History Main / TheEvilPrince

* [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]] from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney''. Destined to become village leader and usurped by her far more talented sister [[spoiler: Misty]], she has plotted to kill every other member of her family and frame the rest for the murder, just so she or her daughter [[spoiler: Pearl]] can become the new Master.

** ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' plays this straight, as Loki [[spoiler:disposes of Odin through unknown means and impersonates him in order to usurp the throne]].

* Most all of the princes in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' are manipulative mass murderers raised by [[TheEmpire the Holy Britannian Empire's]] Darwinistic ideals to scheme and fight against each other for the throne with the exception of the mellow 1st Prince Odysseus, aka [[FanNickname Prince Valium]]. [[spoiler:Schneizel]] is the prince that tries to overthrow his father and take the throne. [[spoiler:Lelouch]] is the one that succeeds, though he did it for [[spoiler: revenge rather than the throne]]. And to [[spoiler: save the world]], but that's beside the point. And he ''did'' [[spoiler: take the throne afterwards]], but that was completely unrelated.

--> '''King Terenas''': What are you doing, my son?
--> '''Arthas''': [[FaceHeelTurn Succeeding you,]] [[SelfMadeOrphan Father]].

* Ashnard from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. Unusual in that he was only distantly related to the previous king; ''a lot'' of people had to die for him to take the throne. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' explicitly shows him cutting down the king, although that was to break the curse Ashnard setup to kill everyone else before it killed him.

** And on the subject of Fire Emblem, [[spoiler: the [[GenderInvertedTrope gender-inverted]] version of this appears in VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes as the BigBad in the form of Princess Veronica.]]

* The VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork series has [[spoiler: [[RareFemaleExample Princess Pride]] in ''Mega Man Battle Network 2'', who as usual for the DistaffCounterpart of this trope is a twist villain. She appears as a high-ranking member of Gospel and has deceived everyone in her kingdom because she believes she's doing what's best for her country. Interestingly, her status as a villainess isn't carried over to any other version of the character -- Princess Pride gets a helping of AdaptationalHeroism for the Anime and has pulled a HeelFaceTurn by the time she reappears in ''Mega Man Battle Network 5''.]]

* The main antagonist of WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'s Sons of Garmadon series is [[spoiler: The [[RareFemaleExample Evil Princess]] Harumi, who was manipulating Lloyd for the entire season and is easily one of the darkest villains yet. Her aspirations of power are not related to the line of succession, though, so this is not a straight example of this trope; she's more of a BitchInSheepsClothing.]]

* Likewise Marvel's ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, who is an Expy of Darkseid, was the eldest son to the planet Titan's leader and was banished for his crimes. Years later he would return to devastate Titan and rule it with an iron fist until he was defeated by Earth's heroes during his first encounter with the cosmic cube.
* Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}'s half-brother Orm (alias Ocean Master), who is constantly out to usurp his place as King of Atlantis.

* The Comicbook/FantasticFour found out to their horror that Prince Zorba, the hereditary ruler of Latveria they restored to the throne after deposing Doctor Doom, was this when Von Doom showed them the tyrannical devastation he was inflicting on the country. In cooperation with Doom, the Four helped depose Zorba but were forced to leave Doom in power.
* Comicbook/{{Loki}} is prince by adoption of Asgard and technically prince by birth of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. He has enough clout with the Frost Giants to at least use them as {{Mooks}} from time to time and regularly schemes to overthrow his adopted father Odin, take over Asgard and kill his foster brother ComicBook/TheMightyThor somewhere along the way.

