->''"In some remote corner of the universe, poured out and glittering in innumerable solar systems, there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge. That was the highest and most mendacious minute of "world history"—yet only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths the star grew cold, and the clever animals had to die."''
->--'''FriedrichNietzsche''', ''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20060616081519/http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/tls.htm On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense]]''

A nihilist who rants about how [[WorldHalfEmpty the Universe is cold and meaningless]], we're just a bunch of [[PunyEarthlings filthy apes]] crawling around on an equally [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet insignificant ball of mud]], [[TheNothingAfterDeath there is no Heaven]] and we're all going to be eaten by worms, [[OmnicidalManiac so we might as well just start killing each other right now]]. May claim to be AboveGoodAndEvil.

Almost every OntologicalMystery has a NietzscheWannabe, because their rants are perfect tools for playing [[MindScrew mind games]] with the audience. Sometimes they serve as MrExposition, while other times, everything they say is a RedHerring, or they're a mix of both. They may be part of the secret, or just ordinary people who found out the truth and went mad. Oddly, nobody ever bothers to try and prove them wrong and claim the world is a fine place to be -- there's few examples where the Aesop that "the Universe is a good place" defeats them. Usually people just shoot them and be done with the whole deal.

In more straightforward ScienceFiction, they're always plotting destruction, and can get really corny (or [[LargeHam other food product-y]]) if the writer isn't careful.

So called because a lot of their dialog [[TheThemeParkVersion sounds like somebody]] [[IceCreamKoan doing a bad job of ripping off]] the German philosopher FriedrichNietzsche. To be fair, Nietzsche may have been a [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism pessimist]], but he was never a nihilist himself; that honor might belong to his inspiration, Arthur Schopenhauer. In fact, Nietzsche criticized the notion that life was 'pointless', and found Nihilism to be naive and unproductive.

Compare {{Darwinist}} and TheFatalist. The Nietzsche Wannabe can make a nice "Last Man" for the {{Ubermensch}}. May be a target of DeathByPragmatism. Frequently tells more optimistic souls that they are [[GoodIsOldFashioned behind the times]]. May be a HollywoodAtheist.
----
'''Examples:'''

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Schwarzwald from ''TheBigO'' is the perfect example, always plotting to destroy Paradigm City and always gloating about how only he knows what a cosmic fraud we all live in.
** Even [[spoiler: after he dies]], he still manages to show up and narrate all the real big MindScrew episodes. It turns out that [[spoiler: he was right, though. Everyone is living in a crappy play that's full of plotholes.]]
* "Shadow" from ''GateKeepers'' is another NietzscheWannabe, who's in league with the bad guys because he's digusted with humanity's evils.
* Sensui, the rogue Spirit Detective from ''YuYuHakusho'', is yet another {{anime}} NietzscheWannabe.
** He went on to use [[BrownNote the Chapter Black]] to turn the people that would become his team into NietzscheWannabe people as well.
* Friday Monday, the chief antagonist in ''{{Madlax}}''.
* Rau Le Creuset, the chief antagonist in ''GundamSEED''.
* The Frost Brothers, the chief antagonists in ''GundamX''
* Neji Hyuuga from ''{{Naruto}}'' is a good example: he constantly talks about how pointless everyone is any how [[YouCantFightFate anyone who tries to fight his own fate is doomed to fail]]. Even more notable, he says this while ''[[ScrewDestiny trying to fight his own fate]]'', as Naruto points out. This trait disappeared following his HeelFaceTurn. Apparently, Naruto [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat it out of him]].
** Pain, leader of Akatsuki also possessed traits of NietzscheWannabe, believing that the only way to enforce peace on the world is to make everyone suffer horribly as he did.
*** Possibly taking things one step too far, the series BigBad [[spoiler:Uchiha Madara]] revealed in chapter 467 that his ultimate plan is [[spoiler:[[{{Instrumentality}} basically to brainwash the entire world]]]] because "There is no such thing as hope!"
* Kimblee, and to a certain extent Dante, from the ''FullmetalAlchemist'' anime. Not to mention the always sarcastic Ed, of course, a rare ''heroic'' example of this trope. He is, of course, not nihilisitc, but cares very little what other people [[HeroWithBadPublicity think of him]].
** Although Dante really just uses it to justify her own [[CompleteMonster abhorrent selfishness]].
* Legato Bluesummers from ''{{Trigun}}'' is a personification of this concept.
** Knives is too, though his belief differs slightly in that it's everyone EXCEPT him and his brother that should kill themselves.
