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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/BatmanAndRobin https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/un_united_nations.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"As soon as the [[Music/VillagePeople Indian Chief]] gets here, we can begin."]]

->''"We then pan up to get a clear shot of the big shots on the catwalk, and here's what we find: 1) a guy wearing an American army general's uniform, 2) an obviously Russian woman wearing a big Cossack hat, 3) a Yasser Arafat-type with a kaffiyeh on his head, 4) a dead ringer for Fidel Castro, 5) a black guy in a dashiki, and finally, 6) a Japanese guy in a business suit. Nope, not one single stereotype in the whole bunch."''
-->-- '''Website/TheAgonyBooth''', describing the trope picture for their '' Film/BatmanAndRobin [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Batman___Robin_1997.aspx recap]]''

TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness is in session! And what's this?! The [[FaceFramedInShadow shadowy faces]] are actually lit!

Well what do you know? It's the employers of the EqualOpportunityEvil {{Mooks}} and the patrons behind the FiveTokenBand! These people can be any kind of congregation, whether to play poker or plot the downfall of western civilization, but are nonetheless [[AlikeAndAntitheticalAdversaries very heterogeneous]].

Options include both sexes (but usually [[TheSmurfettePrinciple just one woman]]), ethnically, religiously and geographically distinct people, [[CultureEqualsCostume always in the regional chic]] rather than western business attire (except maybe one). A comedy can even highlight this by using ridiculously cliché or period dress, such as the Mexican delegate dressing like a 1910 {{bandito}}/revolutionary, the Russian contingent in [[RussianFashion Cossack dress or a military greatcoat and ushanka]] in the summer, or [[AmericansAreCowboys an American in a cowboy suit]]. If they aren't outlandish/foreign enough, expect them to layer their English with lots of [[GratuitousForeignLanguage gratuitous phrases]] or [[JustAStupidAccent accents]]. In fantasy and sci-fi settings where fictional races exist, you can expect them to have a few seats as well.

The one trait that ties everyone together is that they are all in possession of skill, authority or money, and in excessive amounts. The members will probably be heavily accessorized with gaudy jewelry or a [[GoodScarsEvilScars scar to prove their moral alignment]]. In short, the implication is that each and every member has a varied and storied past... which we very likely [[MysteriousPast won't learn.]]

Aside for positions of leadership, they also often appear as a group of prospective customers for a MadScientist or CorruptCorporateExecutive to sell his newest project/invention/acquisition to (see also AuctionOfEvil).

Related to GangOfHats: especially when dealing with meeting the heads of groups. Also related to the "How different" aspect of ConservationOfNinjutsu.

Common members of the council include but are not limited to: a LadyInAPowerSuit (often with corresponding PowerHair), an InscrutableOriental (albeit usually in a suit these days, instead of in more old-school East Asian garb), an ArabOilSheikh, a FakeRussian, and TheGeneralissimo.

----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': The Akatsuki, originally just fuzzy, indistinct holograms in a dark cave, are eventually revealed to have unique appearances (there's one guy with fish-like skin, one who's a living puppet, one with mouths on the palms of his hands, and let's not even get into the Venus flytrap guy), and with only a couple of exceptions all hail from different ninja villages.
* The AncientConspiracy SEELE from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The five members who are seen on-screen are from France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia, with the leader Keel Lorenz from Germany. The organisation's council which shows up in the latter episodes, though they hide their faces by using [[TheMonolith monoliths]] for avatars during their conferences, are implied to be include an even wider range of nationalities.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' does this quite a bit because Creator/EiichiroOda likes making ''everyone'' distinct.
* In the second episode of the ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2199'', the multinational leadership of the United Nations briefing Captain Okida prior to the Yamato's launch; visible are the United States leader, the European Union's leader, as well as those for the Middle East and China, along with a UN Secretary General very clearly inspired by Ghanaian Koffi Annan.
* ''Anime/{{Tsuritama}}'': The leadership of the DUCK organization is quite diverse, with the top brass depicted as having black, Arabic and Asian members.
* ''Anime/{{Steamboy}}'' has a gathering of military representatives from various countries that are going to buy steam-powered weaponry. David says there are "America, Prussia, France and Russia", despite the fact that many of these representatives are dressed as stereotypical Arabs and Hindu.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Creator/DCComics
** The heads of Gotham's multicultural criminal underground will meet up and work together from time to time, generally against ComicBook/{{Batman}} or a super-powered threat to their grip on the city. When these alliances inevitably fall apart there's usually a bloodbath across the city as they turn on each other.
** A segment of diverse gang leaders from Gotham's north end teamed up together in ''ComicBook/Robin1993'' in response to a pair of corrupt cops murdering small time gangsters to try and give the criminals they liked working with more control. None of them really liked working together though and their alliance did not last.