* Tyrannus from ''ComicBook/{{Swordquest}}'', who succeeds his father as king after the latter's suspicious death. One of Tyrannus' first acts was to order the deaths of two infants because he received a prophecy that they would be responsible for his death.
* Lord Nomed from Action Comics #301, the EvilNephew of Prince Endor of the Sorcerers Planet of Zerox. He tries to depose his uncle by feeding Pegasus a potion that will prevent him from flying the day of a procession, meaning Endor will lose the throne. When Supergirl foils the plan by bringing the flying horse Comet to Zerox, Nomed tries to feed Supergirl a potion that will turn [[TakenForGranite her to gold]]. However, Comet fires an arrow that knocks the potion onto Nomed, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turning him to gold]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' spin-off comics sometimes pitted the Seven Dwarfs against "The Wicked Prince", Queen Grimhilde's younger brother.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': Dr. Poison I is an evil princess. She is a member of the Japanese royal family who experiments on soldiers and civilians alike with toxins and diseases. These days she's often used as a [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed stand-in]]/ DistaffCounterpart for RealLife Japanese war criminal Ishii Shiro, who experimented on Chinese civilians with biological and chemical agents.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': When King Francois of Barania dies his brother Prince Gaston has Francois' son and heir Philippe locked away, telling the people that Philippe's mind is cracking due to the grief and stress, with the end goal of murdering Philippe in captivity and Gaston taking the crown.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndThePea'': Laird.
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'': Lord Shen is a slight subversion, as both of his royal parents are already dead by the time he sets his plans in motion ([[FreudianExcuse though still influence him heavily]]).
%%* ''WesternAnimation/FireAndIce'': Prince Nekron.

%%* ''Film/CurseOfTheGoldenFlower'': Prince Yu.

* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'': Commodus, though he had something of an excuse. His father, rather than passing on emperorship to him, as had become commonplace [[note]](at least in the world of the movie--in Imperial Rome, it was relatively common for an Emperor to choose an adoptive heir as opposed to a blood one; look at Julius, Augustus and Marcus Aurelius himself)[[/note]], was going to give it to Maximus, who in turn was going to use it to put power back into the hands of the Senate and restore the Republic.
* ''Film/RoboCop1987'' makes a modern-day EvilPrince out of the CorruptCorporateExecutive.
%%* ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'': Lord Rathbone.

* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'': Prince Nuada. He has the sympathetic aspect of fighting for his realm's survival, but his tactics are ''so'' extreme that ''everybody'' argues against him.
* ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'': Prince Nizam, although he's never called by this title since the audience could confuse him with the good guy.
* ''Film/{{Stardust}}'' has a bunch of evil princes, most notably [[Creator/MarkStrong Septimus]].

* ''Film/{{Sheena}}'': Otwani is a modern example, as the film is set in then present-day Africa. He has his brother Jabalani assassinated so he can become king.
* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'': Prince Humperdink, although he doesn't fit the trope entirely straight. He has no intention, either in the film or [[Literature/ThePrincessBride the book]], of killing his father or doing anything else to get him out of the way. (In fact, in the book he's shown to be quite disillusioned to learn that his father is dying because it means he has to get married and actually deal with the matters of ruling; he'd rather spend his time hunting.) He only actually falls into the Evil Prince slot when [[spoiler:he comes up with the plan to kill his wife and frame a rival kingdom for it, giving him the excuse he's always wanted to conquer them]].
* ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'': Prince Einon grows up to be an evil tyrant. It pains his mentor, Bowen, but he must finally accept, that despite his teachings, [[DeceptiveDisciple the kid was always a rotten little punk.]]

* Prince Kanu of Arochukwu Nigeria, who is often trying to make wrestlers of the Southwest US into his "property" by goading or blackmailing them into signing ridiculous contracts.[[/folder]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Horus, most favored son of the Emperor, leading half of the forces of Imperium in a war against the Emperor. Also the one responsible for plunging humanity into a galaxy-wide dark age run by an ''extreme'' ChurchMilitant.

* In ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'', the title character rebels against his kingly father and kills him. He's ''not'' portrayed as evil, though his step-mother, who assists him in his rebellion, is; he just has misguided (not to mention anachronistic) notions of what a good king ought to do.
* In Carlo Gozzi's version of ''Literature/TheLoveOfThreeOranges'', and even more so in Sergei Prokofiev's opera based on the play, there is Princess Clarice. She is the current heir Tartaglia's cousin and plots to murder him and become queen herself. Additionally, she acts as LadyMacbeth towards her lover Leandro, the prime minister, since she wants Prince Tartaglia killed quickly while Leandro prefers gradually poisoning him.