* Ohm from ''OnePiece'' constantly laments about the pointlessness of life and seeks to "save" people from suffering and desire by ending their lives.
* Debonair from the second season of ''MagicKnightRayearth''. She believes that the world of Cephiro without its [[BarrierMaiden Pillar]] is doomed to fall, and that suits her just fine, as [[TheHeartless the survivors' continued despair grants her power]].
* Diva from ''BloodPlus'' wants to turn every human on earth into a Chiropterans (monsters, pretty much), because humans treat her as nothing more than a monster.
* Rokudo Mukuro from ''KatekyoHitmanReborn'' is very jaded like this. Which makes it all the funnier that he actually [[spoiler: [[RivalsTeamUp ends up being one of Tsuna's guardians]]]].
* Creed from ''BlackCat'' is definitely this. His whole goal is pretty much to cleanse the world of [[PunyEarthlings weak people that don't have superpowers]] and rule the remaining people as King with Train as his [[strike:Queen]] partner.
* [[spoiler: Rei]] and Mitsuki from ''{{Doubt}}'' are pretty much this, believing that the world is full of dirty liars who deserve to die.
* Vicious from ''CowboyBebop'' is a slightly less over the top and more realistic version of this trope than many, being a nihilistic, ruthless, sociopathic {{Yakuza}} who holds that there is nothing in this world to believe in.
* WordOfGod places Shigeru Aoba, one of the {{Mission Control}}s of ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' in this category, stating that he loves nothing, [[spoiler:which is why during {{Instrumentality}} he ended up seeing a pack of Reis rather than the person he loved]].
* Il Palazzo from ''ExcelSaga'' fits this trope, in a rare comedy example, almost never letting an episode go by without declaring: "The world has become rotten."
* Takasugi Shinsuke from '{{Gintama}}' had once fought to drive the Amanto aliens out of Japan, but after his side lost, he grew to believe that Japanese society, having been corrupted by alien influence, needed to be utterly destroyed. Now he lives to destroy. Everything.
* To an extent, Sousuke from ''FullMetalPanic'' (at least [[DefrostingIceQueen before he meets Kaname]]). Especially noticeable during TSR, after he [[spoiler:thinks that Kaname is dead]] and starts going on a ''very'' NietzscheWannabe-ish rant, saying that humans are just meatbags that die.
** [[BigBad Gauron]] is a NietzscheWannabe as well, albeit less [[TheStoic emotionless]] and more [[AxCrazy gleefully psychotic]].
* Johan from ''{{Monster}}'' likes to ''create'' these.
** The more egregious of the wanna-be's, this text presents itself to be intellectual, but it looks like it was written by someone who daydreamed through lower level philosophy classes.
*** Except that they aren't actual references to Neitzsche by the author. It's Johan and Tenma that are built out of elements of his philosophy.
* The Yagami-esque VillainProtagonist of ''Lost+Brain'' finds all of humanity worthless, until he discovers control through hypnotism. [[spoiler: One year later, he's gotten a good portion of the school under his control and successfully engineers the death of a member of government; however the biseinen inspector who introduced him to hypnotism in the first place is already on to him.]]
* Ulquiorra Cifer from ''{{Bleach}}'' is a personification of this way of thinking. Throughout the series, he is outspoken in his belief that the bonds and emotions of humans are meaningless, and that nothing can come of their struggling. This philosophy becomes the center of his conflicts with both Ichigo Kurosaki and Inoue Orihime. His character poem in the twenty-second tankoban of the series is themed on the belief that the world and all things living on it are without significance. [[spoiler: Also, when Barragan identifies the "ways of death" over which each member of the Espada govern, it is revealed that Ulquiorra is the avatar of nihilism. He subverts this trope with his final epiphany in chapters 353 and 354]]
* Reyy from BlackLagoon is a genuine nihilist in that she denies the existence of meaning, at least academically. For practical purposes, however, she'll preach the virtues of money and guns over God and love, since this is what she has been able to rely on in her life. She initially has great difficulty dealing with Rock's idealism, threatening to kill him if he ever moralises to her again. Revy herself elaborates that "nothing's worse than being treated like some whore by your companions", but in recent chapters, it is suggested by one character that she attacks idealists because their ideology contradicts her assertion that the world is a terrible place. By the end of the (anime) series, Rock himself confesses to be a nihilist, just with a positive attitude where the NietzscheWannabe is characterized by its decidedly negative attitude, here speaking of saving an innocent girl's life:
--> '''Rock:''' "It's not an obligation. And it's got nothing to do with justice. The only reason I wanna do it is because it's my hobby."