** The Council of Eternity, wizards that gave Comicbook/BlackAdam his powers and punished the Trinity of Sin, at least in ''Comicbook/New52'' continuity. The only named one is Mamaragan, based on Australian aboriginal mythology. There is also a stereotypically looking Native American man (with NemeanSkinning energy hood to boot), Japanese man, Egyptian woman, European redhead woman, vaguely Chinese woman in something that looks like a qipao, and a vaguely Middle Eastern man in a robe.
%%* The Black Glove from ''[[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Batman RIP]]''.
%%* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': The Kryptonian Science Council.
* ''ComicBook/{{Sojourn}}'': a council of Troll governors of conquered territories: They were all Trolls, but each one was dressed in the ethnic garb of the area they governed. There was even a token She-Troll.
* Creator/MarvelComics
** There's a council made up of the heads of all Earth's Pantheons, called the Council of Godheads.
** In preparation for the slew of events in 2006-2008, Marvel retconned the existence of a CosmopolitanCouncil of superheroes called ComicBook/TheIlluminati ([[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the name alone raises warning bells]]): [[TokenEvilTeammate Namor]], Black Bolt, [[ComicBook/XMen Professor Xavier]], Doctor Strange, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]], and ComicBook/IronMan.
** With ComicBook/DarkReign comes the EvilCounterpart to the Illuminati: Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), Loki (now female), The Hood, Dr Doom, Emma Frost....and [[TokenGoodTeammate Namor]].
** In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the Pride is six {{supervillain}} couples each representing a very different kind of villain (mad scientists, aliens, mutants, etc.) [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the Gibborim specifically needing these "six young pair bonds" for the rituals needed for their return to power: [[EvilSorcerer the magicians]] (the Minorus, Japanese), [[BadassNormal the thieves]] (the Wilders, black), [[ConquerorFromTheFuture the travelers]] (the Yorkes, [[JewishAndNerdy Jewish]]), [[MadScientist the wise men]] (the Steins, apparently [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASPs]]), [[GalacticConqueror the colonists]] (the Deans, Aliens), and [[{{mutants}} the outcasts]] (the Hayes, [[FantasticRacism Mutants]]).
* In ''ComicBook/{{Camelot 3000}}'', the world leaders who gather to conspire against Arthur include a bulky, dour-faced Russian in a wide-shouldered suit, a prim Chinese matron in conservative skirt and jacket, an UsefulNotes/IdiAmin-inspired African dictator in overly-bemedaled military uniform, and an American president dressed like a Wild West cowboy in "Uncle Sam" colors.
* In ''Recap/TintinCigarsOfThePharaoh'', the klanesque council contains an Arab, a Japanese, a married couple with an English surname, and two Indians in turbans.
* The Council of Nike in ComicBook/AstroCity is an all-female version of this, although we only see their heads. Powerful, successful women from around the world, linked to empower the superhero Winged Victory.
* Christian comics artist [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]] likes this one. For one example, his comic "Fairy Tales?" has an anti-God council with an [[{{Qurac}} ayatollah]], a pentagram-tattooed [[HollywoodSatanism Satanist]], a [[DirtyCommies Red Chinese]] general, a WickedWitch, a stereotypical [[StrawFeminism feminist]] and a [[EvilutionaryBiologist Creation-denying]] palaeontologist in a [[AdventurerArchaeologist pith helmet]].
* In ''Franchise/GIJoe'', Cobra is all over this. Cobra Commander is American (or believed to be, in most continuities); Destro is Scottish; the Paoli twins are Corsican; Storm Shadow is Japanese; {{the Baroness}} is a European of unstated nationality. And then there's Serpentor, who depending on continuity is either a genetically engineered supersoldier, or an android, or simply the American leader of a Scientology-like cult.
* ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' has Group W, a fairly realistic example given that it's a gigantic multinational. The board of directors has included French, British, Dutch, German, Italian, American, and South African citizens. As for their CEO, he's Yugoslav (now Montenegrin) by birth, American by adoption, raised in Liechtenstein, and educated in various French, British, and American institutions.
* ''ComicBook/BuckDanny'' gave us the International Federation of Armed Revolutionary Group, a movement of extreme-left radicals from various countries (we see German, Mexican, and Arab members), who come together to steal nuclear weapons and modern fighter jets that they intend to use in a massive terrorist attack. For extra points in diversity (and irony), the plan forces the IFARG to ally with an extreme-''right'' faction of Central American generals (who have no idea who they're dealing with), as well as two former Iranian pilots from the Shah's regime (who do realize who they're dealing with, but don't care as long as it allows them to strike back at the United States for having abandoned them). The latter two pilots came into the plan courtesy of Lady X, who couldn't care less about anyone's ideology, and is simply in it for the money, and a chance to get even with Buck Danny after her many previous defeats.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AustinPowers'':
** Dr Evil's Evil Panel contains a group of the "world's deadliest assassins" of many different nationalities, varieties, etc. Then he kills most of them for failing him in the first scene. The ones that survive are a Russian woman and a Turkish man.