* The VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork series has [[spoiler: [[RareFemaleExample Princess Pride]] in ''Mega Man Battle Network 2'', who as usual for the DistaffCounterpart of this trope is a twist villain. She appears as a high-ranking member of Gospel and has deceived everyone in her kingdom because she believes she's doing what's best for her country. Interestingly, her status as a villainess isn't carried over to any other version of the character - Princess Pride gets a helping of AdaptationalHeroism for the Anime and has pulled a HeelFaceTurn by the time she reappears in ''Mega Man Battle Network 5''.]]
* Prince Luca Blight from ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' fits this trope to a T. He is probably eviler than all of the other princes listed here combined. [[DownplayedTrope Yet he notably lacks one of the most common traits - he didn't kill his father.]] While he may eventually have wound up killing his dad, he certainly didn't seem to have any immediate plans to do so. All ''Luca'' did was slaughter the equivalent of his country's version of the Boy Scouts/Army Cadets wholesale as an excuse to restart a pointless war, [[{{Sadist}} sadistically]] [[DomesticAbuse abused]] and murdered hordes of peasants along with a couple of major characters, traumatized a little girl into becoming the game's resident CuteMute and generally acted like a complete Khorne-wannabe. It was [[spoiler:''Jowy'', one of the game's protagonists, that had been planning to murder the king and usurp the throne from practically the beginning of the main plot proper - and succeeded.]] It adds another interesting dimension, though, that [[spoiler: Luca knew about the plot from the beginning and was coaxing Jowy along (he knew Jowy drank some Antitoxin before poisoning himself for the blood-exchanging ritual with the king). That could've been a test of character and loyalty he gave Jowy]].
* The sociopathic villains of both ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', Seymour and Vayne both qualify (although they aren't exactly princes, they still are the inheritants of enormous power). Vayne even goes so far as to systematically assassinate his older siblings in the backstory. The implication was that they may have invoked this trope themselves as it's indicated Vayne demonstrated both his loyalty and ruthlessness by disposing of them when they sought to claim the throne. As an interesting twist with the trope being downplayed: it's heavily implied that all of Vayne's actions are aiming for [[spoiler: Larsa, his ''younger'' brother, to inherit the throne, so that Larsa (and Archadia) are free from the Occuria and [[ScrewDestiny can control their own destiny]]]]. The goal he accomplishes. Whether he meant it to happen the way it did is still debated by fans.
* [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]] from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney''. Destined to become village leader and usurped by her far more talented sister [[spoiler: Misty]], she has plotted to kill every other member of her family and frame the rest for the murder, just so she or her daughter [[spoiler: Pearl]] can become the new Master.
* Ashnard from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. Unusual in that he was only distantly related to the previous king; ''a lot'' of people had to die for him to take the throne. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' explicitly shows him cutting down the king, although that was to break the curse Ashnard setup to kill everyone else before it killed him.
** [[spoiler: Continuing the tradition, Ashnard's long-lost son (who would probably be just as evil himself were it not for the MoralityPet and VictoriousChildhoodFriend aspect) has a direct hand in his defeat and death at the end of the game. Averted in that said son, Soren, was part of the Good Guys and had no knowledge of being a part of a royal lineage at all.]]
** And on the subject of Fire Emblem, [[spoiler: the [[GenderInvertedTrope gender-inverted]] version of this appears in VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes as the BigBad in the form of Princess Veronica.]]

* Celdic in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces''. [[spoiler:He kills his brother (the king) and ''repeatedly'' tries to kill his nephew, the next in line for the throne, though the whole thing [[BewareTheNiceOnes backfires]].]]
* Cesare Borgia, Captain-General of the Papal Armies, is the ''de facto'' Prince to his father, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', having taken that spot by having his brother murdered and using his armies to conquer Italy, while privately conspiring towards sidelining his father. This doesn't succeed though, as the Assassin Order intends to push them ''both'' out, and the eventual regicide actually accelerates his own downfall.
** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'', Sehzade Ahmet fills this role, trying to kidnap his nephew, depose his father, and in the long run, take away the people's freedom. His brother, Selim, isn't exactly a good person either,
* Bhelen of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' arranges to have his older brother Trian killed and his other sibling (the PC, if they've chosen the Dwarf Noble Origin) blamed for the murder and exiled to the Deep Roads. He is also implied to have poisoned his father, blackmails half of the nobles into choosing him, uses false evidence to discredit his opponent (who was his father's choice for heir), and attempts to launch a coup if his bid for the throne fails. [[spoiler:Interestingly, picking him as king is better for the dwarves in the long run, as Bhelen imposes social reforms and opens Orzammar to human trade, which with some help from Ferelden leads to the darkspawn being pushed far back and several lost Thaigs recovered. He eventually dissolves the DecadentCourt altogether and rules as a tyrant with support from the lower classes.]]

