[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3917_400x600.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:ComicBook/IronMan has HAD IT with you people.]]

''Empire'' is a comic book by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson about... well, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A totalitarian [[TheEmpire Empire]] has conquered most of the world, led by the power-armored genius supervillain [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Golgoth.]] The world's greatest superheroes are all dead, and the last bastions of freedom are cut off, outmatched, and being overrun. Nothing can stop Golgoth's drive for total world domination.

Or can it? The Empire, while mighty, is not without its own problems. The bevy of psychopaths that make up the government's elite are constantly scheming to advance their causes over their fellows', and occasionally over their leader. Golgoth himself, meanwhile, has a weakness that his enemies are trying to exploit.

The first two issues were published in 2000 by Gorilla Comics, a brief-lived imprint of Image Comics. After Gorilla folded, the series was picked up (in 2003) and completed by DC Comics, although the events and characters in it are distinctly separate from the main DCU.

----
!!This comic contains examples of:

* AddictionPowered: {{Inverted|trope}}. Golgoth keeps his minions controlled by feeding them an addictive SuperEmpowering drug called Eucharist. The inversion comes in that [[spoiler: the drug comes from the hero Endymion's blood. His superhuman biology creates other people's addictions]].
* AfterTheEnd: By the time the comics begin, Golgoth and co. have already conquered most of the world.
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: After Lucullan has been chewing out Golgoth for neglecting his empire.
-->'''Golgoth:''' Is that all?
-->'''Lucullan:''' For now.
-->'''Golgoth:''' Then come along [[DaddysGirl Delfi]].
-->'''Lucullan:''' Oh dear God.
-->'''Golgoth:''' You may call me Golgoth.
* BreakTheCutie: [[TheCape Endymion's]] treatment is a very comprehensive breaking. Ambassador Rasmussen also gets this, though a different way.
* TheCaligula: Golgoth, in the sequel series. Among other things, he orders a compulsory global moment of silence on the anniversary of [[spoiler: Delfi's death]], under pain of death. It's implied that the act of [[spoiler: killing his own daughter]] has increasingly driven him into being this.
* TheCape: Endymion. And good God, does he suffer for it.
-->'''Endymion:''' I learned to hate you, you know. Not at first. [[RousseauWasRight For the longest time, I held out hope that you could be brought around somehow]]. Would you like to know what eventually broke me down? How you'd [[KickTheDog go out of your way to make sure]] ''everyone's'' dying scream was "Endymion, help me!".
* CherryTapping: When Golgoth's forces surround the last of the Old World armies in Aswan, they have enough airpower to flatten the city in minutes. Instead, they take the time to build a gigantic bridge before sending in only ground forces to finish them off.
* TheChessmaster: Golgoth and Lucullan.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Golgoth's entire inner circle has an incredibly advanced case of it.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Loads. Xanna, Grieze, and Tumbril all do it as a recreational activity, though with Tumbril it's also his job. However, he enjoys it so much he might as well be doing it for free.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Lucullan. The whole {{Malaproper}} thing is a front to make people underestimate him (and it works, too). It's not entirely an act for him, though, given how he fumbles with his words when apologizing to Golgoth for failing to gain any information or technology about the resistance's alien benefactors in Greenland.
* CrusadingWidow: It's implied that, as ruthless as Golgoth was in his early career, his marriage to Allorea tempered him. The way Endymion tells it, Golgoth becomes a full-fledged NoNonsenseNemesis after Allorea's death.
-->'''Endymion:''' For a while, I actually imagined I'd worn you down. Our encounters seemed more... mannered, somehow. More routine. It was almost as if your drive for domination had... I don't know, stalled. ''Faded.'' But then... then came New York. That was the beginning of the end. I met your wife more than once, Golgoth. Allorea? Beautiful name. I know you loved her. I also know her suicide changed you. In fact, I'd go so far as to claim it made you the man you are today.
* DaddysGirl: Delfi is a combination of this, PsychoSupporter, and StepfordSmiler.
* DarkSecret: Golgoth's is not what you would expect: Halfway through his crusade to become master of the world, [[spoiler: it hit him how hard it was going to be to maintain control and he realized he no longer ''wanted'' the job. The murder of his wife drove him to finish it off, but Golgoth has lost his taste for conquest and would much rather give up. But he knows it's only his iron hand keeping order of the globe; without him, the world would fall into chaos, and thus he must keep up the illusion of the ruthless tyrant to hold the planet together.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: The first issue is told through the eyes of one member of Golgoth's inner circle, the one man who considers himself the emperor's friend, trying to find out who is plotting to murder him. He succeeds in stopping an assassination attempt and it appears he'll be rewarded and continue as our eyes into this world. Instead, Golgoth kills him because he feels the man's belief that Gogloth ''needed'' to be protected and saved "proves" he's not as loyal as he claims to be.