* MahouSenseiNegima has [[spoiler: The Lifemaker, the BigBad that Nagi faced off against. Nagi's response? "'''SHUT THE HELL UP!'''"]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

* The Comicbook/{{Batman}} graphic novel ''The Killing Joke'' turned the Joker into a NietzscheWannabe who will do anything to prove to Batman that life is one big joke.
** And in ''TheDarkKnight'' he's taken this UpToEleven with a distinctly anarchist take.
*** [[spoiler:Harvey Dent (Two-Face)]] becomes one of these during the course of the movie, believing that Chance is the only truly fair law.
* In the MarvelUniverse, The "Mad Titan" Thanos usually pulls this archetype off with a spectacular amount of wit and style.
* Carnage from Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}} is an anarchist, who doesn't believe in order and morality, and kills people for fun.
* In a strip of ''CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin says, "The problem with people is that they don't look at the big picture. Eventually, we're each going to die, our species will go extinct, the Sun will explode, and the Universe will collapse. Existence isn't only temporary, it's pointless! We're all doomed, and worse, nothing matters!" Of course, he's using this as an excuse to not do his homework.
* ''{{Watchmen}}'' Chapter VI: ''The Abyss Gazes Also'', skirts around this trope. The chapter title is lifted from a Nietzsche quote (quoted in full at chapter’s end) and Rorschach includes a nihilist diatribe in his HannibalLecture.
--> "Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague, metaphysical forces. It is not God that murders children. Not fate that butchers them and feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us."
** Although primarily, Rorschach is an extremist Objectivist (according to Alan Moore) who selectively believes in some parts of Good and Evil while denying anything spiritual. And let's not forget the Comedian's reasons for his name and actions. Whereas the Ubermensch acknowledges the moral decay of the world around him and addresses it by becoming an exemplar of a superior code, the Comedian does the opposite; he becomes an exemplar of the logical extreme of mass society's vices. The "one big joke" attitude is, therefore, a mockery of what he sees around him and not a personal moral philosophy.
* Subverted in the {{DCU}} where nihilist Kid Amazo (whose intro features him talking to a Nietzsche Bust that talks back to him, just to give you an idea that this is a guy with the combined powers of the Justice League and is completely off his rocker) is preparing to fight the League after a FaceHeelTurn and begins a NietzscheWannabe speech to the Bust. The Bust points out that Kid Amazo is doing things that go against what Nietzsche believed. It was promptly smashed.
* [[http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/TAO+(bio) Tao]] of the Wildstorm Universe. As mentioned in Ed Brubaker's Sleeper: "The Tactical Augmented Organism (Tao) looked at life and saw Chaos and Order. Humanity's denial of Chaos appalled him.So he would tear it all down and fill the world with chaos,if only to watch mankind cling to their illusions as they burned around them."
* Comicbook/{{Batman}} villain Mr. Zsasz became a serial killer after having an epiphany that all life is meaningless; that people are nothing more than purposeless "zombies", and killing them is the only way to liberate them from their emptiness.
** This may be a reference to SerialKiller Carl Panzram, who described himself as "the man who goes around doing good." In the sense that he thought he was doing people a favour by killing them.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Sociopathic and deadly assassin Vincent (played by Tom Cruise) in ''{{Collateral}}'' shoves cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) out of a self-deceptive rut as he forces Max to drive him to various "jobs" one night in L.A. [[spoiler: Near the end Max snaps, admits that Vincent was right and fights back, eventually killing his captor]].
* Agent Smith in ''TheMatrix'' sequels. In ''Revolutions'' he goes into a long rant about why Neo bothers to continue fighting him and that "Only a human mind could come up with something as insipid as love!" and "Why, Mr. Anderson!? ''Why!? Why do you persist!?''"
* Played for laughs in ''TheBigLebowski'' with the three evil German nihilists, and their amusing CatchPhrase "We believe in nothing!" often applied free of any particular context. They're very enthusiastic about their nihilism, and love to bring it up. [[spoiler: Their nihilism, however, doesn't stop them from whining about how "It's not fair!" when it turns out their attempt to extort money out of the heroes by pretending they've kidnapped a woman when she hasn't even been kidnapped has been rumbled.]] Walter points out how they're barely nihilists themselves.
--> Say what you will about the tenets of [[NaziGermany National Socialism]], but at least it's an ''ethos''.