* Minor character Captain Juno of the Turtle Clan in ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' is one of those rare female examples. She [[NotProven (allegedly)]] killed her own father to gain leadership of the Clan. She's not an outright evil character. In fact, we learn most of this through quests involving her daughter, the Ritualist hero Xandra, from the ''Eye of the North'' expansion.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' makes it clear this was the case for [[RoyallyScrewedUp Mad King Thorn and his son, Bloody Prince Thorn]]. Oswald was always twisted, getting people killed even as a child, and eventually murdered his noble brother and father to steal the throne, kicking off a reign of terror and excess. Edrick was prone to fits of murderous rage and delusions. He committed atrocities and pinned the blame on Oswald in hopes of riding the ensuing uprising to the throne, leading to the destruction of the Thorn royal family.
* Subverted with Laharl from ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness''. He ''wants'' to be the EvilPrince, [[NobleDemon but he's not quite as worthy of the "evil" descriptor as he wants to be]].
* One of the [[EverythingTryingToKillYou many people trying to murder you]] in ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'' is doing so in order to move up the order of succession. [[spoiler: Of course, she's not actually out for the throne directly, but to put her husband and daughter onto the throne while she rules from the shadows.]]

* Prince Yurias of ''Tecmo's VideoGame/{{Deception}}'' is the classic example, framing your character, his brother, for the murder of the king in a bid for the throne, and he has you burned at the stake for good measure. Your character turns into an alternative example, as he is rescued by a demon named Astarte and becomes lord of the Castle of the Damned, responsible for the deaths of nearby townspeople regardless of what your motives ultimately end up being.
* Prince Zenos yae Galvus from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is the successor to the throne of the [[TheEmpire Garlean Empire]], and is also a complete sociopath, BloodKnight, and a tyrant of the colonized provinces of Doma and Ala Mhigo. He cares very little for actual politics and princely duties, and intentionally stokes rebellion in the places he rules so he can find a WorthyOpponent. In ''Shadowbringers'' [[spoiler: he murders his own father in cold blood, and even tells him he has NO intentions of becoming Emperor himself, thus forcing the Empire into a civil war as he plots with an [[GreaterScopeVillain Ascian]] to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt for no other reason than to slake his bloodthirst.]]
* Uldren Sov from ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}''. The Awoken Prince of the Reef, Uldren is initially hostile towards outsiders (meaning you) when you first travel to the Reef in the first game, only calling off the Fallen guards when his sister, Queen Mara Sov agrees to deal with you. After [[spoiler: Mara’s death]] during the events of ''The Taken King'', Uldren goes off the deep end, eventually forging an alliance with the Scorned and [[spoiler: murdering Cayde-6]], which kicks off the events of the ''Forsaken'' add on in the sequel.
* ''VideoGame/AmaranthineVoyageTheTreeOfLife'': When the heroine shows up the fantasy land that houses the Tree of Life, at first it seems that the land and the Tree are under the thrall of a dark prince who killed his older half-brother by letting him drown and whose evil is poisoning the kingdom and the Tree. Turns out to be a subversion and a case of [[spoiler: MotherMakesYouKing, plus said queen's toxic influence. She's the reason the inconvenient first heir died, and afterwards she manipulated her son from the shadows. Once freed from her influence by your arrival, the prince becomes a useful ally.]]

* As a female example - in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' not 1, not 2, but 3 Sharen princesses worked together to overthrow their Queen and Mother. [[spoiler: However, she was LeftForDead, organized it in a way that they NeverFoundTheBody, assuming NoOneCouldSurviveThat. Said Queen escaped via GrandTheftMe and is biding her time [[HesJustHiding by hiding]].]]
* Fang "Overlord of Darkness," the main villain from ''Webcomic/LinT'', killed his entire family to take over the kingdom even though he was already first in line for the throne!

* ''[[http://www.jinxville.com/comics/frog/ The Tourist and the Frog]]'', a [[FracturedFairyTale humorous take]] on ''Literature/TheFrogPrince'' by Diana Nock the un-frogged Prince clarifies: "I was not cursed for being kind".

* Prince Vince, in the ''WesternAnimatnion/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon, is a benign and friendly individual who is quite fond of both Beetlejuice and Lydia. In ''Webcomic/CobwebAndStripes'', however, he's been recast in this role and is absolutely determined to make Betelgeuse's afterlife as nightmarish as he can. It has yet to be revealed exactly why he hates the AntiHero so much.