** The first film had the GoodCounterpart in the United Nations Secret Security Council Meeting Room when Dr. Evil gives his blackmail threat - for instance, there were a pair of sumo wrestlers in the room.
* Film/JamesBond:
** SPECTRE, mainly in the film series, tended to have multinational representation when they were shown meeting (e.g. ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''). Most notably, they've recruited at least one member from both NATO and the Warsaw Pact (Colonel Jacques Bouvar and Colonel Rosa Klebb, respectively), befitting their neutral stance in the Cold War.
** In the Daniel Craig version of ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', there is a very important poker game with a diverse set of players.
** [[NebulousEvilOrganization Quantum]] in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. Its members include a senior adviser to the British Prime Minister, a French businessman and environmental activist, an Israeli telecom magnate, and a Russian mining tycoon. And that's just the ones that are identified.
** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' reveals that Quantum was either a forerunner to or subsidiary of this continuity's version of SPECTRE. It's just as diverse as its predecessor; the meeting we see in Rome is conducted in three languages (English, French, German), and its attendees are quite ethnically diverse. Nationalities are mostly not given, but we do know that the organization's leader is Austrian, and two of his senior underlings are British and Italian.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', the Brethren Court is composed of the Nine Pirate Lords, each of whom is renowned as the greatest buccaneer of their own realm. The members include Ammand the Corsair (a Barbary pirate who rules the Black Sea and North Africa), Hector Barbossa (a Brit who rules the Caspian Sea), Captaine Chevalle (a Frenchman who rules the Mediterranean Sea), Mistress Ching (a Chinese woman who rules the Pacific Ocean), Gentleman Jocard (a black former slave who rules the Atlantic Ocean), Jack Sparrow (a vaguely British-American man who rules the Caribbean Sea), Sri Sumbhajee (a Hindu priest who rules the Indian Ocean), Sao Feng (a Chinese man who rules the South China Sea; he's killed and passes his title to Elizabeth Swann, making a British woman the new Lord of that region), and Eduardo Villanueva (a Spaniard who rules the Adriatic Sea). This is [[ShownTheirWork accurate]] because each of the areas they used actually were known for their large populations of pirates, and consists of the "known world" in the movie's setting. Several of the pirates in the council [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed were based on real life pirates]] (although they did not all live at the same time, obviously). Mistress Ching, for example, was most likely based on the Chinese pirate Ching Shih.
%%* ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'' (1966: The "United World" representatives.
* ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'': The super serum auction, the "Un-United Nations," has one of these, each displaying their own {{national stereotype|s}}, including an ArabOilSheikh and a UsefulNotes/FidelCastro {{expy}}.
* In ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'', there is a group of high-profile fashion industry leaders that comprise this role.
* In ''Film/WildWildWest'', Dr. Loveless is backed by a Cosmopolitan Council made up of representatives from France, Britain, Spain, and Mexico - every foreign country that once owned land in what is now the United States, and wants to help him destroy the country so they can get it back. There's also a Native American faction that's apparently been promised Manhattan back. Finally, Loveless has some of his former colleagues from the Confederate Army on retainer, and uses them as muscle for the first half of the movie - however, he has no intention of cutting them in and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness uses them for target practice once they're of no further use]], largely out of resentment for having surrendered at the end of the Civil War instead of fighting on.
* In ''Film/TheLegendOfZorro'', the Knights of Aragon are an aristocratic secret society that is said to control all the royal courts of Europe, though we only meet their French and British leaders. They intend to destroy the democratic United States by inciting a civil war before it can grow into a threat to their power; to that end, they ally themselves with a Confederate officer and a Christian fundamentalist militia leader.
* ''Film/TheNakedGun'' parodies this. It starts with Frank Drebin barging into a meeting of an "anti-American" council consisting of (the film was made in TheEighties): Ayatollah Khomeini, Yasser Arafat, UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi, UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, Fidel Castro and Mikhail Gorbachev (who comments on how he fooled the Americans into thinking he's "a nice guy"). Several of these people detested each other in reality, with Khomeini being the most incompatible (the USSR backed Iraq in the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar). As a bonus, they're meeting in Beirut, which was controlled by a pro-American government at the time. Amin was actually out of power at the time however, unlike the rest (and, thanks to Drebin, [[DestinationDefenestration out the window, too]]).
* ''Film/TheMatrix'': The Council of Zion is extremely diverse. Of its 18 members, 12 are women, and the majority of councillors are non-white. Hamman is the only white male.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** The Jedi Council in the prequels is a species potpourri (Mace Windu starts out as the TokenHuman), and three of its twelve members are female.
** The Senate of the Galactic Republic is this crossed with FictionalUnitedNations, as it represents most of the galaxy's planets, which are populated by a wide variety of different species.
