History Main / UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans

** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Sith Lord Palpatine states that once he rules the galaxy, there will be peace. Ultimately subverted with Palpatine however, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist he only uses the promise of peace and stability as a way to control people with an iron first]]. He really is [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans just a sociopath who wants power]]. They don't call it the dark side for nothing.

** First and foremost: the lying, backstabbing, mass murdering, [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorist]] [[ManipulativeBastard bastard]] himself: [[DarkMessiah Lelouch]] [[NecessarilyEvil vi]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Britannia]], the protagonist and "hero" of our story. His ultimate aim [[spoiler:(at first)]] is to create a 'kinder world' for [[KnightTemplarBigBrother his]] little [[MoralityPet sister]] by toppling {{the Social Darwinist}}ic [[{{Dystopia}} Britannian]] [[TheEmpire Empire]] that [[TakeOverTheWorld wages wars for conquest]] as a matter of course.
** Second: [[BigBadFriend Lelouch's]] best friend and [[AntiVillain primary antagonist]], [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Suzaku]] [[BewareTheHonestOnes Kururugi]], who -- in his quest to change the despotic and discriminatory Britannian Empire [[TheQuisling from within]] -- earns the [[SarcasmMode affectionate]] nicknames [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast White Grim Reaper]] and [[KnightTemplar 'The Knight]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder of Betrayal']], [[AllThereInTheManual and also the title]] [[Manga/SoulEater 'Kishin']] for killing a lot of people as he helps his bosses TakeOverTheWorld on the side.

* Light Yagami, aka "Kira", in ''Manga/DeathNote'', who wants to create a world without crime or sin, with him as its god. Notable in that he's actually [[VillainProtagonist the main character.]] As the story goes on and Light becomes more and more unhinged, however, it becomes increasingly clear that underneath all the rhetoric, Light is an immature egomaniac out who's willing to do ''anything'' to get what he wants, from [[spoiler: murdering his 'girlfriend' in horrible ways possible (Shiori in the live-action movies, Takeda in the manga and anime) to toying with the idea of killing people for being ''lazy'', to goading his own father into giving up ''half his lifespan'' only to die hours later because of Light's plot. He becomes just a crazy SerialKiller, just as Near says.]]

** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraZaheer Zaheer]]'s desire is an anarchist world where everyone is free to do as they wish, but as a BombThrowingAnarchist willing to resort to murder and terrorism, it's hard to be sympathetic to him even when one of the casualties of his actions is [[AssholeVictim the corrupt and incompetent]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Earth Queen]]. Even though he ''does'' succeed in plunging the Earth Kingdom into chaos, it doesn't last long, [[PyrrhicVictory since Kuvira promptly becomes the nation's new dictator and takes over as the BigBad of the final season]]. While calling him out on all this while visiting him in prison, Korra also notes that because his plan included getting rid of the Avatar for good, and while ''that'' didn't succeed, the aftermath of the attempt still left her unable to address the problem when she otherwise could've. Notably, of all the antagonists on the show, Zaheer is the only one who recognizes that he was in the wrong, and [[HeelFaceTurn redeems himself]] [[TheAtoner by offering some covert assistance to Korra in taking the usurper down]].
** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]] herself rebrands the Earth Kingdom into the Earth Empire with the intent of making it a peaceful, strong nation. By putting herself in absolute power, however, she ends up plunging the empire into complete and utter totalitarianism, and plans to murder Korra on the grounds that she considers the Avatar obsolete -- never mind that doing so will upset the balance of the world once again. The season finale eventually reveals that she struggles with deep ParentalAbandonment issues and has projected said issues onto the Earth Kingdom upon taking over, resulting in her overzealous approach to restoring it to glory. The fact that she's lost sight of her original motive is illustrated best by her development of an extremely dangerous superweapon which she threatens multiple characters with and which she breaks out in a final bid to destroy Korra, setting off a chain of events that nearly results in Republic City's complete destruction before she's finally stopped.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAmon Amon]] believes that bending is a source of pain and misery in the world, and is abused to no end. Ridding the world of it would bring equality to the world and the human race. Not such a bad idea, except that his plans of firebombing arenas full of thousands of people and taking away bending against the will of the benders are more than a little sick.
*** Pretty much all of the ''Korra'' major antagonists onwards: Unalaq wanted a world where the boundaries between humans and spirits (and, according to one tidbit, between worldly nations as well) would be obliterated, [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraZaheer Zaheer]] wanted an anarchist world where everyone would be free to do as they wished, and [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]] wanted a peaceful, strong Earth Empire. Pity they tried to accomplish this via fusing with the GodOfEvil (which would lean more towards DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans), mass terrorism and murder and complete and utter totalitarianism, respectively. Toph herself says that all of them had good intentions to try to fix things; but they all lose sight of their ideals and fall out of balance.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

The first and least despicable trope in the unholy trinity of villainous objectives, Utopia Justifies the Means is where the goal of the BigBad is the creation of a {{Utopia}} in the long run, a better world for everyone as a whole (or at least "better" for them in the villain's eyes), no matter what the cost.

