A God Am I / Film

Movies often strive to be ever more epic, and what better way of announcing out loud that the heroes are up against epic odds than for the Big Bad to proclaim himself a god?

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Animated Films

• The Boy and the King, an Islamic animated film, has the tyrant king Narsis claim that he is the Lord, the only ruler of all the people, and that his rule is the truth.
• Disney Animated Canon:
  • The Black Cauldron: The Horned King is ready to kill the world to be worshipped as a god by the dead.
  • Aladdin: Jafar does a textbook example of the rundown of this trope, using his third and final wish to become an all-powerful genie. In his following exultations, he mentions how the universe is now his to control, even going so far as to create a small solar system between his hands just for the hell of it. This is until Aladdin reminds him what the other half of "phenomenal cosmic power" is... "itty bitty living space".
  • In the French translation of "Be Prepared" from The Lion King (1994), Scar declares that he will be "le seul dieu vivant qu'on acclame." (the only acclaimed, living god)
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney): Once the film reaches the climax, Frollo suffers a severe bout of Sanity Slippage and betrays the Church he supposedly supports. What ultimately sells it, though, is his Blasphemous Boast where he proclaims, "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!", where by this point, by "He" is no longer referring to God, but rather to himself, showing how far off the deep end has fallen and became absolutely power-hungry, seemingly desiring to burn down Paris so he can rule it as a God. And then God Himself decided to teach him the meaning of "karma".
  • In Atlantis: Milo's Return, Erik Hellstrom doesn't just believe he's a god. He has a specific god in mind, that being the Norse God, Odin. And an Atlantean artifact gives him the power to back it up, too… making it all the harder to snap him out of it.
• Krishna Aur Kans has king Kans claiming that there is no God above him and that he will claim the skies and heavens. He boasts that he plans to make the gods his slaves.
• The Prince of Egypt never says this exactly, but Rameses repeatedly refers to himself as "the morning and the evening star," pointing to the fact that as Pharaoh, he is supposed to be a god incarnate. A major theme is Moses trying to make him realize that there is, in fact, a force more powerful than his own decrees.
  • The Taiwanese Mandarin Chinese dub translated "the morning and the evening star" into "the great god who controls the day and night".
• In Sausage Party, this is Douche's mentality at the climax. Of course, the "gods" in this case are humans, and Douche tries to become like them by eating the talking food characters.
• Wreck-It Ralph: After fusing with a Cy-Bug, Turbo declares himself the most powerful virus in the arcade and plans to infect the other games to forever be the center of attention.

Live-Action Films

• 300: The Persian The Emperor ruler Xerxes claims himself to be a "God-King" and is deified by his subjects. He doesn't really have any powers other than being the monarch of a vast empire, and Leonidas gets some satisfaction in when he harms Xerxes in the Final Battle, proving that a "god" like him can bleed.
• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: Implied with Professor Hobby, David's creator. When one of his colleagues asks him what the moral implications of creating a truly sentient robot child would be, Hobby responds that God first created Adam to love him too. This is made much more heartwrenching later on when it's revealed that David is made in the image of Hobby's dead son, making him David's Father in more than one way.
• In Almost Famous, rock star Russell Hammond takes too much acid and climbs on a roof at a house party to declare "I am a golden god!" Later, when he has sobered up, he doesn't believe he said it. This is actually in reference to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin having said the same thing on a hotel balcony.
• In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, after Electro drains Manhattan of its electricity to supercharge his powers, he declares to Spider-Man that everyone will see him as a god.
  Spidey: A god named Sparkles?
• Batman Forever: Neatly subverted, as The Riddler makes a deep dark speech involving the titular line, finished with a deep, echoing invocation of "I", then asks, "Was that over the top? I can never tell!"
• Blade (1998): Deacon Frost's goal in the first movie is to become La Magra, the vampires' Blood God (no, not that one). He actually does succeed at it, proving immune to silver and far faster and stronger than even Blade, but even a god has to kneel before anti-coagulants.
• Bruce Almighty features a mortal (that's Bruce!) who is granted divine powers for as long he wants. Bruce, being a flawed and limited human, ensures that mistakes are made. The trope is deconstructed since Bruce does not use his powers for any greater jobs than having amazing sex and advancing his career as a reporter by creating amazing events to report. But by doing even such pathetic things he still manages to make big problems for himself and everyone, and manages to lose his girlfriend because she prefers normal Bruce. So God must take his place back and fix everything in a snap using the same powers. This trope is exemplified by Bruce standing at the top of a skyscraper in a lightning storm, and shouting "I am Bruce Almighty! My will be done!"
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grueller makes this claim after being turned into a vampire. Pike promptly proves him wrong.
  Grueller: [to Buffy] I was your friend. Now, I'm a god!
  [Pike stakes him from behind]
  Pike: And now, you're a coatrack.