** The Separatist Council in the prequel movies is comprised of people from at least five different alien races (Neimoidians, Gossam, Koorivar, Muuns, and Skakoans), representing different economic sectors (shipping, energy, political lobbying, banking, and high technology), along with a human political leader and a Kaleesh military commander. The novelization of ''Revenge of the Sith'' reveals that it's this way by design; Palpatine, who secretly encouraged the creation of the Separatist movement, intentionally created an enemy with as alien a face as possible in order to whip up human supremacist sentiment in support of his nascent Galactic Empire.
** It's downplayed with the Rebel Alliance, but still there. While most of their leadership is human, a few others species such as Sullustans, Bothans, and especially Calamarians all contribute significantly to the cause. They're also open to members of both genders, with the supreme commander of the movement being a humane female.
* ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'': The President's Committee of Inquiry "consisting of leading experts in all fields relevant to a situation whose implications - whether zoological, biological, psychological, medical, mathematical, historical, physical or even spiritual - are numberless."
* ''Film/MeteorMan'': The group of drug lords working for Mr. Byers and who were [[ManBehindTheMan behind]] the Golden Lords' included a female and an Arab sheik.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': The World Security Council is justified in that they are implied to be representing the permanent members of the UN Security Council and they are all dressed in suits. Their members changed in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. In the previous film the representatives were American, Chinese, Russian, and British. In the latter film only the British woman is still on the council, the US and China have changed their members, and the Russian member has been replaced with an Indian one.
** [=HYDRA=]'s 21st century ruling council is made up of several ethnics and both genders. This is meant to show that they are truly EqualOpportunityEvil and have moved beyond their Nazi origins.
*** ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' eventually revealed that HYDRA was an AncientConspiracy that long-predated the Nazis and while it might not always have been equal-opportunity when it came to sex, race wasn't that important.
* In ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'', the Absolution Council that decides whether or not prisoners in the prison tower in Icewind Dale deserve to be pardoned consists of a human, a halfling, a [[DraconicHumanoid dragonborn]] and an [[BirdPeople aarakocra]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AlexRider:'' At the beginning of ''[=SCORPIA=]'', the leaders of the eponymous criminal organization are a woman from Wales (their sole female mother), an Englishman with a Chinese mother, a Yugoslavian, a man of mixed African and Japanese ancestry, a Frenchman, an elderly German, a one-eyed Israeli man, an Australian man with many names, and a Chinese TortureTechnician. In later books they recruit new co-leaders from Ireland, Italy, and Afghanistan.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** The Senior Council has The Merlin (who looks like The Merlin and is British), a Scottish wizard who lives in Missouri (Ebenezar [=McCoy=]), a small Asian witch (Ancient Mai), an older black witch (Martha Liberty), a hooded Arab wizard (Rashid, the Gatekeeper), an American Indian shaman (Joseph "Injun Joe" Listens-to-Wind) and a French wizard (Aleron [=LaFortier=]). They also used to have a Russian wizard (Simon Petrovich), and after [=LaFortier=] dies he's replaced by a Greek wizard (Gregori Cristos).
** The cosmopolitan nature of the council actually shapes the plot more than once - a recurring theme is that many wizards resent the Senior Council for overrepresenting Americans, and the dissenting faction led by Cristos is able to gather a fair amount of support by making itself the voice of those resentments.
* ''Literature/DirkPittAdventures: Shock Wave'' features an international council of twelve tycoons (all men) from across the world, including an Italian shipping magnate, a Russian mining baron, a Japanese airline executive, an American politician, and the owner of a French fashion house. They are working to create a united world economy and provide some exposition about the BigBad.
* Creator/AlexandreDumas: The leaders of TheIlluminati depicted in his Ancien Regime novels are collected from all leading societies of the time, including Emanuel Swedenborg, Rousseau, and John Paul Jones. But they are duly humiliated when Cagliostro does the revelation of "I am The One, bow to me!"... and we find later that his Master Plan has already plotted the entire course of the French Revolution and Empire.
* ''Literature/JamesBond'':
** SPECTRE is this way by design, as Blofeld intentionally recruited alumni from six of the most powerful intelligence or criminal organizations in Europe: the Sicilian Mafia, the Corsican mob, the "Highland Turks," the Gestapo, the Yugoslav secret police, and SMERSH. Meanwhile, its leader is half-Greek, half-Polish, and spent World War Two working first for the Axis and then for the Allies.
** The previous villainous organization, SMERSH, surprisingly has shades of this too. Technically, it's the Soviet agency charged with assassinations, and as such only answers to one country. However, its overseas departments have recruited a great many foreigners into key positions; they include a French union leader, an African-American gangster, a British rocket scientist (who's actually an escaped Nazi war criminal), an Irish assassin, and a British jeweler.