** The Justice League's AlternateUniverse equivalents, the Justice Lords, did this to their world, taking over and imposing a metahuman-run utopia/dystopia. Some of the ends seem well worth the means, especially [[spoiler:violating Lex Luthor's JokerImmunity and lobotomizing homicidal maniacs]], but the group quickly [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope leapt off the slippery slope]] by getting rid of the right to vote or speak freely while [[AllCrimesAreEqual arresting individuals for so much as threatening to not pay for food]]. On the other hand, their world has no rape, murder, arson, or even ''litter.'' Unusually, this is one of the more even-handed examples, with both "Utopia" and "the means to it" being shown in fair measure. Fans of the show were left to wonder if, in a world where every prison's a CardboardPrison, the Justice Lords might have had a point, and the Batmen even debate on it in the middle of the episode.[[note]]Notably, Good Guy Batman doesn't have a response when Bad Guy Batman points out that Thomas and Martha Wayne would still have been alive if the world was run this way back then. Later, Good Guy Batman sarcastically says that they would love living here, and prompts a HeelFaceTurn.[[/note]]

* Light Yagami, aka "Kira", in ''Manga/DeathNote'', who wants to create a world without crime or sin, with him as its god. Notable in that he's actually [[VillainProtagonist the main character.]] As the story goes on and Light becomes more and more unhinged, however, it becomes increasingly clear that underneath all the rhetoric, Light is an immature egomaniac out who's willing to do ''anything'' to get what he wants, from [[spoiler: murdering his 'girlfriend' in horrible ways possible (Shiori in the live-action movies, Takeda in the manga and anime) to toying with the idea of killing people for being ''lazy'', to goading his own father into giving up ''half his lifespan'' only to die hours later because of Light's plot, he becomes just a crazy SerialKiller, just as Near says.]]

*** You can even make the argument that the Traditions are far worse than the Technocracy. The Technocracy's main goal is to have all magic be repeatable and safe for the Masses to use (ie, science and technology), rather than limiting its use to a few tyrants wielding godlike power (the Traditions want to give magic to normal people to but have other, less sane methods of going about it). Sure, they need to murder reality warpers who decide that their views should take precedence over what the Masses have decided they want through their collective consciousness, but at least they keep the horrors from beyond at bay, sometimes to great sacrifice of their own. They even took out the Ravnos [[EldritchAbomination Antediluvian]], with significant cost to themselves, with neutron bombs and orbital mirrors when all the other groups failed (though they did weaken it enough for the Technocracy to do so).

* The Operative in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' calmly commits atrocity after atrocity because he believes that he's helping to create "a better world". Perhaps a semi-subversion, in that he does not intend to be a leader in his new world -- he ''[[CardCarryingVillain knows]]'' that [[NecessarilyEvil what he does is evil]], and that [[NoPlaceForMeThere there will be no place for him in the better world]].

Often utilizes some form of {{Aesoptinum}}, generally with the message "Peace and harmony isn't worth getting rid of TheEvilsOfFreeWill". Commonly invoked by an AntiVillain who wishes to create a utopia for the betterment of humanity, but has to do so through questionable means.

Often utilizes some form of {{Aesoptinum}}, generally with the message "Peace and harmony isn't worth getting rid of TheEvilsOfFreeWill".

* ''Film/TheVillage'' is ostensibly a period drama about a primitive town's struggle with dark magical forces. [[spoiler:In actuality, the town is on a modern nature preserve. It's ultimately revealed that the adult inhabitants fled there to get away from the violence of the modern, outside world, and faked the monsters in the surrounding woods to prevent their children from ever leaving.]] It's eventually acknowledged that a) violence is possible in their community too and b) lack of modern medicine is killing their loved ones just as effectively as violence did before they came there.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'': [[BigBad Obake]]'s master plan involves destroying San Fransokyo in a replica of [[CataclysmBackstory the Great Disaster]] in order to [[RestartTheWorld wipe the slate clean]] for his [[VisionaryVillain envisioned 'perfect city']]. [[spoiler: As a teenager, Obake was taught that nothing should limit genius, and was then [[TheSociopath robbed of his ability to empathize with others]] by a lab accident. So it's no surprise he feels this way.]]

Curiously, the first example of a Utopia in recorded literature -- Creator/{{Plato}}'s ''Literature/TheRepublic'' -- is an example of this trope (possibly) played absolutely straight and ''not'' as means for the opposite {{Aesop}}. Plato argues that the establishment and survival of the perfect state requires autocratic rule by [[ThePhilosopherKing philosopher-kings]] bred from a system of [[TheSocialDarwinist eugenics]] and there should be a "[[PropagandaMachine noble lie]]" that the citizens must be taught to induce them to love the state unconditionally.