• Caligula: "I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and therefore I am a god." Subverted with his equally insane predecessor and uncle, Tiberius, who rejects the tradition of deifying deceased emperors — he does not consider himself a god, nor does he think that Caesar and Augustus became such beings.
  Tiberius: It is fate that rules us, Little Boots, not any god.
  Caligula: You are a god.
  Tiberius: No, I'm not! Not even when I'm dead.
  Caligula: Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, they are gods.
  Tiberius: So says the senate, and so the people prefer to believe. Such myths are useless.
• Chronicle: While not specifically claiming godhood, Andrew Detmer implies himself to be an "Apex Predator", giving imagery of a lion not feeling remorse when it eats a gazelle. He then crushes a car, just the drive the point home.
• Cyberjack: The villain wants to merge with a techno-organic virus so he can take over every system and person on Earth. When he's called out on trying to play god by one of his hostages, he replies that "God would be lucky if I return his phone calls". In the climax he goes into full-on Chewing the Scenery mode after he's shot by the hero and his spirit escapes into the computers.
  Nassim: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I am the Light and the Way! I am the Kingdom and the Glory! I am Eternal! You shall have no other god before me!"
• Dark Star: In the climax, Doolittle succeeds at convincing Bomb #20 that its external sensory data is a lie and it itself is the only thing it can be sure exists, in a desperate gambit to make the bomb disregard an inadvertent signal to detonate while still attached to the ship. Unfortunately, the character in question uses this new 'insight' to become a solipsist and eventually decides that, in the absence of anything else having any proof of existence, this means it is, in fact, God. And God said "let there be light"... And there was light...
• Dreamscape. When Tommy Raye faces off against Alex Gardner in the President's dream, he tells Alex "In here, I'm God." And, because of his mastery and knowledge of dream warfare, he is.
• Embrace of the Serpent: The unhinged "Messiah", an Ax-Crazy dude who is the leader of the mission in 1940 who wears a crown of thorns and believes himself to be Jesus. At one point he says "The only thing sacred in this jungle is me!" Later his interpretation of the Eucharist turns out be opening his robes and saying "Eat me!"
• Escape from L.A.: Implied with the American President when he corrupts a Bible verse by putting himself in God's place.
• In Ex Machina, Nathan amusingly and ominously twists Caleb's statement that creating life is the domain of gods into saying that he is himself a God.
• In The Fourth Kind, a tape recorder is accidentally left running during an Alien Abduction. While the video is reduced to static, the sound remains and the lead alien says (in Sumerian) "I AM *static* GOD!"
• Frankenstein (1931): One of the earliest examples. After Henry's famous "It's alliiive!", when he goes on to say "Now I know what it feels like to be God!" Originally, that part of the line was cut because the censors said it was blasphemous (which it is). It was cut off by a thunderbolt; the full line wasn't restored until 1999, 12 years after most of the other excised scenes were restored in full.
• Gangster Squad: Mickey Cohen.
  Underling: I'm so sorry Mr. Cohen, it won't happen again, I swear to God!
  Cohen: You're talking to God, so you might as well swear to me.
• Ghostbusters (1984): Parodied.
  Gozer: "Are you a god?"
  Stantz: "Um... no."
  Gozer: "Then die!"
  (Gozer unleashes a burst of lightning that almost knocks the Ghostbusters off the top of a skyscraper)
  Zeddmore (to Stantz): "Ray. If someone asks if you are a god, you say YES!"
• Ghosted (2023): The last bounty hunter calls himself "God" after Sadie and Cole ask what his name is, due to saying he's the best in the world.
• Gothika: A particularly creepy example shows up when Dr. Grey discovers the torture dungeon that her late husband used to rape and kill his female victims in. As she watches one of the videotapes that he shot in which he just finished molesting another woman he walks up to the camera, adjusts his tie, and states "It's good to be God. I love you." Near the end, Sheriff Ryan (Doug's friend and accomplice in his rape/molestation/murder of young women) reveals that they shared the sentiment, saying "We were their God."
• Groundhog Day. After reliving the same day over and over again, and attempting suicide in a vast number of different ways, Phil eventually concludes that he's God, then tentatively adds, "Not the God. Just a god." (He adds that if he were THE God, he would know what was going on!) Discussed by the character himself when he explains logically why he's come to this conclusion. Rita brings him back to Earth thusly: "You're not a god. This is twelve years of Catholic school talking."
• In Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Adam Jr.'s drug trip causes him to call his fiance Jill to proclaim to her that "I am a fucking god!".
• In the Mouth of Madness: Sutter Cane, the reality-rewriting author claims to have become god sometime after completing his latest work, and proves it by turning the world blue. However, his true purpose was as a servant to all manners of Cosmic Horrors and Eldritch Abominations, assuming everything in the movie wasn't a figment of the main character's imagination, or part of a meta-gambit by John Carpenter. (Yeah, it's that kind of movie.)