** Some of the post-Fleming novels continue this tradition. Raymond Benson's novels give us the Union, a sort of SpiritualSuccessor to SPECTRE. Its original founder was an American white supremacist. Its current leader, who overthrew and killed the founder, is a French Corsican on his father's side and a Moroccan Berber on his mother's side. Other senior leaders include a Spaniard, an Arab of unstated nationality, the founder's American partners, and [[spoiler:James Bond's father-in-law, the former head of the Corsican mob]].
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The Council of Elrond is made up of people who just happened to be in Rivendell at the time. The council members end up representing all the "free peoples," including Elves, Dwarves, Men and Hobbits.
* In ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'', the Erisian Liberation Front is represented by a council of people in really bizarre costumes, including a cavewoman. (Being Discordians, they might just be playing dress-up for the fun of it.) And in subversion, while the Illuminati Primi are for a while implied to follow this trope, in fact apart from one exception they are all [[spoiler:siblings]].
* The Seven in the ''Literature/BabylonRising'' series is made up of two British men (one apparently a Roman Catholic priest), a Spanish man, a communist Chinese general, a German woman, a Romanian woman, and an Indian man.
* The Creator/AgathaChristie novel ''Literature/TheBigFour'' features the titular group, a council of villains who orchestrate murders and schemes all over the world. The Four consists of Li Chang Yen, the leader from China who is [[TheUnseen never seen]], Abe Ryland, an American CorruptCorporateExecutive said to be [[Fiction500 richer than Rockefeller]], Madame Olivier, an EvilGenius and OmnidisciplinaryScientist from France, and "The Destroyer" Claude Darrell, an English actor who uses his skills as an ImplacableMan to [[LatexPerfection masterfully disguise himself]] to commit personal murders.
** Christie's ''Literature/TheSevenDialsMystery'' has the titular group in a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] version. They're a secret society who wear clock-emblazoned masks, each showing a time from 1:00 to 7:00. Number One is a Hungarian countess, Number Two (who isn't at the first meeting readers see) a German former soldier, Number Three a British gentleman, Number Four an American reporter, Number Five a Hungarian ambassador, Number Six a Russian club owner, and Number Seven, whose identity is the central mystery of the book, is [[spoiler: Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard. Several reveals follow: the Dials are actually [[GoodAllAlong good guys]]; the "Hungarian" countess is an American actress affecting a voice; and Number Two was another Brit--the suspected German was an undercover police officer, explaining why he wasn't at the meeting. At the end of the book, heroine Eileen Brent agrees to become the "new" Number Two, bringing the total number of Brits in the Dials to three.]]
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': The Mana Mutation Summit that meets in ''Literature/ManaMutationMenace'' features world leaders from hundreds of countries, "the sum total of the world". Being a FantasyKitchenSink, these are not ethnics but species: humans, orcs, mermaids, dragons, {{Talking Animal}}s, etc. The fact that the ''elf'' is a only present as an observer is a plot point.
* In ''The Saga of the Bordenlands'', by the argentine Liliana Bodoc, due to a prophecy that announces the arrival of a grave danger from the other side of the sea, the Zitzahay decide to organize a council in the hidden city of Beleram. It is attended by a representative of each of the peoples of The Fertile Lands, Dulkancellin of the [[ProudWarriorRace Husihuilkes]], Molitzmos of [[MayIncaTec The Lords of the Sun]], Nakin of [[HufflepuffHouse The Clan of Owl]], Illán-che-ñe of the desert shepherds, etc.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', much like the movies, both averts this trope and plays it straight: some of the factions involved are hideously xenophobic and wouldn't be caught dead with a Cosmopolitan Council (the Empire, the Hutts, the Yuuzhan Vong), while others are diverse and tolerant enough that it's essentially a requirement (the Republic, the Separatists, the Rebels). Among the more prominent examples:
** Black Sun, the most powerful underworld faction in the galaxy, is made up of criminals from many different planets and species, which is reflected in its senior council. While most organizations of this type tend to be dominated by humans (by far the most populous species in the galaxy), Black Sun's unofficially dominant species are the Falleen, at least after Xizor's takeover.
** The Diversity Alliance is a terrorist group formed in response to the Empire's racism, so it welcomes members from a wide range of species (its founder and leader is a Twi'lek). The notable exception is, of course, humans, which the Alliance was formed for the purpose of exterminating.
** The Bounty Hunters' Guild spans the known galaxy and is divided into ten houses with various subsidiaries in each, so its membership is quite diverse. Among the senior leadership we've seen are Farghul, Trandoshans, Zabrak, and humans.
** The New Republic's Provisional Council, later Advisory Council, is a (mostly) benevolent version of this, an executive cabinet drawn from members of the (equally diverse) Senate. Some of the New Republic's most influential member species are virtually guaranteed to have members on the Council - most notably humans, Calamarians, Sullustans, Bothans, and Wookiees.