* Tyler Durden from the film ''FightClub''.
** In the book as well, though a slightly different flavor.
* Otto from ''AFishCalledWanda'' is a humorous example combined with KnowNothingKnowItAll, as the German philosopher seems to be the only work he can refer to accurately.
* Zé do Caixão, or "Coffin Joe" as he is called in the English subtitles, AntiHero ''(HERO?)'' of a series of Brazilian horror movies.
* In his ''{{Hamlet}}'' speech at the end of ''WithnailAndI'', it's debatable whether Withnail is talking about his sexuality or confirming an absolute nihilism.
* The BigBad from ''{{Sunshine}}'' (2007) uses this as an excuse to kill the astronauts going to recharge the dying sun.
-->''"We are dust, and to the dust, we shall return. It is not our place, to challenge God!"''
*''Match Point'' - the VillainProtagonist uses his nihilistic philosophy as justification for murder.
* Dwayne from ''{{Little Miss Sunshine}}'', anyone?
* Characters based on Leopold and Loeb (such as the protagonists of Alfred Hitchcock's ''Rope'') are pretty much always portrayed as Nietzsche Wannabes.
* The main villain of ''The Genius Club'', Armand, rants that humans have no purpose and God doesn't exist, until the dying sage and the genius garbage man both discuss their confrontations with death.
** [[spoiler: In the end, he really just had an identity crisis.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''{{Hamlet}}'', despite predating Nietzsche, preaches nihilism with the best of them.
* Dora from The Moth Diaries is not just a Nietzsche Wannabe, she's writing a book about a dialogue between the man himself and Brahms. She gets into a few arguments over the former's teachings with Ernessa. As to whether the book is completed [[spoiler: before her death]] or not, we never find out. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this detail.
* ''{{MacBeth}}'' doesn't start off this way, but by the end? The titular character's soliloquy following LadyMacbeth's death ("Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow") is one of the more eloquent statements of the idea. His motives in the last act are his giving into this trope, made all the more terrifying because the amoral universe was of his own creation.
* FyodorDostoevsky loves this type of character:
** Ivan Karamazov and Smerdyakov both fit the trope in ''TheBrothersKaramazov''. One could make the case that Fyodor Karamazov is also a NietzscheWannabe, but he's more of a libertine than a nihilist.
** The famous novella ''Notes from the Underground'' features a protagonist who rants against the Nihilists, the {{Nietzsche Wannabe}}s of the time, yet fits the trope pretty well himself.
** And of course, Rodya Raskolnikov from ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment''.
* HPLovecraft wrote somewhere that "[[CosmicHorror all my tales]] are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large", which fits the trope very well. [[http://www.contrasoma.com/writing/lovecraft.html (Source.)]]
** In Lovecraft's short story "The Silver Key", his AuthorAvatar Randolph Carter ponders about the matter, and concludes that aesthetics are the only value worth sustaining in a universe without direction or meaning. In a way he fits the {{Ubermensch}} category better than this one, since he creates his own values after realizing the insignificance of the current ones. Of course he had his best experiences in dreams, and in the end flees the material world completely, making him also a rather extreme lotus eater.
* Cronal, BigBad of the StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor''. He was raised by a cult of darksiders called the Sorcerers of Rhand, who believe that the will of the universe is that entropy and destruction are the only constants, and work to bring this about. At one point Cronal disparages [[LawfulEvil Palpatine]] for attempting to create when he should have destroyed. All of which means that yes, there are people out there in the galaxy who are [[CompleteMonster nastier than the Sith]].
* In the {{Discworld}} book ''Night Watch'', the [[CompleteMonster bad guy]] Carcer is said not to be insane but rather too sane, in that he can do whatever the hell he wants because he knows that laws and things are just arbitrary lines the normal folk draw in the sand to pretend they're safe. Needless to say, [[LawfulGood Vimes]] [[BerserkButton does not]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome take this well]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In a rare DetectiveDrama version, look for the ''SilentWitness'' episode "The Meaning of Death."
* Tony, the vaguely sociopathic lead in British drama ''{{Skins}}'' is a rare comedy example. He is seen on multiple occasions to be reading ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' one of Nietzsche's seminal works. This is reflected in how he manipulates his friends in increasingly cruel ways for his own personal amusement. He's stated in his tie-in blog and videos that the only purpose of anyone is to entertain him.