** However, also ''averted'', in that Ozai's daughter Princess Azula, is not only one of few Evil Princesses, she consistently proves herself [[DaddysGirl loyal to her father]] at significant risk to her life and cheerfully passes up golden opportunities to usurp him. Whether she was acting out of actual affection, habitual/conditioned obedience, or simple disinterest in taking the throne herself ''yet'' was a longtime matter of debate among fans. At show's end, it is plain that Azula loves her father as much as her screwed-up mind is capable of loving anyone. Not only that, [[spoiler: she gets the one reward every BastardUnderstudy wants: the crown. She ''was'' to be crowned Fire Lord Azula, until Zuko came back to dish out some destiny-cooked justice on her]]. She could have had it all if her best friends betraying her didn't [[VillainousBreakdown seriously shake her]]. However, [[spoiler: the title and position of Fire Lord was summarily reduced to something between a hollow gesture and a bad joke by her father assuming the position of [[AGodAmI Phoenix King]] and going forth to [[MoralEventHorizon remove the Earth Kingdom from the map]]]] - and Azula knew it.

* Randall becomes this in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Prince Randall"
* Tritannus in ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' is one of the twin sons of King Neptune. He considers himself a far better candidate to be king than his brother Nereus. He's also a complete psycho and attempts to assassinate Nereus when Nereus is being named crown prince.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' the Fire King usurped the throne by killing his brother. His reaction when his nephews reminded him of this...
-->'''Fire King''': [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Oh yeah]].
** Blargatha is a RareFemaleExample, though {{Downplayed}} since her plan to take the throne involves politics instead of murder.
* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', [[spoiler:Lotor becomes the new Galra emperor after impaling his father Zarkon through the chest with a sharp stick in battle. Unlike most examples, he seems to actually be noble at first...until it's revealed he got just close to Team Voltron so he could drain the surviving Alteans from his secret colony of their life-force for quintessence.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama,'' Mal, Mike's evil alternate personality, fits this trope to the letter. He even has an evil spire!
-->'''Manitoba Smith''': Behold, the tower of Mal!
* WesternAnimation/TheHairBearBunch audition for the roles of the bears in a filming of "Goldilocks And The Three Bears." The film's uppity star, Twinkles Sunshine, rewrites it to include an evil prince, a role that zookeeper Peevly winds up getting.
* Prince John, as tradition dictates, in ''WesternAnimation/IvanhoeTheKingsKnight.''
* The main antagonist of WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'s Sons of Garmadon series is [[spoiler: The [[RareFemaleExample Evil Princess]] Harumi, who was manipulating Lloyd for the entire season and is easily one of the darkest villains yet. Her aspirations of power are not related to the line of succession, though, so this is not a straight example of this trope; she's more of a BitchInSheepsClothing.]]
* WesternAnimation/Ben10 features Princess Attea, who is the daughter of the Incursean leader. Omniverse has her usurp her father when the heroes beat him. Unusually, she offers to take the incurseans away from earth in exchange for the heroes letting her go, thus using the heroes to her advantage in keeping this power.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Prince Zuko subverts this trope entirely as even before his DarkAndTroubledPast is revealed it is clear that he is loyal [[WellDoneSonGuy to a fault]] towards his father the EvilOverlord. It is only after two and a half seasons of CharacterDevelopment, [[spoiler: IOW when he makes a HeelFaceTurn and become the Sixth Ranger[=/=]TheAtoner,]] that he seeks Ozai's overthrow.
** Played straight with the current Fire Lord Ozai, who killed his father [[spoiler: (or had his wife kill him)]] and then usurped his older brother Iroh as heir. However, also ''averted'', in that Ozai's daughter Princess Azula, is not only one of few Evil Princesses, she consistently proves herself [[DaddysGirl loyal to her father]] at significant risk to her life and cheerfully passes up golden opportunities to usurp him. Whether she was acting out of actual affection, habitual/conditioned obedience, or simple disinterest in taking the throne herself ''yet'' was a longtime matter of debate among fans.
*** At show's end, it is plain that Azula loves her father as much as her screwed-up mind is capable of loving anyone. Not only that, [[spoiler: she gets the one reward every BastardUnderstudy wants: the crown. She ''was'' to be crowned Fire Lord Azula, until Zuko came back to dish out some destiny-cooked justice on her]]. She could have had it all if her best friends betraying her didn't [[VillainousBreakdown seriously shake her]]. However, [[spoiler: the title and position of Fire Lord was summarily reduced to something between a hollow gesture and a bad joke by her father assuming the position of [[AGodAmI Phoenix King]] and going forth to [[MoralEventHorizon remove the Earth Kingdom from the map]]]] - and Azula knew it.

