History Main / TakeOverTheWorld

* ''WebVideo/JoJosBizarreAdventureAbridged'': At the end of the OVA Abridged series, [[BigBad DIO]] after seemingly blowing up [[TheHero Jotaro]] notes that now that his 100 year battle with the Joestar bloodline is over with the heroes dead, all that's left is to do this, and he begins to unleash a ''chilling'' StoryboardingTheApocalypse capped off with an EvilLaugh. [[spoiler:And then he notices [[OhCrap he can't move like time is frozen]]...]]

''WebOriginal/TheInnocent'': The children want to do this, as they dislike adult society and the authority adults have on them.

-->'''Nostalgia Critic:''' His goal is to - you guessed it - take over the world.\\

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EvilLaugh *maniacal laughter*]]]]

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* Mr. Uppity puts all the Mr. Men and Little Misses in jail in order to do so in ''WebVideo/TheMrMenMovie''.

** [[spoiler: Turns out [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Pein]] was right all along; except the real Akatsuki boss, Tobi plans to use a MassHypnosis plan instead of the fake, economic scheme.]]

* This is ComicBook/DoctorOctopus's entire goal in ''Literature/SpiderManGlobalWar''.

* [[Wiki/TVTropes Earth is ours!]]

--> But now I got me a new goal: WORLD! DOMINATION!

* Momonga in ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'' more or less ends up ''accidentally'' beginning a campaign to conquer the New World when his subordinate Demiurge takes an off-hand remark too seriously. His subordinates, without his knowledge, have dedicated themselves to delivering the New World to him. Momonga just wanted to make his guild famous in the New World hoping to find fellow Yggdrasil players. [[spoiler:He only finds out what his minions are really doing in volume 8 of the light novel. To save face, he goes along with it.]]

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

* The ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan''/''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' crossover [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11861274/1/Be-Careful-What-You-Wish-For Be Careful What You Wish For]] deconstructs this trope. In it, Wily uses Lotos the Genie to take over the world instantly. He then finds that running the world means micromanaging each and every problem from all the world's governments for hours on end and his ZeroPercentApprovalRating means all the leaders under him and Mega Man are chomping at the bit for him to make even the smallest violation of the world's surrender treaty so they can drop the loyalty act and go for his head.

* In ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', Fit the Eleventh, the Dolmansaxlil Galactic Shoe Corporation takes over planet after planet by forcing them to build more and more shoe shops. This process is confirmed to be already taking place on Earth on Oxford Street, and its ultimate outcome is the Shoe Event Horizon, when the world economy overbalances and collapses and the survivors evolve into birds so they never have to put feet on the ground again.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad'': the BigBad became the world's master [[spoiler:the spirits called him "The Ancient King of Humans" in Arc 2]] long before the game started: what he wanted was not control over mankind, but control over [[UpToEleven the whole planet's ecosystem]], and he almost succeeded [[spoiler: more than once, leaving the world crippled each time the heroes managed to seal him]]

* On the very last episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', Mojo Jojo manages to take over the world by stealing The Key To The World. At first he surprises everyone by creating the perfect utopia, but then [[VictoryIsBoring gets bored with it and resumes trying to destroy everything]]. Most of the episode consisted of every single villain than has ever appeared on ''The Powerpuff Girls'' (yes, even the Villains of the Week) fighting to the get the Key to the World. The girls try to stop them, but once they get the key they become mad with power and start planning what they would do if each of them ruled the world and start fighting for the key themselves.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', while [[BigBad Slade]] [[HiddenAgendaVillain rarely elaborates on his goals]] beyond what he's immediately after but this seems to be the desired end result, judging from "Aftershock II". Later, new BigBad [[GodOfEvil Trigon]] ''does'' take over the world- as a stepping stone to conquering ''the entire physical universe''.

* [[MasScientist Dr. Zoltar's]] plan in ''Film/MisfitHeights'' is to raise the dead and use an army of zombies to take over the world.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'': Tons of Showa era villains had this as this as their plan. Not so much in the Heisei era, where the villains plans are usually more complex. The only villains whose end goal plan is conquering the world is Smart Brain from ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'', whose plan entails a ZombieApocalypse.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' lampshades this: When the BigBad reveals his ultimate plan[[note]]convert all of humanity into computer data, and only those who [[AGodAmI worship him as a god]] will be granted physical form[[/note]], [[SixthRanger Kamen Rider Mach]] [[spoiler:(who is said villain's son)]] laughs and [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]] "That's it? [[SarcasmMode The great and mighty Tenjuro Banno]]'s ultimate plan is just generic 'take over the world' nonsense? I expected [[MadScientist something more grandiose and scientific]] out of you!" This enrages Banno enough that he tries to kill Mach then and there, but the remaining [[MonsterOfTheWeek Roidmude Executives]] pull a BigDamnHeroes and [[EnemyMine join forces with the Riders]].

* Played straight in Creator/MarkWaid's ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'' limited comic series. The supervillain mastermind Golgoth actually conquers the world. All opposition is crushed, all superheroes are defeated, and Golgoth is still victorious at the end of the tale. Needless to say, it's a VERY dark story. However, Golgoth finds that ruling the world is not exactly easy, either.

