uses his considerable wealth to control his local planet and appoints himself the local law enforcement, [[KnightTemplar executing anyone he finds unsavory]].

* In ''VideoGame/WarioLandSuperMarioLand3'', the ending is determined by how many coins Wario has to pay the genie and what kind of reward he'll get. If he goes out of his way to obtain every single coin he can find, then he'll have enough money to buy ''his very own planet''.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' the player is able to cover entire planets in rooms and then rent them out. Planet Landlord?

* ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom'' has successfully conquered Earth twice. He subjugated all governments, instituted healthcare and income equality for everyone, then gave it up out of boredom and let the former governments take over again. Then he took it over the 2nd time and again gave it up, both out of boredom. Such feats technically allows him to lay claim to such a title of being a Planet Baron, and he could easily do it again if he desired.

* Darkseid of the ComicBook/NewGods is the undisputed master of Apokalips, and seeks to extend his control over all of creation.

* ''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 erradicating their rivals, the Thals.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Amy's parents own a good chunk of Mars as part of "Wong Ranch", among other ventures.

* In ''Anime/KiddyGrade'', we have the Royals, who are a number of super-rich corporate executives that own planets around the galaxy and the lead over the commoners living there as indentured slaves. They regard said commoners like subhumans to the point they walk around in pressure suits so they won?t breathe the same air [[spoiler:and their grand plan once they step up to the BigBad plate in the series? third act is to wreck the galaxy?s hyperspace lanes so [[KillThePoor all the commoner planets will die off from lack of trading resources and terraforming tech maintenance]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'': 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.