** Likewise Marvel's ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, who is an Expy of Darkseid, was the eldest son to the planet Titan's leader and was banished for his crimes. Years later he would return to devastate Titan and rule it with an iron fist until he was defeated by Earth's heroes during his first encounter with the cosmic cube.

* Ukyo from ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'' kills [[spoiler:the emperor, who he is a clone of]] in order to inherit the throne ''sooner'', although [[spoiler: it's implied he is the last remaining clone of the Emperor (who is hooked up to a life support system), so he probably wouldn't have had to wait that long]]. He also caused his adoptive father's demotion in order to take his place. He did find some other heirs/[[spoiler:clones]] and made them act as {{Body Double}}s body. He was the only "heir" to ever be publicly acknowledged as heir instead of being executed as unsuitable.

* Ukyo from ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'' kills [[spoiler:the emperor, who he is a clone of]] in order to inherit the throne ''sooner'', although [[spoiler: it's implied he is the last remaining clone of the Emperor (who is hooked up to a life support system), so he probably wouldn't have had to wait that long]]. He also caused his adoptive father's demotion in order to take his place.
** He wasn't the last possible heir. He found some of the others and made them act as {{Body Double}}s body. He was the only one to ever be publicly acknowledged as heir instead of being executed as unsuitable, however.

* ''Film/{{Thor}}'':
** Subverted in the first movie. Loki shows all signs of being the evil prince, who wants his brother and father out of the way so that he can have the throne, except for one thing: he ''doesn't'' want the throne. He never intended for Thor to be banished to Earth or for Odin to fall into the Odinsleep, but they did and the throne just dropped into his hands.

* ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' plays this straight, as Loki [[spoiler:disposes of Odin through unknown means and impersonates him in order to usurp the throne]].

* ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': [[spoiler:Erik Stevens (aka "Killmonger"), son of the prince of Wakanda in 1992]]. First cousin to the reigning Wakandan king, T'Challa, and his sister Shuri. While he has a legitimate claim to the throne, he would technically be behind both T'Challa and his sister (since they are direct descendants of the actual king while he is merely the son of the prince) but trial by combat allows him to jump the line.

* Prince Zenos yae Galvus from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is the successor to the throne of the [[TheEmpire Garlean Empire]], and is also a complete sociopath, BloodKnight, and a tyrant of the colonized provinces of Doma and Ala Mhigo. He cares very little for actual politics and princely duties, and intentionally stokes rebellion in the places he rules so he can find a WorthyOpponent. In ''Shadowbringers'' [[spoiler: he murders his own father in cold blood, and even tells him he has NO intentions of becoming Emperor himself, thus forcing the Empire into a civil war.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndThePea'': Laird.

* ''WesternAnimation/FireAndIce'': Prince Nekron.

For some reason, there are very few Evil Princesses. One explanation is that, perhaps because of [[PrincessClassic the very strong influence of fairy tale (and]] [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney) heroines]], [[WomenAreWiser princesses are generally]] [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent seen as good characters]]. Another explanation is that royal daughters are usually not in the line of succession and have nothing to gain by disposing of their rivals. However, since in fiction [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens can be evil]], the odd evil princess often turns out to be a total tyrant if she's ever successful in taking the throne for herself. However, most Queen examples of the trope were consorts of a king, not princesses who inherit the throne.[[note]]A rarity in the Medieval era and similar cultures/periods which are mostly male dominated, especially when MightMakesRight[[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': Dr. Poison I is an evil princess. She is a member of the Japanese royal family who experiments on soldiers and civilians alike with toxins and diseases. These days she's often used as a [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed stand in]]/ DistaffCounterpart for RealLife Japanese war criminal Ishii Shiro, who experimented on Chinese civilians with biological and chemical agents.