* Arthur Petrelli believes himself to be a Ubermensch better than normal people and free from moral constraints. Just to hammer this point home in ''{{Heroes}}'' series three he is seen reading Nietzsche shortly before telling his son Peter that he is "Better". Ironically subtler villains Linderman and Adam Monroe did a better job of representing this trope than Arthur ever did.
** Adam in particular. He believes he is better, that humankind is worthless and life is pointless. However he also adds a dash of DarkMessiah as he seeks to change the pointlessness of life but forcing mankind to experience a terrible cataclysm and taking the survivors as his followers to build a better world. So he's a fusion of this trope and KnightTemplar[=/=]WellIntentionedExtremist
* Dr. Gregory House of ''{{House}}'' acts this way, and it is implied that the only reason he saves lives is because he likes solving mysteries, [[DrJerk not because he cares if the patient lives or dies]]. He suspects everybody of hiding something or lying to him.
** What makes him a "wannabe" is that we're never truly sure what his motivations are. Usually he is in it for the challenge, but we're sometimes led to believe that he cares. House tries to subvert this by revealing how selfish he is, but it's pretty ambiguous.
* Connor from ''{{Angel}}'' reached his peak of {{Nietzsche Wannabe}}-ness in the Season 4 finale, and gave a rant that still sends chills down this editor's spine.
--> ''"There's only one thing that ever changes anything. And that's death. Everything else is just a lie. You can't be saved by a lie... you can't be saved at all."''
* The sci-fi series ''{{Andromeda}}'' has an entire race of folks called Nietzscheans. They were originally humans who decided to live by Nietzsche's writings. They left Human territory to found their own colonies, genetically enhanced themselves, separated in to clans (called "Prides"), and generally don't like anybody but themselves.
* The famous-within-the-fandom 'Death And Dust' speech from StephenColbert. Even better because the character is (usually) a diehard Catholic. Shortly after the 2000 Florida recount, having decided that all the debate and argument is irrelevant and who's President doesn't even matter:
-->'''Stephen''': You see, nothing means anything. Mankind is just a random collection of self-replicating protoplasm, floating in a godless universe where the stars blindly run and however frantically we may try to deny it, all our efforts amount to nothing more than death... and dust.\\
''[long pause]''\\
'''Stephen''': [cheerful] Oh, and I'm having a Christmas cocktail party...
* ''{{Oz}}''. Lemuel Idzik, the mentally-ill murderer of [[spoiler:Kareem Said]], who he'd met years before in Istanbul. [[spoiler:Said]] gave a passionate speech about how life was meaningless because the universe would one day end. Lemuel took the lesson to heart and tries to commit suicide by killing two people in Oz -- to his dismay he doesn't get the death penalty by reason of his insanity.
* Alpha is this on ''{{Dollhouse}}'', even referring to himself [[spoiler:and Echo after he forces her to undergo a composite event]] as {{Ubermensch}}.
* Subverted in RedDwarf: the Inquisitor is a Simulant, a race of psychotic, violence-crazed humanoid robots created to fight wars for humanity, which humanity then attempted to shut down after they proved too sadistic. Equipped with a unique self-repair system of incomparable capability, the Simulant who became the Inquisitor survived until the end of time, and then beyond. Drifting in nothingness, he came to the conclusion that that is no such thing as God, no such thing as an afterlife, and that the purpose for existence is to live a worthwhile existence. Constructing a time machine, the Inquisitor now roams existence, meeting and judging each individual person who has ever and will ever live. If they fail to justify the life they have lived, he erases them and replaces them with a parallel version -- a sperm that didn't make it, an egg that wasn't fertilized. Of course, if, in due "time", they too prove themselves unworthy of the gift of life, then they are erased and another parallel version is given existence in their place. The Inquisitor's end-goal is to ensure that the universe is populated only by the worthy, those who truly have made the best of having been born.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Musical ]]

* Stephen Sondheim's ''SweeneyTodd'' gives a [[VillainSong rousing number]], "Epiphany," devoted to the worthlessness of the human race and how we all deserve to die. From which point on he cuts a bloody swath in accordance with those precepts. Accompanied by dramatic chorus about moralizers and hypocrites.
* The operatic version of [[WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Othello'' turned Iago, a villain who normally did it ForTheEvulz, into one of these with his VillainSong "Credo in un Dio crudel."

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Shar, the goddess of bitterness and oblivion in the ''ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting of ''DungeonsAndDragons'', is the very manifestation of this trope.
** Tharizdun, the God of {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s, has many of these traits; it's just that instead of sitting around preaching about it, he's chained in the Far Realm driving people mad and plotting to destroy everything, everywhere.
