History Main / NGOSuperpower

* The Wagner Group became one of the most powerful PrivateMilitaryContractors in the world with the manpower, resources and political weight to rival many regular armies. Originally founded in 2014 by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin to support Russia's annexation of Eastern Ukraine, the mercenary group expanded its reach to the Middle East and Africa where Wagner troop could support pro-Russian allies with plausible deniability. Wagner is somewhat unique among modern mercenary groups in that it has heavy equipment like tanks and fighter-bomber aircraft that are usually found in a regular army, likely because of Prigozhin's close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin). Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Wagner saw its numbers swell from 5,000 to over 50,000 fighters, many of whom were convicts or retired soldiers, making it larger than even some formal armed forces like the Dutch military. On top of the manpower and equipment, Wagner is an economic powerhouse with the group raking in $9.8 billion in government contracts from the Kremlin alone on top of billions more from mining, oil and energy sectors. Wagner became so powerful that the group waged an armed rebellion in Russia that stopped short of overthrowing the Russian military leadership after a brokered deal from Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. Yet even after the mutiny, Putin and his allies refused to punish Wagner for fear of inciting further rebellion especially given Wagner's popularity among the general public.

** TheMafiya, especially in the early 90's after the l fall of Communism. There was a time when entire nations were armed by the black market weapons deals that Russian criminals made with Russian military suppliers. One U.S Federal operation exposed a Miami-based Mafia boss named Animal and his attempts to purchase a ''nuclear submarine'' for drug-running purposes. Animal reported that the man selling it to him asked "do you want that with, or without missiles?" Animal thought he was joking, but he was evidently dead serious.

* Downplayed in the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' games. The biggest Yakuza groups like the Tojo Clan or Omi Alliance have tens of thousands of soldiers - the RealLife largest, Yamaguchi-''gumi'', "only" has thousands - the 10 billion Yen at stake in ''VideoGame/Yakuza1'' is as much as [[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/11/30/national/japan-to-give-morocco-10-billion-yen-in-aid/ what the Japanese government gave Morocco as aid the year the game was set]], and the Yomei Alliance that both the Tojo and Omi are wary of outright have as its DarkSecret [[spoiler:an abandoned old battleship]], but they aren't exactly being a shadow government or otherwise calling the shots in Japan.

* ''VideoGame/ProjectWingman'': Sicario Mercenary Services is this, even by the standards of the setting. They are a [[PrivateMilitaryContractor PMC]] that fields a squadron's worth of top-of-the-line fighter planes, which, on it's own, make them a significant power factor in the setting and a more significant air power than many real world nations. However, Sicario also fields it's own AWACS, which is something mentioned specifically as being out of the reach of many nations in the setting, as well as at least a company and probably closer to a battalion of paratroopers.

* The Blue Sun Corporation in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' (not to be confused with [[Franchise/MassEffect the Blue Suns of Mass Effect]] was implied to be one of these, though they may have simply been an arm of the totalitarian government. The series didn't last long enough to make it clear.

** The Patriots from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' also count as this. They are a secret organization that [[GovernmentConspiracy runs the U.S. government from behind the scenes]], deciding everything from who gets elected into Congress to who gets to be the President of the United States, and have a firm control of the CIA and the Pentagon who conduct their secret military operations and projects funded with massive stashes of secret cash that can't be tracked by the legal government. They [[BigBrotherIsWatching control all the media that the American people consume]], everything from literature, TV, movies, and Internet is all filtered by them for your enjoyment and have all the major corporations in their back pockets which influence the government and the average citizen. They are also implied to have international reach, as they have secret bases which are mentioned in the story in China and Russia. Plus all the technological achievements they have accomplished, they have engineered [[CloningBlues clones]] from Big Boss's DNA which Solid Snake and his two brothers are the result of, have conducted genetic engineering which is capable of improving a human being into a SuperSoldier, created [[PoweredArmor super-powered exoskeleton suits]] that are akin to ComicBook/IronMan that can give a man superhuman strength and speed, and massive bipedal, walking, nuclear-launch capable battle tanks known as [[HumongousMecha Metal Gears]]. Stuff like this would run the U.S. government's economy into the ground, but the Patriots seem to have no trouble funding these projects.

* In ''Fanfic/AllAmericanGirl'', the Republic of Pirates is a far greater military threat than the real world Somali pirates ever were.

** Complicating matters further was the fact that various monarchies would attempt to install a Pope that would be friendly to their nation, eventually leading to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism the Papal Schism]], a 40-year period in which there were two Popes at once, with a third coming into power near the end.