• Island of Lost Souls: "Mr. Parker, do you know what it means to feel like God?"
• The Invitation (2022): After Evie calls him a monster, Deville fires back that he's really a god.
• Judge Dredd: Dredd's arch-enemy Rico.
  "For the crime of being human, when we could have been gods! Guilty".
• In Jupiter Ascending, Balem considers himself to be the bringer of life and death.
• Last Action Hero: The villain Benedict declares this once he's beginning to fully grasp his newfound ability to cross between dimensions and defy the real-world laws of physics at will...
  Benedict: "If God were a villain ... he'd be me!"
• In The Last Airbender, Admiral Zhao has one when he's about to kill the moon spirit.
  Zhao: We are now the Gods.
• The Lawnmower Man (has nothing but the title in common with the Stephen King short story), where Jobe declares his intention to be the "Cyberchrist." His defining line (referring to Cyberspace): "I am God here!"
• Lord of Illusions: Played straight in spirit, yet subverted in letter by Evil Sorcerer Nix after his return, when someone questions what he is.
  Nix: A man who wanted to become a god...then changed his mind.
• Malice is about an egocentric surgeon who begins to believe he is God, even saying so in a deposition. The film's star Alec Baldwin referenced it in character as Jack Donaghy on an episode of 30 Rock.
• The Man Who Would be King is about a British soldier who is mistaken for the god of an Afghan tribe. He and his fellow soldier decide to go along with the ruse.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Captain America: The First Avenger: Johann Schmidt (aka, Red Skull) is shown to have delusions of godhood and according to Dr. Zola, he can't even stop until people say he's a god. It is heavily implied that this stemmed from the serum.
  • The Avengers (2012): Loki styles himself as the God-Emperor of Earth. While he has some basis to claim this (as a Sufficiently Advanced Alien), he is the only Asgardian that puts on airs (at least, until Thor: Ragnarok). Hulk disagrees.
    Hulk: "Puny god."
  • Thor: Ragnarok: Hela, another Sufficiently Advanced Alien refers to herself as the Goddess of Death. Knowing her powers, it is not merely self-aggrandizing.
  • Avengers: Infinity War: Despite his impersonal goals, Thanos considers himself synonymous with Destiny. Given that in both Classical Mythology (which has Ananke and the Moirai) and Norse Mythology (which has the Norns) Destiny was the force above the gods, his boast is blasphemy of the highest order. He describes his plan for the universe as "salvation", and allows Ebony Maw to describe his slaughter as a sort of religious liberation. Thanos feels he has a right to eliminate half the lives in the universe and identifies himself with the divine name revealed to Moses, "I am." He later states that not killing everyone is him showing mercy. In Avengers: Endgame, his god complex is taken to its extreme when the universe’s inhabitants fail to be appreciative of his “divine work” and begin working to undo it, causing him to decide to destroy the entire universe and remake it in his own image. He even has the audacity to accuse the Avengers of being "ungrateful" for his countless genocides.
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home: When revealed by Peter Parker's Spider-Sense, the Green Goblin starts to add fire to the fuel, playing on the insecurities of his villain comrades and Parker. He scolds the young webslinger for not utilizing his great power to control others and do whatever he pleases. This attitude ties back nicely into Osborn's journey in the Raimi Trilogy. Ending his speech, Norman invokes the trope, finally getting into Max Dillon's head and causing all hell to break loose:
  Green Goblin: "Gods don't have to choose. We take."
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: The High Evolutionary deliberately makes sure his creations view him as a god and worship him as such, and he obviously believes that it's totally justified. He even admits as such during his Villainous Breakdown.
  High Evolutionary: THERE IS NO GOD! THAT'S WHY I STEPPED IN!
• Masters of the Universe: Skeletor has one of these speeches at the climax, right down to the line "I am a god!"
• Matilda: Trunchbull is pretty frank about this:
  In this school... I...AM...GOD!!!
• In The Matrix Revolutions, the Train Man is a Physical God while in his subway:
  Neo: I don't want to hurt you.
  Train Man: You don't get it. I built this place. Down here, I make the rules. Down here, I make the threats.
  Train Man: *punches Neo into the back wall*
  Train Man: Down here... I'm God.
• In Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Dr. Forester catches Mike and the Bots trying to find a way to escape via Interocitor by using his own. As he chases them back to the theater using the Interocitor’s lasers, he boasts out “I’m the God! I am the God!”
• Newsies: This idea is poked fun at — Joe Pulitzer is obviously full of himself, and pontificates "When I created The World..." (repeated when this speech is interrupted and he asks his assistant where he was. The response? "Creating the world, sir.") But... The World was the name of his newspaper, so he's not quite as full of it as he sounds.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Freddy Krueger.