* Archaon, Chosen of Chaos from ''{{Warhammer}}'' fits the actual Nietzsche mold fairly closely, believing that human society is irredeemably corrupt, and that a new form of society most be built. Of course, he thinks this should be done by killing everyone and turning the world over to {{Cosmic Horror}}s. He also held to the unrelenting pessimism, calling all human gods lies/liars, and believing this to such an extent that he was horrified to discover a {{Physical God}} had reincarnated to stop him -- despite the fact that he had just won the fight.
* The Bleak Cabal from the ''{{Planescape}}'' campaign setting of DnD is a subversion, as they are generally nice fellows despite their belief that the universe makes absolutely no sense.
** Furthermore, there's the Doomguard faction, whose members know that the entropy of everything is inevitable -- in fact, the core of Doomguard philosophy is that trying to hinder entropy is inherently futile and some of its more extreme members even try to hasten along the process.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Albedo from the ''{{Xenosaga}}'' series is a particularly horrifying and sadistic NietzscheWannabe, gleefully traumatizing MOMO for no apparent reason and strewing his throne room with the corpses of other little girls.
* Kefka from ''FinalFantasyVI'' [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity evolved]] from a MonsterClown with nihilistic tendencies into a fully fledged NietzscheWannabe upon [[spoiler:[[AGodAmI essentially becoming God]] halfway through the game]].
-->''Why do people rebuild things they know are going to be destroyed? Why do people cling to life when they know they can't live forever? Think how meaningless each of your lives is!''
* Seymour from ''FinalFantasyX'', unloved and alone since his mother's death, wants to harness Sin and annihilate all life on Spira to put an end to pointless suffering. Two years later Shuyin from ''Final Fantasy X-2'', eternally enraged and bitter at the world that let his one true love die, wants to harness Vegnagun and annihilate all life on Spira to end the existence of a world that he now sees as a pointless mockery. Clearly a lot of baddies on Spira didn't get enough hugs.
** Although in the world of Spira, the difference between the living & the dead isn't readily apparent (more than one character in the games is actually an Unsent...), & the dead hold onto their memories & ability to interact with the world. So killing everyone to end all suffering makes a certain amount of sense, in that context, as it would be far from oblivion (at least until being dead make you crazy & you turn into a Fiend).
* The backstory of Dark Matter, a (thankfully [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeatable]]) CosmicHorror that serves as the perennial antagonist of the ''{{Kirby}}'' games, makes it clear that its actions are meant to turn the universe into a place where no one can be happy, so that everyone can share in its sorrow and loneliness. Guess it's kind of hard to make friends when you're a sentient force of pure BlackMagic.
** Ironically, Kirby's best friend technically is one as well.
* Adam, leader of the Delphi cult in ''TraumaCenter'', who spread the GUILT plague to give humans the "blessing" of death they "deserve." He may or may not have included himself.
* Darth Nihilus, an aptly named Sith Lord from ''StarWars: KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'', pursues the destruction of all life because "all life exists to feed his hunger." At least this is how Visas describes him.
** By contrast, [[spoiler:Kreia [[{{Ubermensch}} follows Nietzsche's philosophy much more closely]]; her meditations on pity and suffering are practically a Cliff's Notes version of ''Daybreak''.]]
*** Kreia also gets thrown in this category for her [[spoiler: master plan to destroy ''the Force itself'' using Exile (and Revan) to attack it]]
* Luca Blight from ''SuikodenII''. Being the [[PsychoForHire genocidal psychopath]] that he is, he could very well carry out his plan to [[OmnicidalManiac eradicate humanity]] by himself.
** To be fair, he's JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope some time before the game began.
* [[spoiler:Sephiran]], from the ''FireEmblem'' games Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, manipulated events in both games in order to prove to his patron goddess that the two races of Tellius were unable to live in peace, and thus should be destroyed. [[spoiler:Sephiran]] had [[spoiler:attempted to bring the two races to live in harmony for over several centuries, since a previous war between the two was the reason the goddess nearly destroyed the world in a flood]]. But a [[spoiler: nearly genocidal massacre of the Heron branch of the Laguz race and the resulting reprisals decades previous to the game's start]] convinced him that the situation was unsalvagable, and that he should wake up his goddess so she could pass judgment.
**[[spoiler: Sephiran may be a partial subversion, as battle conversations with him imply that he regrets his actions somewhat, and that he ''wants'' to die (at the time, he's guarding the entrance to Ashera). If you satisfy certain conditions after beating the game once, Sephiran will actually renounce his old views and join your party for the final battle.]]