** In the Dark Age Caleb Hasek-Sandoval-Davion, killed his father the First Prince Harrison Davion when he said he wouldn't be the heir of the throne, and immediately takes the title of First Prince of the Federated Suns. Its doesn't help that he is also a violent schizophrenic.

** In the ''[[{{VideoGame/Diablo}} Diablo]]'' series, both of the princes of Khanduras are possessed by the titular demon and go on to become the respective [[BigBad Big Bads]] of two games, although neither of them seem to have intended for that to happen.

* Prince Zenos yae Galvus from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is the successor to the throne of the [[TheEmpire Garlean Empire]], and is also a complete sociopath, BloodKnight and a tyrant of the colonized provinces of Doma and Ala Mhigo. He cares very little for actual politics and princely duties, and intentionally stokes rebellion in the places he rules so he can find a WorthyOpponent. In ''Shadowbringers'' [[spoiler: he murders his own father in cold blood, and even tells him he has NO intentions of becoming Emperor himself, thus forcing the Empire into a civil war.]]

* Prince Vince, in the ''WesternAnimatnion/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon, is a benign and friendly individual who is quite fond of both Beetlejuice and Lydia. In ''Webcomic/CobwebAndStripes'', however, he's been recast in this role, and is absolutely determined to make Betelgeuse's afterlife as nightmarish as he can. It has yet to be revealed exactly why he hates the AntiHero so much.

** Played straight with the current Fire Lord, Ozai, who killed his father [[spoiler: (or had his wife kill him)]] and then usurped his older brother Iroh as heir. However, also ''averted'', in that Ozai's daughter Princess Azula, is not only one of few Evil Princesses, she consistently proves herself [[DaddysGirl loyal to her father]] at significant risk to her life and cheerfully passes up golden opportunities to usurp him. Whether she was acting out of actual affection, habitual/conditioned obedience, or simple disinterest in taking the throne herself ''yet'' was a longtime matter of debate among fans.
*** At show's end, it is plain that Azula loves her father as much as her screwed-up mind is capable of loving anyone. Not only that, [[spoiler: she gets the one reward every BastardUnderstudy wants, the crown. She ''was'' to be crowned Fire Lord Azula, until Zuko came back to dish out some destiny-cooked justice on her]]. She could have had it all if her best friends betraying her didn't [[VillainousBreakdown seriously shake her]]. However, [[spoiler: the title and position of Fire Lord was summarily reduced to something between a hollow gesture and a bad joke by her father assuming the position of [[AGodAmI Phoenix King]] and going forth to [[MoralEventHorizon remove the Earth Kingdom from the map]]]] - and Azula knew it.

For some reason, there are very few Evil Princesses. One explanation is that, perhaps because of [[PrincessClassic the very strong influence of fairy tale (and]] [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney) heroines]], [[WomenAreWiser princesses are generally]] [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent seen as good characters]]. Another explanation is that royal daughters are usually not in the line of succession and have nothing to gain by disposing of their rivals. However, since in fiction [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens can be evil]], the odd evil princess often turns out to be a total tyrant. However, most Queen examples of the trope were consorts of a king, not princesses who inherit the throne.[[note]]A rarity in the Medieval era and similar cultures/periods which are mostly male dominated, especially when MightMakesRight[[/note]] Additionally, the Evil Princess is becoming more common in recent media as a subversion of the PrincessClassic trope, although her goals are often very different than the aspirations of usurpation shared by her SpearCounterpart (usually, the Evil Princess is a [[EvilAllAlong twist villain]] because of the overtired DamselInDistress trope).

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'': [[spoiler:Prince Hans]] [[spoiler: Since knocking off his twelve older brothers would be a lot of work, his ambitions involve usurping a throne outside his own kingdom through either manipulation and marriage or murder, whichever comes first. All of the above would also be quite acceptable to him.]]

* While Touka Bergatt from ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'' is an earl's son rather than a prince, he otherwise fits this perfectly with his plans increase the Bergatt house's power and lands and make a puppet of the royal family's representative in the north. There's also the fact that [[spoiler:he murdered his father to take over as head of the house]].

* Xanxus of ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn''. Subverted because he's [[spoiler:adopted so he couldn't be the next boss of the Vongola after all]]. And also Belphegor. [[spoiler:His brother Rasiel is supposed to be the next king. Belphegor killed him because of this. In the Future Arc Rasiel shows up alive and reveals that he is just as evil, that he was also planning to assassinate Belphegor and that they tried their plans on the same day]].