* DepravedBisexual: Xanna. Emphasis on "depraved."
* TheEmpire: Obviously.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Crucial to Golgoth's backstory and character arc is his wife and daughter.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Lohkyn expresses horror when he finds out that Delfi (the underage girl he's been giving drugs to and having sex with) [[spoiler: murdered her own mother.]]
** When Delfi asks for mercy [[spoiler: only to set the guards on Lohkyn anyway, Golgoth's eyes widen in visible horror.]]
* EvilOverlord: Golgoth, obviously, though he's much more hands-on than most.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Golgoth has conquered the entire world, he rules with an iron fist, he's killed or captured every superhero around, he slaughters people at the drop of a hat... and he works very hard to keep all of this from his beloved daughter, whom he tries to raise normally in every way.
* TheFaceless: We never once see Golgoth's face, even in flashbacks; it's implied that he hasn't removed his mask since his wife died.
* FateWorseThanDeath: If you're ''lucky'', they'll just shoot you.
* GeniusBruiser: This trope IS Golgoth.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: Unusually for this trope, it's not applied to the public at large, but rather as a narcotic leash to keep Golgoth's inner circle in line.
* HarmfulToMinors: Not to mention everyone else.
* KlingonPromotion: Averted, surprisingly. Golgoth's drive still doesn't allow for this tactic and any such attempts amongst subordinates are ruthlessly stamped on.
* {{Malaproper}}: Lucullan, in an [[DelusionsOfEloquence often-hilariously failed attempt at]] SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. Best example:
-->'''Lucullan:''' I failed you, and am cognizant of the causatum. . . the res-- resid-- residuum. . .\\
''(Beat)''\\
'''Lucullan:''' I know the consequences.
* ManipulativeEditing: Information Minister Kafra takes this to new heights. He is able to almost instantly alter any news feed and video to present the picture the Empire wants. A major example is when Golgoth finally staged his invasion of the United States. The U.S. President did a live broadcast meant to be a RousingSpeech to get the nation to fight Golgoth to the last man. But Kafra edited it in a split second so it became the defeated President urging his citizens to surrender and not fight back, thus allowing Golgoth to conquer America in days.
* ManInTheMachine: Information Minister Kafra, and [[spoiler:after his assassination, his assistant Dess.]]
* MeaningfulName: Golgoth, Tumbril, the Qaron.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Golgoth knows full well who's really to blame for how his daughter turned out.]]
* NoDelaysForTheWicked
* OutGambitted: Kafra has Xanna snared in one of these until Grieze [[TakeAThirdOption uses a more]] [[JustShootHim direct solution.]] [[spoiler: Also, what's going on with the [[TheRemnant resistance]] in Greenland.]]
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler: Eucharist]] is powered by a forsaken [[spoiler: Endymion]].
* PsychoSerum: What Eucharist withdrawal does.
* PyrrhicVictory: Golgoth wins, but it's heavily implied to be a hollow victory since he's lost everything that's important to him in the process, and it's highly unlikely that his empire will survive him.
* RayOfHopeEnding: The ending sees Golgoth utterly victorious... but Lohkyn meets up with LaResistance, who are implied to be a more credible threat to the Empire than the Golgoth-controlled media has made them out to be.
-->'''Carla:''' Having some issues with authority, I take it? Join the club.
* RedShirt: Lt. [=McOrly=], on account of being TooDumbToLive.
* TheRemnant: They're the good guys. What's left of them.
* StupidEvil: The entire series is a comprehensive, horrible aversion.
* SuperSerum: Eucharist, a highly addictive substance that supercharges the abilities of those who take it. People under it's influence can dodge bullets, and the high is described as "BetterThanSex." The secret of its production is one of the major running subplots.
* TakeOverTheWorld: In the backstory, they've already accomplished most of it. [[spoiler: They finish the job in the main plot.]]
* TakeAThirdOption: How Grieze deals with [[InsufferableGenius Kafra's]] attempt to blackmail Xanna.
* TragicVillain: Golgoth is explicitly intended as one, winning the world at the cost of [[spoiler: his family.]]
* VillainWorld: [[CaptainObvious Duh!]]
* WasItReallyWorthIt: There are hints that Golgoth believes that no it really wasn't.
* WhamEpisode: About the final third of the series is ascending Wham Episodes.
* WhamLine:
-->'''Golgoth:''' You killed your mother.\\
'''[[spoiler:Delfi]]:''' Well, ''someone'' had too.
* YouHaveFailedMe: The core of Golgoth's employee-relations and human resources policies.