    Tina: Please God...
    Freddy: This (holds up his claw glove)... is God!
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010):
    Jesse: Oh God!
    Freddy: No, just me.
• No Time to Die: Lyutsifer Safin reveals his plan to unleash deadly nanobots that can kill specific people they have been programmed to kill on the population and calls himself "an invisible god, sneaking under their skin." James Bond promptly calls him out on it.
  Bond: Do you know that history isn't kind to those who play god?
• Oblivion (2013): "Sally" (the Tet's central AI... amorphous liquid metal... control thing calls itself about being such (in Jack's eyes) at the end.
• Overlord (2018): After taking the serum and becoming an undead Super-Soldier, Captain Wafner describes himself as a god.
• Pink Flamingos: Divine. When asked if she believes in God, she replies "I am God!"
• Pokémon Detective Pikachu: As nice as Howard Clifford is, he’s also got an ego the size of a mountain; he constantly describes himself as a visionary singlehandedly responsible for Rhyme City (his son caustically asks if “savior of the world” was taken), while surrounding his desk with statues of godlike Pokémon like Arceus in a way that clearly indicates he sees himself as a peer to them. His Evil Plan further proves this; using a combination of R gas and Mewtwo’s powers to fuse all humans and Pokémon together, declaring this will be the cure to all of life’s ills while not bothering to ask permission or even opinions before deciding for everyone. He sees himself as the only one smart and wise enough to know what the world needs, and expects everybody else to just shut up and fall in line or else.
• In Prometheus, there was a cut scene where the elderly Weyland made a speech to this effect to the last Engineer, pointing to David to claim he is a creator just like them. The Engineer, perhaps offended by a grossly inferior human implicitly comparing himself to their species or at least just annoyed by Weyland's insistence, rips David's head off with his bare hands, and then kills Weyland with a single blow to the head.
• The Secret of My Success: Played for laughs; Foster's Mean Boss insists Foster call him God, which becomes a Running Gag in the movie.
• Spectre: Though not referring to godhood, Big Bad Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavro Blofeld refers to himself as a "visionary" who plans to dominate the world. James Bond calls him out on his insanity, claiming that "psychiatric wards are full of them."
• Street Fighter: At the climax, Bison (now mad with power) delivers the following line as he goes One-Winged Angel on Guile.
  "Something wrong, Colonel?? You came here expecting to fight a madman, and instead you find a god?
  • After kicking Guile's ass for the next couple of minutes, Bison delivers one of the hammiest lines ever recorded.
    "You still refuse to accept my godhood? Fine! Keep your own god! In fact, now might be a good time to pray to him! For I beheld Satan as he fell from heaven! LIKE LIGHTNING!"
  • He also seems to think he is Jesus, as he directly attributes Luke 10:18 to himself. The Father, the Son, and the Unholy Bison?
• Superman II: General Zod demands that the president of the United States kneel before him. He agrees to do so in order to save lives. In desperation he utters:
  President: Oh God...
  General Zod: Zod.
• In 13 Sins, Vogler the Conspiracy Theorist believes that this is the motivation behind the Game. They want to turn people into monsters to show how powerful they are. It's not even Humans Are Bastards mentality as they are actually praising Elliot's actions and punish him when he tries to make them more justified.
• Transcendence: During his speech in the beginning, Will is asked if he seeks to create a god, given his desire to create an intelligence vastly superior to the collective intelligence of humanity past and present. Will calmly counters that mankind has always created its own gods. Later he essentially becomes this himself.
• Transformers Film Series:
  • Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen: Played for laughs. Professor Colan claims to be "the Alpha and the Omega", thus comparing himself to God.
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Sentinel Prime, the Big Bad, has a God complex to some degree. He states that on Cybertron, the Primes were gods, while on Earth, the disrespectful humans see them as only machines. This is part of his justification that humanity should be enslaved. When it seems that his plans will succeed, he declares himself Earth's new god.
• Tropic Thunder: Director Cockburn gives a speech like this. Then he steps on a land mine and ends up being judged by God.
  Cockburn: The helicopter is God and I am Jesus Christ.
• X-Men Film Series:
  • Bryan Singer acknowledges that Professor X "...could go inside Cerebro and rule the world, but he chooses not to."
  • X2: X-Men United: Invoked by Magneto, who is a mutant supremacist, when he informs the impressionable Pyro, "You're a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different."
  • X-Men: Apocalypse: Inverted; En Sabah Nur claims that the various deities worshipped throughout history were just different names for him. Apocalypse is so powerful that Hank essentially acknowledges that the former might as well be a supernatural being ("It's all of us against a god"). Singer clarifies Apocalypse's "divine" status.
    "He's kind of more the God of the Old Testament, the vengeful God who wants the world in a certain order and wants to be worshipped — but he's also forgiving."

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