Crossovers
- All For Luz:
- Tyler Wittebane is a narcissist who loves to control people and will use others for his own gain, while keeping them in line with his values, and will have his assassins murder anyone he sees that he can't control. He was like this since was a kid and has never outgrown this trait.
- Emperor Belos is this just like in canon and keeps Hunter on a tight lease.
- All For One is insistent of having everything play out according to his designs, without saying it out loud, especially when it comes to achieving control over people (notably Yoichi, and Luz) and having One For All and The Multiverse in his possession.
- Leviathan from Avatar of Victory really doesn't like people touching his things and screwing up his plans. When Shepard frees the Prothean he's using to spawn Collectors, he throws what amounts to a child's temper tantrum and ups his efforts to kill them.
- Child of the Storm has this as one of Doctor Strange's defining traits, to the point where he almost literally falls apart when things go off his pre-determined rails, though there were a number of reasons for that, including the literally inhuman strain required to force them back on to the rails before utter disaster struck which caused Sanity Slippage. However, he doesn't meddle with everything. Sometimes he doesn't need to, and in general, he prefers to guide things and people so that they'll follow his preferred course anyway, and it is justified by the fact that he's got the road-map to defeating Thanos in his head. He has been monomaniacally focused on this literally universally important goal for such a long time that pretty much everything he does is directly or indirectly focused on making sure that particular battle is won. He even outright tells Dumbledore that he didn't kill Voldemort yet because he is waiting for the time when it is the least harmful and most beneficial point in the cause of the war against Thanos for him to die. This is part of why the Avengers, the governments across the universe and pretty much everyone with a moral compass aware of him continue to tolerate him after all the shenanigans he pulls - though it's also why he has a very strained relationship with Wanda Maximoff, his former Apprentice and foster-daughter, and Thor has to restrain the occasional homicidal impulse around him (and is implied to be far from the only one).
- Codex Equus: Much like Elvis Presley's manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, "Colonel" Hollow Note was this to Blue Suede Heartstrings. While Hollow Note turned Blue Suede into one of Ponyland's biggest stars, he also forced Blue Suede to perform constantly with little rest, socially isolated him from people who could've helped him, and stifled his musical creativity in favor of making money. He also psychologically abused and gaslit Blue Suede to make him even more dependent on him. At one point, Hollow Note publicly outed Blue Suede as a gay Unicorn as punishment for resisting his Blackmail, then forced him into a marriage he didn't want under the pretense of "salvaging" his reputation. And he did all this because he was afraid of people discovering his own origins as an illegal immigrant from the Neighterlands. However, Hollw Note overlooked multiple variables such as Bossa Nova's meddling and Blue Suede's friends becoming aware of his sleazy character, and eventually his controlling behavior blew up in his face when Blue Suede finally snapped and beat him within an inch of his life. This sparks massive public interest in Hollow Note's personal life, leading to his history of abusive exploitation being uncovered, and him getting imprisoned for his crimes — which is exactly what he was trying to avoid. That being said, Hollow Note's controlling behavior traumatized Blue Suede so much that he became a Stepford Smiler for three Ages, essentially repeating the same behavior that drove Hollow Note to abuse him in the first place.
- Pokémon: Loud Version Kanto: One of the main reasons why Bobby breaks up with Lori is due to her believing that she gets the final say in who Lincoln gets to date or hang out with.
- Raise Your Voice Against Liars:
- Tomoe Tsurugi decides that she wants to transfer Kagami to another school in Japan, spurring Kagami to anonymously submit a request on the PhanSite to change her mother's heart. She later confronts and calls her mother out on this after accidentally winding up in Mementos.
- Ms. Bustier tries to convince her students to take career paths they don't actually want in order to make herself look better by taking credit for their successes. She also insists on blaming the victims of bullying, pressuring them to forgive their abusers in order to "set a good example" and "keep the peace" so that she doesn't have to actually deal with punishing the bullies herself.
- These Foolish Things: Felicity Smoak. In addition into hacking her boyfriend Oliver Queen's private bank account to see what purchases he made in the pastnote , she tries to force Oliver to cut both his friend and ex-girlfriend Laurel Lance and his sister Thea out of his life in favor of her after they both react negatively to her actions, and implanted trackers into every member of Team Arrow's suits behind their backs. Oliver subsequently breaks up with her, and whatever sadness he feels about the situation is offset by him admitting it's for the best.Oliver: I was committed to our relationship, but I can't be now. Whatever we had, she made clear that it was more about controlling who else was in my life rather than sharing our lives and the people in them.
- Control in a sexual environment is a key aspect of the relationship in the Wuffara Chronicles
, as Buffy is dominated by Tara while Willow is Buffy's sub; Buffy reflects that she is tired of having to be in charge all the time, which allows her to revel in the opportunities to submit to Tara, while controlling Willow helps her feel as though she has taken charge of something in her life (Willow and Tara's roles in the dynamic are fundamentally more straightforward, with Tara appreciating a sense of power after so long being abused by her family while Willow has always been driven to excel to gain attention).
- Danganronpa: A New Horizon of Despair: Hakari immediately steps up to take charge of the students, to the point of usurping and undermining Tarou's efforts to be The Leader. When this results in the first murder, both are forced to step down as Abed assembles a more democratic system; Hakari does not take this well. Especially after Monokuma gives Abed free access to a revolver, spurring her to freak out and steal the gun, accidentally shooting Abed in the leg.
- In But Doctor, I Am Pagliacci, the Justice League completely dominate the world in this fashion, manipulating the media in order to ensure the loyalty of the majority of Earth's population. They also monopolize any time travel technology, mainly because Lex Luthor wants to ensure nobody undoes his new world.