** He wasn't the last possible heir. He found some of the others and made them act as [[BodyDouble body doubles]]. He was the only one to ever be publicly acknowledged as heir instead of being executed as unsuitable, however.

For some reason, there are very few Evil Princesses. One explanation is that, perhaps because of [[PrincessClassic the very strong influence of fairy tale (and]] [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney) heroines]], [[WomenAreWiser princesses are generally]] [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent seen as good characters]]. Another explanation is that royal daughters are usually not in the line of succession and have nothing to gain by disposing of their rivals. However, since in fiction [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens can be evil]], the odd evil princess often turns out to be a total tyrant. However, most Queen examples of the trope were husbands to a king, not princesses who inherit the throne.[[note]]A rarity in feudal cultures which are mostly male dominated[[/note]] Additionally, the Evil Princess is becoming more common in recent media as a subversion of the PrincessClassic trope, although her goals are often very different than the aspirations of usurpation shared by her SpearCounterpart (usually, the Evil Princess is a [[EvilAllAlong twist villain]] because of the overtired DamselInDistress trope).

For some reason, there are very few Evil Princesses. One explanation is that, perhaps because of [[PrincessClassic the very strong influence of fairy tale (and]] [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney) heroines]], [[WomenAreWiser princesses are generally]] [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent seen as good characters]]. Another explanation is that royal daughters are usually not in the line of succession and have nothing to gain by disposing of their rivals. However, since in fiction [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens can be evil]], the odd evil princess often turns out to be a total tyrant. Additionally, the Evil Princess is becoming more common in recent media as a subversion of the PrincessClassic trope, although her goals are often very different than the aspirations of usurpation shared by her SpearCounterpart (usually, the Evil Princess is a [[EvilAllAlong twist villain]] because of the overtired DamselInDistress trope).

* Arthas of ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' fame. Even though he had lost his soul at the point when he stabbed his own father, he showed a great deal of evil and selfish tendencies throughout the campaign before.
** To clarify, he is shown to be a genuinely good and noble prince (a Paladin no less), but then a little something called [[TheUndead The Scourge]] ravages the kingdom. Over the course of his hunt for the Scourge leader Mal'ganis, he gradually develops WellIntentionedExtremist KnightTemplar tendencies, to the point that by the end he is willing to do just about anything if it means saving his people from undeath. He decides to accomplish that by wielding [[UnholyHolySword Frostmourne]], an EmpathicWeapon forged by the Lich King himself. In an ironic twist of fate, Arthas is the one who ends up leading the Scourge against his own former people and does eventually become king... of the undead.

** Blizzard likes playing with this trope; in the same game, Prince Kael'Thas ''also'' goes from WellIntentionedExtremist to this, though he plays with it as his evil started with his rage at his father's death at Arthas' hands and what happened to Quel'Thalas thanks to the Scourge.
** In the ''[[{{VideoGame/Diablo}} Diablo]]'' series, both of the princes of Khanduras are possessed by the titular demon and go on to become the respective [[BigBad Big Bads]] of two games, although neither of them seem to have intended for that to happen. Finally, ''[[VideoGame/StarCraft2 Starcraft II]]'' inverts this trope; one character is a ''good'' prince out to depose his evil father.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Horus, most favored son of the Emperor. Also the one responsible for plunging humanity into a galaxy-wide dark age run by an ''extreme'' ChurchMilitant.

** Blizzard likes playing with this trope; in the same game, Prince Kael'Thas ''also'' goes from WellIntentionedExtremist to this. In the ''[[{{VideoGame/Diablo}} Diablo]]'' series, both of the princes of Khanduras are possessed by the titular demon and go on to become the respective [[BigBad Big Bads]] of two games, although neither of them seem to have intended for that to happen. Finally, ''[[VideoGame/StarCraft2 Starcraft II]]'' inverts this trope; one character is a ''good'' prince out to depose his evil father.

* Minor character Captain Juno of the Turtle Clan in ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' is one of those rare female examples. She [[NotProven (allegedly)]] killed her own father to gain leadership of the Clan. She's not an outright evil character. In fact, we learn most of this through quests involving her daughter, the Ritualist hero Xandra, from the Eye of the North expansion.