** From the 6th game, there's the BigBad Zephiel, who started out as a WellDoneSonGuy, trying to appease his father and is generally a nice boy. But his father is such a {{Jerkass}} that attempted his life so many times, Zephiel finally snapped, killed his father, starts to conclude that humans are evil, since they also bring out the emotions that made his father jealous to him. Thus, he began a campaign of conquering Elibe, and when he does, he planned to surrender the land and the human race to the Dragon race. Of course he failed in the end.
* All of the human villains of ''{{Persona 3}}'' fit into this trope. [[spoiler:One -does- admit to being in it for the power he'll supposedly be given over the world if he brings about the Fall, but ultimately, because the Fall is [[ApocalypseHow the Fall]]...]]
**In ''{{Persona 4}}'', we have [[spoiler:Shadow Teddie]], who, being a manifestation of repressed nihilistic feelings and hidden existential dread, fits quite well. His most powerful (well, it would be if it wasn't telegraphed) attack is called Nihil Hand.
* Gig from ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' has this attitude towards humans. And with him being a GrimReaper, it goes without saying that the world he was responsible for was ''not'' having a good time until he got retired.
* Psycho Mantis from ''MetalGearSolid'' might count as one. He joined Liquid's revolution not because he believed in their goal, but because he hates humanity and wanted to [[KillAllHumans kill as many as he could]] before dying himself.
** Don't forget Fortune. After losing her parents, husband, and her unborn child of three months, she joins the military, only to find that bullets and bombs can't hurt her. Fortune then goes on with the mission of using Arsenal Gear to use its hydrogen bomb just to kill as many people as possible since no one can kill her.
* Sargeras the dark Titan, creator of the Burning Legion in ''{{Warcraft}}'' universe, was driven insane by the depthless evil of the demons he fought, and because of this he began to believe that the Titans mission of creating new worlds was utterly pointless. Naturally he decided to raise an army of demons to set flame to all creation.
* In ''TalesOfTheAbyss'' there's Sync. [[spoiler:He's a [[CloningBlues failed Clone]] of a CreepyChild (according to the manga: Sync's original likes keeping people as pets) that was thrown alive into a volcano. ''He Lived.'']] His response? Essentially, [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum he wants to die, and take the whole, meaningless world with him.]]
* [[spoiler: Kerghan]] from ''ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura:'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBrIrQikWY his motive rant says it all.]]
** Actually, this is a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], because he isn't being nihilistic, he's being compassionate in a very warped way. He's proposing a constructive solution to the pain of all living beings. (Yes, "kill the world" is constructive in this sense. It solves the problem he's trying to solve, it's just not a solution that anyone else likes.)
* [[TheDragon Ramirez]] from ''SkiesOfArcadia'' holds to the view that all of humanity is either corrupt (stating that they are driven by greed, hatred and bigotry) or weak (showing contempt for those who are incapable of defending themselves from him, or of using what power they possess to forcibly change the world), and uses these beliefs to justify attempted (and not-so-attempted) genocide. Curiously, he also holds to a somewhat more accurate Nietzschean philosophy, given that he believes his master, [[BigBad Lord Galcian]], to essentially be an {{Ubermensch}}, stating that Galcian is driven only by the will to power and the desire to use it to change the world, and that only such a man can unlock the world's true potential. [[spoiler:He goes fully NietzscheWannabe (not to mention OmnicidalManiac) when Galcian is killed, stating that the heroes have condemned the world by killing the only person who was capable of saving it.]]
* Cyrus from ''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]'' claims that life is meaningless, so it's perfectly acceptable for him to destroy the entire universe and create a new one in which he is a god and little things like emotions and the human soul do not exist: "The incomplete and ugly world we have now can disappear. I am resetting everything to zero. Nothing can remain. It is all for making the ultimate world. A world of complete perfection. Nothing so vague and incomplete as spirit can remain."
* Haer'Dalis from the ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate]]'' series, as a member of the Doomguard, is a NietzscheWannabe, albeit a rather chipper one. At one point he states that he finds all the destruction wrought by the Bhaalspawn to be marvelous.