** The Saccorian Triad manages the impressive feat of being a Cosmopolitan Council Of Bigots. A triumvirate ruling a minor planet of the Corellian System, they're made up of one human, one Selonian, and one Drall - one member from each of the three species populating the system. However, the Triad supports supremacist movements from all three species (each of which enthusiastically targets members of the other two), in the hopes that these movements will drive the New Republic out of the sector and allow them to take control in the ensuring chaos.
* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive:'' Leaders of the heroic Nexus organization come from England, China, America, Australia, Peru, France, India, Germany, and possibly additional countries. Four of the twelve leaders are women.
* Parodied in the ''Literature/{{Temps}}'' story "Pitbull Brittain" by Creator/KimNewman, in which the sinister forces behind the Miners' Strike consists of ''literally everyone'' the ''Daily Mail'' doesn't like, including the Russians, the Arabs, the Irish, the South Americans, and the French.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': The Circle of the Black Thorn are a varied group, incorporating demon royalty, vampires (once Angel joins), sorcerors, and even a few humans.
* ''Series/DirtySexyMoney'' has a poker game similar to the one in ''Casino Royale''.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The System Lords each choose to inhabit an ethnically distinct host and formed the basis for the ancient gods and cultures of every ancient religion except the vikings. Previous councils have included Egyptian, Mesopotamian and even Japanese and Chinese gods.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': The Xindi were five different alien races from the same planet who were in a council. A FiveTokenBand for the bad guys, basically. They would've had six, if the Xindi-Avians weren't all killed when their planet was destroyed.
* On ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'', this was parodied in in a returnee's low budget black and white home film that purported to expose "The Marked", a cabal of {{Body Snatcher}}s from the future out to kill the 4400. The film showed a round table meeting with a geisha and a Catholic bishop, among others but the only confirmed member at the time was a powerful software magnate. The actual hosts of the Marked were exclusively white men save for one [[TwoferTokenMinority token black female]].
* ''Series/RoyalPains'': The business meeting in [=S4E08=] has an ArabOilSheikh in appropriate garb and a black man, plus a Russian and the ambiguously European-American Boris. This makes sense, given that it's about oil.
* In Creator/JohnCleese's ''The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It'', the Best Minds of the Police of Five Continents, embodying blatant ethnic cliches. The Australian is killed and replaced. Also displays characteristics of the NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In the episode "Foreign Teachers", educational officials from France, Ireland and Sweden visit Madison High School. They turn out to be so insulting that Miss Brooks, Mr. Boynton and Mr. Conklin throw them out. Unfortunately, this gets Miss Brooks and company in trouble with the head of the National Board of Education.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': In the WorldHalfFull AlternateUniverse of "The Kingdom", the ruling council of the Kingdom is Turaga Takanuva (SixthRanger), Turaga Dume (leader of [[MegaCity Metru Nui]] before its destruction), Toa Helryx (leader of TheOrder), a Nynrah Matoran (arms manufacturer), The Shadowed One (head of MurderInc), Roodaka (DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent), and Nektann (major warlord). The last three were villains in the main timeline, but apparently their peoples live in harmony with Matoran now.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': The brief glimpse we see of Raminas's war council in the intro shows that it includes [[LizardFolk a Bangaa]], [[LittleBitBeastly a Viera]], and [[CoolMask a Garif]], fitting with Dalmasca being the cosmopolitan crossroads of Ivalice's three main continents. The [[HumansByAnyOtherName Humes]] on the council are also a multi-ethnic group.
* ''VideoGame/HostileWatersAntaeusRising'': The evil Cabal fits this trope to perfection: there's a sinister American radicalist who thinks that "Without control, we may as well end all life on this planet and see if the cockroaches can get it right", a Russian who remembers "de old days", a German chick that wants to "take major urban areas back to the Stone Age", plus an assortment of guys who look like gangsters, ganglords and corrupt politicians. Oh and the obligatory cigar-smoking El Presidente lookalike. See the whole thing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcVxeXiL57I here]].
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI''.: The Disney villain alliance may be evil but you can't call them exclusive. After all, you can't really call yourself diverse unless your council includes a giant talking sack filled with bugs. It even has the Arab tyrant covered. No word on whether there's oil in Agrabah. To their credit they had ''two'' women in the group of 6, Ursula and Maleficent, the latter of whom was TheLeader of the group. The successors as antagonists, Organization XIII, only had the one girl and much less diversity in background... except for the AnimeHair.
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': The Athkatlan Twisted Rune cell from the second game features diversity of the HeroicFantasy setting. They consist of a lich, a vampire, a beholder, a male fighter with no armour, and a woman mage with her pet devil.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The Citadel Council consists of three members (four from the end of the first game onwards), each of different species.