* The Wagner Group became one of the most powerful PrivateMilitaryContractors in the world with the manpower and resources to rival many formal armies. Originally founded in 2014 by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin to support Russia's annexation of Eastern Ukraine, the mercenary group expanded its reach to the Middle East and Africa where Wagner troop could support pro-Russian allies with plausible deniability. Wagner is somewhat unique among modern mercenary groups in that it has heavy equipment like tanks and fighter-bomber aircraft that are usually found in a regular army, likely because Wagner a state-supported enterprise (Prigozhin is a close associate of President Vladimir Putin). Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Wagner saw its numbers swell from 5,000 to over 50,000 fighters, many of whom were convicts or retired soldiers, making it larger than even some formal armed forces like the Dutch military. On top of the manpower and equipment, Wagner is surprisingly well-funded with the group raking in $9.8 billion in government contracts from the Kremlin alone on top of mining, oil and energy activities. Wagner became so powerful that the group waged an armed in Russia that stopped short of overthrowing Russian military following a brokered deal from Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. Yet even after the mutiny, Putin and his allies refused to punish Prigozhin and Wagner for fear of inciting further rebellion from the [=PMC=].

* The Wagner Group became one of the most powerful PrivateMilitaryContractors in the world with the manpower and resources to rival many formal armies. Originally founded in 2014 by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin to support Russia's annexation of Eastern Ukraine, the mercenary group expanded its reach to the Middle East and Africa where Wagner troop could support pro-Russian allies with plausible deniability.
Wagner is somewhat unique among modern mercenary groups in that it has a lot of heavy equipment, including tanks and fighter-bomber aircraft, that is usually the purview of the regular army exclusively, because it is a state-supported enterprise (Prigozhin is a close associate of President Vladimir Putin). Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Wagner saw its numbers swell from 5,000 to over 50,000 fighters, many of whom were convicts or retired soldiers, making it larger than even some formal armed forces like the Dutch military. On top of the manpower and equipment, Wagner is a surprisingly well-funded enterprise with the organization raking in $9.8 billion in government contracts from the Kremlin alone on top of mining, oil and energy activities. Wagner became so powerful that the group managed to stage a mutiny in Russia that seized key cities and nearly stormed Moscow with the troops standing down after a last minute deal brokered by Belarus; even after the aborted mutiny, Wagner's leaders including Prigozhin avoided the imprisonment and execution unlike most Russian dissidents.

* The Wagner Group became one of the most powerful PrivateMilitaryContractors in the world with the manpower and resources to rival many formal armies. Originally founded in 2014 by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin to support Russia's annexation of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, the mercenary group expanded its reach to the Middle East and Africa where Wagner troop could support pro-Russian allies with plausible deniability. Yet what made the Wagner unique among modern mercenary groups is that it has tanks, fighter-bomber aircraft and other expensive weaponry usually found in regular army. They also make $1 ''billion'' in profit from mining deals and have 50,000 fighters. Wagner became so powerful that they seized major Russian cities and nearly stormed Moscow in an armed mutiny; even more remarkable is that none of the Wagnerites were ever imprisoned or executed unlike other Russian dissidents.

* The Wagner Group became one of the most powerful PrivateMilitaryContractors in the world with the manpower and resources to rival many formal armies. Originally founded in 2014 by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin to support Russia's annexation of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, the mercenary group expanded its reach to the Middle East and Africa where Wagner troop could support pro-Russian allies with plausible deniability. Yet what made the Wagner unique among modern mercenary groups is that it has tanks, fighter-bomber aircraft and other expensive weaponry usually found in regular army. On top the heavy equipment, Wagner subsidizes its activities with gold mining and oil deals, the latter of which netted over ''$1 billion'' in profit for the [=PMC=].

* The cult [[https://fas.org/irp/congress/1995_rpt/aum/index.html Aum Shinrikyo]] used to have a political wing running as candidates and a huge fortune ($1 billion) accrued from donations and their business units such as hospitals, electronic businesses, selling the drugs they fabricated and restaurants, which they used to fund a bioweapons program (members went to Zaire to get Ebola strains and anthrax was actually manufactured and used), chemical weapons developement, even renting a sheep station in Australia to test the sarin gas they manufactured, with rumors about how they planned to use the uranium deposits on their property to create nuclear weapons; they also attempted to manufacture more mundane weapons. Their targets were some of the most educated persons in Japan, and they managed to infiltrate the UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce and the police, creating their own private militias and intelligence service, ready to strike against the enemies of the cult and to put in power the parallel government Aum created.