* The Reason of Shijima in ''ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne'' is the ultimate representation of this trope. Sponsored by the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Assembly of Nihilo]], with the {{Ubermensch}} Hikawa as its leader, it seeks to destroy and reconstruct the world as a place of utter, absolute stillness. It is a reality where mankind is subsumed into infinite peace and unity, with no passion, no conflict, and the total eradication of human consciousness and individuality. Should the Demifiend (the player) choose to support this Reason, the game ends with [[spoiler:Hikawa congratulating him on an infinite, barren plain of complete silence and the bluest sky you have ever seen]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* In ''KidRadd'', [[spoiler:GI Guy, rather accurately observing that video game sprites like himself are created for the purpose of killing each other, tries to destroy the entire sprite world, and humanity with it]].
*''DominicDeegan: Oracle For Hire'' has Celesto Morgan, who is determined to "cleanse the world" by killing a lot of people he thinks deserve to die, as exemplified in [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-01-25 these]] [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-03-09 strips]]. Dominic hinges on being one for a while in the same story arc, until he is shown a group of people who willingly sacrificed themselves to protect their friends; this shakes him out of the "The world is horrific" viewpoint he was holding.
** It is worth noting that he isn't evil -- in more recent strips he negotiates with Deegan and tries to make a peace offering. He still tries to kill people. The fact that one is a psychopath and the other is a crime lord about to get away with it are points in his favor though... more of a KnightTemplar now.
* Jack from ''AntiheroForHire'', as shown [[http://www.antiheroforhire.com/d/20041108.html here]].
* In ''[[EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]'', Lich von Vampire believes that all life exists to die. The cultists and Black Mage also seem to have a nihilistic philosophy.
** Though in Black Mage's case it's not because he believes the universe is meaningless; he just wants to destroy it because he knows its meaning is to hurt him.

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[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Daphne Rudko from ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' has a viewpoint that can best be described as this, viewing humanity as nothing but parasites that must be destroyed and life as bleak and torturous, causing her to play not as much out of wanting to live (though that was a big part of it) as wanting everyone else to die. Then again, she's probably one of the few [[JustifiedTrope justified]] [[NietzscheWannabe Nietzsche Wannabes]] out there.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Miss Bitters from ''InvaderZim'' is a DoubleSubversion. She's played totally for laughs -- but given what happens in a typical episode of the show, she looks like an optimist.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3z2Pm7Iwg 'Satan' sequence]] in ''TheAdventuresOfMarkTwain'' (adapted from Twain's novella ''The Mysterious Stranger'') is [[NightmareFuel one of the most frightening and disturbing example]]s. What's worse is that this was put in a family film.
* Arguably Professor Screweyes from WereBackADinosaursStory. In a deleted scene (which really shouldn't had been censored), he claims that he believes that the world is senseless and cruel because, when he was a kid, a crow ''pecked his eye out'', and as such he dedicated his life to scare other people. This is why his death in the end isn't senseless [[TheNostalgiaCritic as many claim]]; its just that the creators of the movie were too stupid

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[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Clarence Darrow's successful effort to save Leopold and Loeb from execution was essentially based on the premise that Nietzsche was evil and the casual murder they committed was due to following his philosophy.
** Also, while this idea is now discredited, it used to be widely stated that AdolfHitler was heavily inspired by Nietzsche. Despite the inaccuracy of this, many [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] characters will tend to have something like this going on.
* The perp in a recent school shooting in Finland quoted Nietzsche as an influence, and was apparently "cleansing the lesser humans".
** [[DrivenToSuicide Including himself]], apparently.
*** Assuming murderers automatically make themselves Acceptable Targets, BUUUUUUUURN!
** If there are no "lesser humans", then who are the Übermensch going to be Über?
*** [[TheIncredibles When everyone is Über, then no one will be.]]
** The {{Columbine}} gunmen are also widely believed to have been like this.
* The members of the message board Commercials I Hate. That is all.
* As the description noted, not Nietzsche himself. Because you can't be a wannabe if you are the actual thing.
** On a more literal note, ThatOtherWiki claims that Nietzsche influenced philosophers such as Theodor Adorno, Jean Baudrillard, Martin Buber, Judith Butler, Albert Camus, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, AynRand, George Santayana, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Leo Strauss. Curiously, several of these philosophers brought about a wave of post-modern deconstructionism (not the same as [[{{Deconstruction}} that trope]]) and moral/cognitive/cultural relativism, which has been seen by some as the decay of morality. YourMileageMayVary, of course.
*** Of course, they're pretty much exactly the people Nietzsche was warning us about.
*** Oh, the irony! It burns!
* Not uncommon upon this very wiki, if the unbearably whiny, smug and self praising TroperTales page is anything to go by.
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