* In ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' one of the tasks is to assemble a meeting with the crime lords from all around the world and announce your ascension to world domination.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'': A brief downplayed version appears in the introductory briefing of the 5th Allied mission - the NonEntityGeneral sits in on a call between US President Dugan, General Carville, Tanya, and the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany. The latter three are somewhat stereotyped in terms of appearence - the British Prime Minister is a clear expy of [[IronLady Margaret]] [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Thatcher]], the French President looks a lot like Charles de Gaulle and stands in front of a picture of the {{Eiffel Tower|Effect}}, and the German Chancellor looks much like Helmut Kohl.
* Every faction in ''VideoGame/TerraInvicta'' ends up looking like this, as they recruit talented councilors from across the world and all walks of life. Even [[AbsoluteXenophobe Humanity First]] and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Initiative]] are [[EqualOpportunityEvil egalitarian when it comes to their fellow humans]].
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': The Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission is one of these for the three evil outsider races. It only has three members, and they all dress identically. The only way to tell them apart is the color of their eyes.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the Crimson Coalition council consists of various leaders of different factions which oppose the Grand Alliance. The current members are [[DarkMessiah Glaurung]] [[NecessarilyEvil Losstarot]] (leader of the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Rebels]] and the overall commander of the Coalition), [[OverlordJr Hannibal]] [[YoungConqueror Losstarot]], [[WomanScorned Adela]] [[WaifFu al-Saif]] (HighPriest of the [[PathOfInspiration Clergy of Artemicia]] and deposed [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Sultana]] of Vanna), [[BloodKnight Yoshimuriko]] (HighPriest of the [[AxCrazy Clergy of Nergal]]), [[TheChessmaster Kamelith]] (lord of the [[TheRemnant Dark Elves]]), [[EvilMentor Endoran]] [[LadyOfBlackMagic L'Sarius]] (leader of the [[{{Cult}} Mullencamp]]), [[FourStarBadass Boris]] [[CoolOldGuy Ivanov]] (general of the [[DirtyCommunists Proninist Party]]), [[PraetorianGuard Orestes]] (leader of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Vulfsatz]]), [[ManipulativeBastard Simon]] (representative of the [[ReligionOfEvil Totenkopfs]]), and last and definitely least, [[HarmlessVillain Craig]] [[PluckyComicRelief Rimner]] (representative of the [[ButtMonkey Scunnish rebels]] and author of the horrible yet ear-wormy [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Rimnerian Songs]]).
* Creator/ShamusYoung's [[https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=54337 pitch]] for the hypothetical ''Franchise/{{Deus Ex|Universe}}: Pandora's Gun'' fills out the top level of [[TheConspiracy Upper Management]] with one member each from Russia, the US, South Africa, Brazil, and China.
* The Board of Trustees of [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. They range from Totem (an over-hundred American Indian former superhero) to Lord Paramount (a notorious supervillain who now has his own country in Eastern Europe). Justified by the school's status as a TruceZone, the need for which being just about the only thing some trustees have ever agreed on in their whole careers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** The show parodies this with the group that gets together in TheWarRoom to discuss Sideshow Bob's demands to abolish all of television, which included the [[Series/DoctorWho Fourth Doctor]] and [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]].
** The Republican Party in Springfield is depicted similarly, consisting of Dr. Hibbert, [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Rainier Wolfcastle]], Count Chocula, Mr. Burns, Krusty, Rich Texan, Birch Barlow (a [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed parody]] of Radio/RushLimbaugh), and Lindsay Neagle. Mr. Burns greets them by performing an elaborate hand gesture while chanting in Enochian, and Bob Dole reads to them from the Necronomicon.
** In another scene, Mr. Burns calls for advice from his "League of Evil" - a mad scientist, a samurai, a Nazi colonel, a WildWest outlaw, and an Arab warlord with turban and scimitar. Unfortunately, however, they've all been sealed in the space behind his bookcase for decades and all that's left of them is their costumed skeletons.
--> '''Smithers:''' Even monsters need air, sir.
** There's also the Stonecutters' supreme council. Any group that includes both Orville Redenbacher and Mr. T has ''definitely'' met its diversity quota.
%% * In "WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'s a Big Fat Liar", Doug [[ImagineSpot imagines]] being on trial by the "Sub-Committe to Uncover Big Fat Liars", which consists of: his parents, Mr. Bone (presumably the chairperson), Mrs. Wingo, Mayor White, Roger and his cat Stinky.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s Imaginationland trilogy has a council composed by the nine most important fictional characters: [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Aslan]], [[Franchise/StarWars Luke Skywalker]], [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]], Franchise/WonderWoman, ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}, [[Film/TheMatrix Morpheus]], [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]], [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Glinda the Good Witch]]... and UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.
* On ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', the members of [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Light]] turn out to be [[spoiler:[[VisionaryVillain Vandal Savage]] (AmbiguouslyBrown [[ContemporaryCaveman immortal caveman]]), [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Lex Luthor]] (white American), [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Ra's al Ghul]] (Arabic), [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bee]] (a {{Qurac}}i [[TheSmurfettePrinciple female]] dictator), [[TheEvilPrince Ocean Master]] (Atlantean), [[MadScientist the Brain]] ([[FrenchJerk French]] BrainInAJar), and [[TheTrickster Klarion]] (CreepyChild HumanoidAbomination). Ocean Master is later replaced by Black Manta (African American pirate captain).]]