* ''Franchise/StarWarTheHighRepublic'': The Nihil are a group of marauders that have lucked into a technological advantage by having access to a unique model of hyperdrive they call "Path engine" (which allow for some unorthodox tactics such as short-range jumps for [[TeleFrag Tele-Fragging]] other ships) and pose a threat to the Outer Rim and the Republic on the grounds that the latter does not have a standing military at this point. While they are outclassed by superpowers with actual armies in later eras, the Nihil are surprisingly well-equipped and organized for anarchistic SpacePirates, have pulled off well-calculated attacks on worlds (which have resulted even in the deaths of Jedi), and even have secret backing from politicians and wealthy, influential hyperspace pioneers. In fact, most of their ranks are pulled not just from people with grievances against the Republic, but from worlds outside its jurisdiction and/or that have been hit hard by the Great Disaster. [[spoiler:After the destruction of Starlight Beacon, Marchion Ro and the Nihil cut the Republic off from the Outer Rim with a wall of their newly-developed "[[SpaceMines stormseeds]]", effectively becoming its rulers at the end of Phase I. The Nihil also have the Nameless --- creatures that not only [[MageHuntingMonster prey on Force-users]], but can break them down with just their presence alone -- at their disposal, putting even the Jedi at a disadvantage.]]

** On the villainous side, Blue Cosmos, which is a terrorist organization within the Earth Alliance, having great influence over its government and military. ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' later reveals its just a catspaw to [[AncientConspiracy LOGOS]].

** Gjallerhorn in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' was originally created to be a peace-keeping force between the four ruling blocs of Earth, but by the time of the anime, they're so powerful that they are the ''de facto'' rulers of Earth and the entire solar system, often interfering in internal affairs of the four unions and being the main ruling power on Mars. They are also powerful to influence people to turn against cybernetic implants for humanity, so that said implants can never be used against them.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'':
*** The terrestrial Romefeller Foundation, a cabal of rich aristocrats[=/=]industrialists who secretly plot to take over the world. They have so much clout to sponsor the Alliance's [[EliteMooks elite]] [[BadassArmy Specials]], who were in reality a front for OZ. [[spoiler:Which they use to stage a coup over the Alliance.]]
*** ''Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz'' has the outer-space Barton Foundation, who funds ''two'' attempts to conquer the Earth Sphere. [[spoiler:The first was in the form of the five Gundams from the original series, until the Gundam Scientists hijacked their plan into a fight for colonial independence.]]
*** ''Frozen Teardrop'' continues the theme with the Noinheim Concern and their takeover of Mars.
** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'', the antagonists are the very rich and influential Ronah family, who fund an entire army (the Crossbone Vanguard) which manages to give the EFSF a bloody nose and conquers a colony cluster. Although ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'' reveals that they were receiving assistance from the Jupiter Empire. [[spoiler:Unusually for Gundam, they're taken down not through military force, but economic pressure from the Federation and political subterfuge by one of their own.]]
** Also in the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' timeline is the original superpower in the franchise: Anaheim Electronics. Not only is it a powerful MegaCorp that all but holds a monopoly on mobile suit development after the One Year War. But it also has fingers in a lot of assets in the Earth Sphere, effectively runs the Lunar settlements in all but name, and can play both sides in a conflict while keeping a strong influence in TheFederation's government [[spoiler:not to mention having close connections to the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Vist Foundation and Laplace's Box]]. Not even being overshadowed by SNRI in ''F91'' stops them from pulling the strings in ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' as the League Militaire's true backers]].
** The Titans in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' are nominally just an elite StateSec for the Earth Federation, but in practice they're basically a private army for Jamitov Hymen [[spoiler:and later [[TheStarscream Paptimus Scirocco]]]], acting as their own autonomous faction and paying little regard to the Federation government, whom they outright plot to usurp.

** Within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, which was a confederation of several electors, dukes, and dozens of lesser princes that were united by their allegiance to the emperor, many wealthy cities were autonomous territories that did not have any lord and bowed only to the emperor himself. The cities of UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}}, Bremen, Lübeck, and Cologne were governed by a council of merchants, which in reality meant by the UsefulNotes/HanseaticLeague. For a time, Lübeck and Cologne were the largest cities of the entire empire and even today the modern federal states of Hamburg and Bremen are officially named "Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg" and "Free Hanseatic City of Bremen", even though the organization has ceased to exist over 300 years ago.

