http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeOverTheWorld

Pinky: Gee, Brain, what you wanna do tonight?

Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world! Pinky and the Brain Gee, Brain, what you wanna do tonight?The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world!

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Of course! No reputable villain or Imperialistic Global Superpower would set their sights on anything less than World Domination®! As Evil Plans go, world domination is ambitious, more logical and sometimes easier than wanton destruction of everything. They want to be in charge of everything and everyone. This could be just to feed their massive egos and Greed, or else they've got somewhat twisted ideals that they want everyone else to adhere to. Sometimes it's because world domination is the Path to a Better Future. Or it's just because they are dicks.

Either way, this ambition will put them in direct conflict with the heroes, whether professional or "I just want everything to go back to normal" types. Usually said villains fixate on the hero or someone/thing close to them as being part of their master Evil Plan. For a villain who has finally acquired godlike power, and did not use it to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence or euthanize the universe, then this is the next logical goal and use for said power.

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Villains who want this will occasionally combat other villains who want to destroy the world or use it for other purposes, and sometimes, just sometimes, team up with the heroes to do it. After all, you can't conquer the world if it's destroyed, right? Whether or not the villain attempts to stab the heroes in the back the instant the world is safe, or they nod and civilly go back to their Secret Lairs in a gentleman's agreement to face each other tomorrow depends on the villain.

The result of world domination is sometimes subverted, parodied or deconstructed when the villain actually succeeds, and it turns out that ruling the world isn't nearly as gratifying as they thought it would be — exactly what does one do with the world once one has it, after all? As any immortal would tell you, ideas to try for the world (whether utopian or dystopian) can be limited. Plus, once you're ruling the world, you literally have to be in charge of everyone, and that's like herding giraffes. Seven billion giraffes, as a matter of fact. You actually have to run things, and make sure it works, and dang, Dystopia Is Hard. You will end up snapping or getting crushed under the workload of trying to dictate everything. If they did it with Mass Hypnosis to get rid of The Evils of Free Will, then it'll be considerably easier to rule... and so dreadfully boring they undo the whole thing just to have someone to talk to. No wonder that "illogical" world destruction has an appeal that competes with world domination.

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The more fleshed-out villain will have some specific perception of what is wrong with the world and believe that a strong central authority with vision and strength of purpose can set it right.

For more information, check out the Evil Overlord List, a detailed guide on what an evil overlord should and should not do. Typically, this is accomplished with Stock Evil Overlord Tactics. Although sometimes the plans of villains with this motivation go rather in the Missing Steps Plan direction.

There have been several country-specific SubTropes which have been popularized in American thought and media, each country taking its turn to be the boogeyman for a few decades. These would include:

Alternate History  Nazi Victory, which was a fear during World War II, although the trope became more prolific after the regime's atrocities came to light, making it a good premise for a Crapsack World. A lot of the fear from this trope also drew on the fears of a pre World War I Imperial Germany taking over the world. In any case, once the World Wars concluded, a new superpower would set up itself as a contestant for world hegemon, which would be...

Russia Takes Over the World, which was popular during the Red Scare in the 1950s and 1960s. The advent of detente however led to...

Japan Takes Over the World, which was influenced by Japan's powerful economy that emerged in the 1970s and the spread of its pop culture in the 1980s. However, this time it was about economics and not military and politics. The lost decade of Japan in the 1990s which led to an economic and production standstill has led to another East Asian superpower filling this role, which would be...

China Takes Over the World, a concept that has gained influence in the 1990s with the rise of the Chinese economy and manufacturing. The economic liberalization and large population which has also made the Chinese an influential target for corporations and movie studios back this claim alongside China's powerful army. With a recession in the 2010s and an increased desire to perpetuate a trade war to avert this trope however, this trope may now be discredited.

America Takes Over the World, which has generally always been a concept people in the post-World War II era have entertained, especially in the post Cold War world with USA being the sole superpower.

Eurabia: Fundamentalist Muslims take over Europe if not the whole world and turn it into a repressive theocracy.

See Take Over the City for a more modest version. A Villain World is a situation where this actually happened (for absence of a hero or some other incident that granted the bad guys absolute power) but a hero emerges and begins to undo the damage from the inside. For the opposite, see Save the World.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Comic Books

Fan Works

Film  Animation

While it's never explicitly stated that Lydia, the villain of Barbie & The Diamond Castle, wants to take over the world, the heroines bent on stopping her treat her actual goal, ruling the birthplace of all music (and keeping all the music for herself) as the same thing.

The Horned King in The Black Cauldron plans to raise an undead army, kill all who stand in his way, and rule over whatever is left.

Deconstructed in Megamind. The titular character, who is a supervillain, actually succeeds in taking over the world. However, he quickly becomes bored and decides to create a new enemy, which backfires.

Film  Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

"I Want To Conquer The World " by Bad Religion:

Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil, /

With a quick wink of the eye / And a "God you must be joking!" And I want to conquer the world, / Give all the idiots a brand new religion,Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil, / Promote equality in all my decisions With a quick wink of the eye / And a "God you must be joking!"

" by Bad Religion: "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.

Pinball

This is the goal of the villainess Dark Queen from Pro Pinball: The Web, who plans to dominate the world by unleashing an army of spiders. Don't ask how...

In Pro Pinball: Timeshock!, this is a Side Quest. After exploring all seven continents, the player can go to Atlantis and start "Global Domination", where the game gives one minute to try and light all of the continents for massive bonuses.

Pro Wrestling

Jon Moxley stated this was his plan for KAMIKAZE in Dragon Gate USA. Really, this was just a sign of the toll his feud with Jimmy Jacobs was having on his already damaged psyche.

The goal of The Undisputed Era is to usher in a new era in NXT, heralded by them.

Radio

Bleak Expectations: At the end of the fourth series, the Big Bad Mr. Benevolent offers Pip Bin the chance to rule the world together. Pip thinks it sounds fun and takes him up on it. So, using a Fantastic Nuke made of cheese (as you do), they hold the world hostage and rule it for years. Pip Bin still thinks it's fun, until mankind collectively decides they'd rather die free... and the bomb turns out to be a dud. Pip gets an epic chewing out from the Creator, and is sent back in time to not conquer mankind.

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 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.

Myths & Religion

Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld: Inanna's reason for going to the netherworld in the first place? She wants dominion over the heavens, Earth, and the underworld, and everything there. She actually gets it, too, though not in the exact way she wanted it and at some great cost.

Tabletop Games

Theme Parks

At Universal Studios: This is Doctor Octopus' long-term plan in The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, with the takeover of New York City being his first step. King Goobot in Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast plans to steal Jimmy's latest Mark IV rocket and duplicate it so that he can use it to enslave earth. In Transformers: The Ride, Megatron once again sets out to steal the AllSpark shard and use it to turn all technology into Decepticons, so that he may rule the world.



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Western Animation

Real Life