** By the end of [[WesternAnimation/YoungJusticeOutsiders the third season]], The Brain and Black Manta had been taken into custody, and were replaced by Deathstroke (white American) and the Ultra-Humanite (a human brain in the body of an albino gorilla; indeterminate origin). Ocean Master [[spoiler:was executed by Lady Shiva for attempting to carry out [[WouldHurtAChild the Nuclear Option]] on the families of the Justice League]], and was replaced by Gretchen Goode (Apokoliptian, though appearing as an elderly Caucasian lady), and subsequently [[spoiler:Zviad Baazovi ([[{{Ruritania}} Markovian]])]].
* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' features a CouncilOfVampires (plus two {{token human}}s) in Season 2 lead by Dracula (Romanian) and composed of Carmilla (Austrian), Godbrand (Scandinavian), Isaac (from somewhere in Africa) and Hector (implied to be either Greek or Turkish). There are also other unnamed members, but two of them look distinctly European, while another two appear to originate from India and the fifth one looks [[{{Wutai}} Chinese/Japanese]].
* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': The V.I.L.E. head council is composed by five people all from different parts of the world. The show proper only reveals that Brunt is American, Shadow-san is Japanese, and Maelstrom is Swedish with the other two members being less clear. The novelization reveals that Countess Cleo is Egyptian and Dr. Bellum is Indian. [[spoiler:Shadow-san's replacement, Roundabout, is British.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' gave us the Shadow Collective, a syndicate merging together a number of powerful underworld factions under the leadership of Darth Maul as a sort of third party in the Clone Wars. It includes Nightsisters and Nightbrothers of Dathomir, a dark side Force cult largely made up of Zabrak; Death Watch, a reactionary terrorist group from Mandalore (which like most of that culture can come from any species, but the ones we see are largely human); and Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, and the Hutt Cartel, the three most powerful organized crime factions in the galaxy, each led by a different alien species.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* International organizations involving groups of countries make this TruthInTelevision. Big examples include:
** The [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations UN Security Council]]. There are five permanent members: One American (the US, obviously), two Western Europeans (UK, France), one Eastern European (Russia), one East Asian (China), and a smattering of ten elected others, which have to be from different regions: They split into 3 from Africa, 2 from Asia, 2 Latin America and Caribbean, 2 Western Europe and Other and 1 Eastern Europe. This has to be maintained (not by word of UN charter but in the interests of political/diplomatic expediency), and there also has to be at least 1 Arab country (it alternates whether the Arab country is in Africa or Asia each cycle). They dress universally Western business attire, and it can't do much since the Permanent Five are at each others' throats (politely and diplomatically, of course) and can veto each and every decision.
** The BRICS (an acronym of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) fit the bill perfectly. At their annual summits national leaders Jair Bolsonaro, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, and Cyril Ramaphosa make up a remarkably diverse bunch, and even had a token woman during Dilma Rousseff's term as President of Brazil (2010-2016).
** CHOGM, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which is more or less exactly what it say. A meeting of the government heads from the Commonwealth of Nations, most being former British colonies and now independent nations, from a broad group of nations across Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas (mostly Caribbean nations, but also Canada and Belize in North America and Guyana in South America). [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations See the full make up here.]]
** The G20 (a now-annual meeting of 19 countries plus the EU member countries that together make up 2/3 of the world's population and 80% of its trade and economy) can be considered a product of this trope. Originally, it was the G7 (the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan) that drew political and economic attention, as they were the premiere free-market economies when they first met in the mid-1970s.[[note]]When they first met, those seven countries alone made up 40% or 50% of the world's GDP, depending on whether you measured in nominal or real terms.[[/note]] Russia joined the group (making it the G8) after the Cold War, but the rise of several developing economies, most notably China, made the need for a more diverse group evident politically. Downplayed insofar as it's not really that organized and its legitimacy is questioned at times due to its exclusivity.
** Regional organizations can put up a downplayed version of this - a good example is APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), with Anglo-Americans,[[note]]Canada, the US[[/note]] non-Anglo-Americans (i.e., Latin-American[[note]]Mexico, Peru, Chile[[/note]]), Anglo-non-Americans,[[note]]Australia, New Zealand[[/note]] and non-Anglo-non-Americans (i.e., East Asian,[[note]]China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan[[/note]] Southeast Asian,[[note]]Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea[[/note]] and Russia.) For several years their summits would even end with all the state leaders dressing up in some fashion iconic of whatever country was hosting for a photo op (i.e., everyone wore hanboks when South Korea hosted in 2005), though the past couple appears to have done away with this.
[[/folder]]

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