** ComicBook/LexLuthor's original goal was to take total control of Metropolis as a foundation for taking over the world, and from there the rest of the universe. Then Superman showed up and started ruining all of his plans. Now his goal is to get rid of Superman so he can get back to his original goal and soothe his massive ego.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanSavageDawn'', Vandal Savage, Wrath, Alexander Bend and [=HORDR=] work together to systematically destroy Superman and everyone he cares about and, in time, conquer the world.
** ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', Lesla-Lar cooks up a scheme to get rid of Superman and Lex Luthor, and then taking over the world. Or destroying it. Whatever she pleases.
** In ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', Cyborg-Superman pretends to be an amnesiac Superman to cover his plan to take over the world.
** In ''ComicBook/TwoForTheDeathOfOne'', Lord Satanis plans to obtain ultimate magic power and become the ruler or everything.

** In ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} comes very close to take over the ''galaxy'' and "begin a new era of darkness".
** In ''ComicBook/StarfiresRevenge'', the titular Queenpin intends to use her wealth to raise an army with which to topple the world's governments.

** In ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', Lesla-Lar releases several Kryptonian criminals from the PhantomZone to help her conquer Earth. Unfortunately for her, the Phantom Zoners are not interested in dividing up the planet, and kill Lesla off.
** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', General Dru-Zod intends to conquer the universe after getting out of his dimensional prison.

* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'':
** In one story, Paperinik guesses that [[spoiler: Leonard Vertighel]] altered a number of the TimePolice's droids to try this. [[spoiler: Vertighel]], who was actually [[spoiler: trying to create the perfect woman to love and be loved]], laughs and replies "Be frank with me: you read a lot of comic books, do you?".
** In one of Angus Fangus' short stories, our reporter has been captured by the mysterious [[YellowPeril Fang-Ho]]:
--->'''Fang-Ho''': "That nice gadget, placed on the back of your neck, will [[{{Brainwashed}} turn you into a faithful servant]], whose only will will be... mine! Each new servant will make new devices that, in turn, will make new servants, until I have an endless army at my command! Do you know what I'll do then?"\\
'''Angus''': "You'll Take Over The World?"\\
''[[BeatPanel (Beat)]]''\\
'''Fang-Ho''': "There must have been an information leak!"
** In one of the stories of Fantomius (of whom Paperinik is a sort of LegacyCharacter), the cruel Fu-Man-Etchu wants a mask with hypnotic powers. Fantomius guesses it's to try and take over the world... But the villain reveals it's actually to ''[[EvilIsPetty subdue all the pharmacists in the world and force them not to make allergy drugs, so everyone would suffer from his own continuous sneezes]]''. Fantomius promptly laughs and declares it would have been less crazy trying to take over the world.
** In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfTheChaosGod'', Solego's plans to escape his imprisonment and take over the world are constantly disrupted by the protagonists he runs afoul with Darkwing Duck being the biggest of them all.
* Ruling the world wasn't enough for classic ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' villain Doctor Sivana, who declared himself "Rightful Ruler of the Universe".

* ''Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses'':
** This trope is a running joke for the Nostalgia Critic in his reviews. When the antagonist of any film is revealed to have this goal in mind the review will be interrupted by M. Bison as he was played by Raul Julia in [[Film/StreetFighter the movie adaptation of]] ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. The joke goes like this:

** Other members of the team such as Paw Dugan and Linkara have adopted this gag for their own videos as well, effectively making it a RunningGag for the entire website.

** In the website's second-year anniversary epic WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}, this is the Nostalgia Critic's plan, starting with the invasion of Molassia. [[spoiler: When he gets Molassia, he soons forgets this, becoming OrcusOnHisThrone]]. Receives an epic lampshading when the Critic actually dresses up as M. Bison when launching his attack [[spoiler:and subsequently taking over the place.]] Rollo T even tries to get him to recreate the clip in an interview, asking him if his plan is this as he's leaving (to get him to turn around and say it, as per the clip.)\\

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat conquered what [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece the Greeks]], a tiny backwater civilization in the far north-western-most corner of Eurasia, had previously ''thought'' to be the world... whereupon he, and they, realised that it was ''a lot'' bigger than any of them had thought. Alexander is reputed to have lamented that "Of all the worlds, I have conquered none!" Alexander didn't live long enough to cement his control over most of it (dying at 33) or raise a good heir -- important in a culture where men traditionally killed one another to get the throne. [[SuccessionCrisis The empire didn't last.]]

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]], the Master takes over the world, and ''starts'' by wiping out a tenth of the population. The ResetButton is eventually hit, but only after an entire year of brutal massacres, rocking out to the Music/ScissorSisters while [[FoeYay torturing his prisoners]], and [[GalacticConqueror planning to take over the universe for all time]].

* In ''VideoGame/SonicExe Round 2'': X plans to one day cross over to our world and enslave us all.

** In the website's second-year anniversary epic WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}, this is the Nostalgia Critic's plan, starting with the invasion of Molassia. [[spoiler: When he gets Molassia, he soons forgets this, becoming OrcusOnHisThrone]]. Receives an epic lampshading when the Critic actually dresses up as [[strike:M.]] [[FanNickname N. Bison]] when launching his attack [[spoiler:and subsequently taking over the place.]] Rollo T even tries to get him to recreate the clip in an interview, asking him if his plan is this as he's leaving (to get him to turn around and say it, as per the clip.)\\

* ''Film/TheBloodWatersOfDrZ'': Dr Z wants to take over the universe -- by turning himself into a humanoid catfish and mutating all sea life.

* [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Acnologia]] managed to do this in at least one BadFuture in ''Manga/FairyTail'' by virtue of being the WorldsStrongestMan. [[TheArchmage Zeref]] points out in the present he could still definitely do it [[HandicappedBadass even with only one arm]], and speculates that the reason he hasn't is because [[VictoryIsBoring it would just be boring]].

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': This is Zim's goal right from the start, along with [[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans destroying all humans.]]