* The old United Fruit Company, who controlled Central American politics, kept right-wing military dictators in power for decades, and orchestrated the 1954 military coup in Guatemala. When they came calling, you paid up your protection money and did as they ordered, [[BananaRepublic or else]]...

* The old United Fruit Company. When they came calling, you paid up your protection money and did as they ordered, [[BananaRepublic or else]]...

Often overlaps with NebulousEvilOrganisation and may have an [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness]]. Compare to Fiction500 and AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil. Contrast with NonGovernmentalOrganization. StateSec is a SisterTrope of also being an influential entity with a vast paramilitary corps that isn't part of a formal army, only that it's a governmental agency rather than non-governmental.

** As Florida governor Ron [=DeSantis=] found out the hard way: Disney, within the State of Florida. They have a special tax zone agreement, and apparently if you suddenly revoke that agreement you deprive the State government of thousands of dollars in revenue. Don't mess with the Mouse, as they say.

Often overlaps with NebulousEvilOrganisation and may have an OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. Compare to Fiction500 and AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil. Contrast with NonGovernmentalOrganization. StateSec is a SisterTrope of also being an influential entity with a vast paramilitary corps that isn't part of a formal army, only that it's a governmental agency rather than non-governmental.

* The PrivateMilitaryContractors in ''Creator/TomClancy's VideoGame/{{HAWX}}'', who ''invade the USA.'' As Yahtzee of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' puts it, "Where were they hiding all this material? The [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] Moon?"

* In ''Leviathan Rises'', the first ''Literature/TheExpanse'' novel, BigBad [[spoiler:Protogen]] has impressive power and resources at their disposal, including a fleet of stealth ships, multiple outposts and [[spoiler:the planning and resources to turn Eros colony into a testing facility for the Protomolecule. Subverted in that once the cat is out of the bag, the ''actual'' governments of Earth and Mars tear their operation down in less than a day.]]

** As Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently found out the hard way: Disney, within the State of Florida. They have a special tax zone agreement, and apparently if you suddenly revoke that agreement you deprive the State government of thousands of dollars in revenue. Don't mess with the Mouse, as they say.

* The Website/SCPFoundation, an [[TheMenInBlack international secret society]] that [[TheMasquerade hides paranormal/supernatural phenomena]] from the whole world, is an absurdly powerful organization that operates beyond any national government. They have [[OrganizationWithUnlimitedFunding nearly limitless resources]], including a fully-equipped paramilitary force, several trillion dollars' worth of assets including heavily-secured facilities, access to magical (and otherwise) artifacts allowing them control over time and space, the ability to essentially bend the world's governments to their ends, and even their own ''ship prefix''. [[JustifiedTrope Considering they're responsible for securing and studying]] thousands upon thousands of anomalous {{artifact|OfDoom}}s and {{eldritch|Abomination}} entities, many of which can easily [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the world]], trying to stop them would be a bad idea; save for some rival Groups of Interest[[note]](the biggest one of which, the Global Occult Coalition, is backed by the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations and so just as well-funded and stocked)[[/note]], no one opposes the Foundation.

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* Several appear in the ''[[Videogame/CallOfDuty Call of Duty]]'' games.

* Armacham Technology Corporation in ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' has no fewer than four major underground bunkers/facilities, an army of thousands of mercenaries, and the equipment and technology to create and arm a thousands-strong force of cloned supersoldiers.
** The first levels of the DLC of ''F.E.A.R 2'', ''Reborn'' consists of a massive battle between Armacham and Replica forces. This includes dozens of elite operatives on both sides, fifth-generation fighter jets (think things on par with the F-22 Raptor), helicopter gunships and PoweredArmor dropped from orbit. All of it--including the Replica slaughtering them--is the property of the Armacham Corporation.
** The first game's ''Perseus Mandate'' expansion includes the Nightcrawlers, a mercenary group out to steal material from Armacham. One of your allies who goes digging for info on them actually refers to them as a "free-standing private army", noting that there's next to nothing about them but they know everything about the FEAR organization. Even after you personally kill two- to three-hundred of them, up to and including the guy commanding the whole operation, TheStinger reveals that [[WeHaveReserves they considered those losses "acceptable".]]
* ''VideoGame/GoldeneyeRogueAgent'' has both Dr. No's and Goldfinger's criminal organisations. Both sides have access to vast numbers of soldiers, military vehicles and munitions. Goldfinger is capable of manufacturing a weapon of mass destruction, and No has enough troops and munitions to occupy Hoover dam (which he is apparently able to base in a tiny Caribbean island, and arm from a few small factories hidden in Hong Kong).

** ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 1}}'': Before the events of the game, the planet Pandora was largely owned by the Dahl Corporation. They were for all intents and purposes the government; they brought in workers and tried to "tame" the planet. But when they gave up, they just abandoned all their people. During the game itself, there is no government whatsoever until the Atlas Corporation shows up as an invading force. The DLC shows that they are trying to create some sort of government, but it's hampered both by their own cartoonish villainy and Pandora just being ''so terrible''. By later games, Atlas has largely collapsed because they stretched too far.
** ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'': The Hyperion Corporation has taken the role. It is the biggest and wealthiest business in the galaxy, and gained even more power due to taking advantage of the events of the first game. Hyperion's CEO Handsome Jack bought the entire planet, and he is hell-bent on turning it into his perfect paradise, no matter how many people he has to kill along the way with his corporate army of robots and human soldiers. [[spoiler:He also wants to revive an ancient alien warrior so he can use it to take over ''everything'']]. Part of the reason he was able to do this is because for the most part there is no centralized government on the planet to oppose him, just a scattered collection of small settlements. The Crimson Raiders, an organization made up of the remnants of Atlas and Pandoran citizens and led by the Vault Hunters who defeated Atlas last time, are the closest thing to a legitimate government left.

** ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 3}}'': Several corporations show up. Atlas has been revived and is the government of Promethea, but is much less evil this time around. Playable character Moze was a member of the Vladof Corporation's elite Ursa Corp, though Vladof itself doesn't show up besides their guns. Jakobs shows up as well, in complete control of the planet Eden-6, but it's mentioned that they stayed out of the Corporate War, and they mostly make do with mercenaries instead of a standing army. Maliwan takes the role of the evil corporation, invading multiple planets with ''ridiculously'' {{Sociopathic Soldier}}s and trying to "merge" with (read: conquer) Atlas. Apparently Maliwan was pretty tame for a corporation for a long time, but shortly before the events of the game one of the heirs, Katagawa Jr., decided that they weren't expanding enough, so he killed all his siblings and started his conquests.

* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell Blacklist'', the Engineers are a powerful terrorist group with great infiltration in the United States and sufficiently skilled personnel to deal a CurbStompBattle to Delta Force.

* ''Videogame/{{Eve Online}}'' has player corporations, which can form alliances, which then form coalitions and even super-coalitions. In the lawless area of nullsec, the law comes from whoever can bring in the largest fleet or holds the stations.The largest coalitions hold as much area as one of the empires, but much richer in resources.
* [[spoiler:The Future Foundation]] from ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is described as [[LaResistance the spearhead against]] [[spoiler:the [[NebulousEvilOrganization Ultimate Despair]]]] after various governments collapsed or massacred. As [[spoiler:the alumni of Hope's Peak Academy]], their branch leaders are people who stood on the highest of humanity's hierarchy, has resource and manpower to create armies complete with their ordinances, and still has the remaining resource to [[spoiler:bring the world back to its feet after the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Tragedy]]]].

---> '''Aaron Cash:''' Guess we all work for you now? What am I saying, ''of course we do''.

---> '''Militia:''' If our gear's top-of-the-line then what's the Bat's? Over the line? On-top-of-the-line? Is that even a thing?

* Mithril in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' at first seems like this, but later novels and parts of the story reveals they're little more than a well-funded group of PrivateMilitaryContractors with a permanent UN contract. While more technologically advanced than the U.S. and the USSR, their entire 'Pacific Fleet' consists of a single (very advanced) submarine and they depend on small-scale surgical strikes to get the job done.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': While the setting is CyberPunk within OneNationUnderCopyright (an EnemyMine alliance of several MegaCorp), there are two examples of this within the setting’s logic: The Ezont Family and Hauritas, two slum gangs that became Kagumayama’s equivalent to TheMafia families. The two are locked in a LensmanArmsRace with one another, with mercenary armies of ex-hunters in high-quality PoweredArmor, with tanks and MiniMecha at their disposal. They get a lot of their money from a ProtectionRacket and extortion racket that goes beyond the slums, something which disturbs the government. This prompts a GovernmentConspiracy to take them down by triggering a MobWar, with the slum residents being acceptable collateral damage, and then delivering a secret DecapitationStrike to both gangs in the chaos.