- Wolf in the Streets, Sardine in the Sheets has Carter; all of his schemes ultimately revolve around his desire to secure as much power and prestige for himself as possible, and he's willing to go to any lengths necessary to acquire it. Including targeting multiple children whom he sees as nothing more than obstacles in his path.
- In A little dinner scandal, Mirabel surmises that the reason why Alma hasn't just kicked her out despite treating her very presence as an ugly blemish is because she wants to keep total control over her grandchildren. This leads to her going through a logical rabbit-hole where she realizes just how calculated the family's dynamics really are.Mirabel: I think she wants me miserable and under her total control. Like everyone else in our generation...
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed
- Lan Qiren from The Beast Of Gusu is this. He goes to great lengths to exert control over his nephews’ activities, particularly to make sure they don’t deviate from what he considers to be proper. During the lectures, he assigns Lan Wangji task after task in an effort to keep him and Wei Wuxian apart, prompting Lan Xichen to interfere. In the backstory, Lan Qiren is even more strict towards Lan Xichen, as he is the future Sect Leader.
- The Odds Were Never In My Favour: Headmaster Dumbledore blatantly favors his "chosen few", shielding them from any possible consequences for their actions while not caring about what could happen to the rest of the students and staff. What's worse, Hogwarts is its own jurisdiction, and the DMLE can't even enter the grounds without his permission, unless the school board unanimously votes to override his wishes. At one point, Dumbledore outright bans the student newspaper after they publish a single editorial criticizing his behavior.
- Harry is an interesting variation of this in The Power of Seven, where circumstances have led to him forming a 'harem' of seven witches. While Harry isn't a 'control freak' in the sense that he 'needs' to control everything, characters note that he has lived his entire life with other people making decisions for him and causing him various degrees of pain. As a result, his relationships with Katie Bell and Demelza Robbins in particular help him cope with his lack of control; Katie is a more experienced lover who is able to 'domme' Harry in a subtle, nurturing manner that encourages him to accept her authority without forcing him to obey her, while Demelza's absolute surrender of control to him helps Harry feel like he can cope with the burdens placed on him.
- Wish Carefully: Lord Voldemort is this upon gaining control of Wizarding England, to the extent that Lucius Malfoy states that the very term doesn't even begin to describe him. Once in power, he instated a series of draconian laws that control every aspect of everyone's day. One example is making it mandatory to take the Dark Mark when one comes of age.
- For His Own Sake:
- Granny Hina has this problem; she tries manipulating everything to go the way she desires, and refuses to accept when things veer off course. Such as when Keitaro decides enough is enough and leaves the Inn.
- Naru, Motoko and Sarah are all a Spoiled Brat variant: if things don't go their way, they throw massive tantrums and try to force others to bow to their demands. This only gets worse as the story goes on, as they refuse to accept that Nothing Is the Same Anymore after Keitaro stands up for himself and leaves the Hinata Inn, as their Karma Houdini Warranties expire and they find themselves facing greater consequences for their actions.
- Mary Parker from Lies of omission is defined by her desire to be in control of everyone and everything in her life. Her husband hates and resents her, but he can't do anything about it because his wealth and career is all because of her and he's too afraid of what she would do if he talked back to her. In Peter's case, she's carefully crafted every aspect of his life — from pulling him out high school without graduating and go to straight college, to his career prospects, to who he's allowed to be friends with — and gaslights him whenever he tries rebelling.
- Dad Villain AU:
- Gabriel Agreste, full stop. The whole Alternate Universe is created from him getting to make a Wish; rather than Wishing that he and Emelie never learned about the Miraculouses in the first place, or even that the Peacock Pin wasn't broken, he specifically phrases his Wish with the intention of retaining all those powers for himself and inflicting the most harm. In fact, much of his Wish is dedicated to targeting and hurting Ladybug and her loved ones just because he's that petty about how she stood up against him in the original reality. As Duusu points out, he cares more about hurting the former superheroine than he does Emelie, despite how she was supposedly his whole reason for becoming Hawkmoth in the first place.
- Emelie herself turns out to be no better than her husband in this regard. While she acts nicer, she's incredibly self-absorbed, caring about others only as ways to fluff her own ego. Adrien's basically an accessory in her eyes, one she treats with Condescending Compassion while deliberately encouraging his dependence upon her. She also uses Nathalie's crush on her to endlessly string her along, getting very upset at the mere suggestion that she might be moving on.
- Eventually, it's revealed that she's such a control freak that she has used the Peacock Pin to force Adrien to stop coughing the first time he got sick, and has repeatedly abused its powers to address mundane concerns that could normally be covered by taking him to doctors, dentists and the like. All because she believes that a "perfect child" shouldn't require any healthcare.
- Rolland's stubborn insistence that his recipes and traditions are better than those of the Dupain-Chengs ultimately destroys his relationship with his son and granddaughter when he attempts to exploit Sabine's hospitalization to force Marinette to bake the way HE wants.
- Feralnette AU:
- On top of micromanaging Adrien's schedule, Gabriel immediately starts forcing his will onto Felix when he comes to visit, forcing him to cut his hair to better fit "the Agreste image". He also refuses to recognize that Felix is nonbinary, ignoring his preferred pronouns of he/they.
- When he learns that Kagami has issued an ultimatum to his son, declaring that she'll break off their relationship if Adrien doesn't prove to be more than All Take and No Give, Gabriel declares that he'll call her mother and have Tomoe force Kagami to remain with him. Felix is utterly furious and immediately calls his mother in to defend their right to choose.
- Instructor Serbrus is a vicious gatekeeper when it comes to ballet, believing that she should get to dictate who and what kind of people get to enjoy the activity. She's also hellbent on driving Instructor Dante's troupe out of business, purely because her niece Erin decided she wanted to join his group instead of hers.
- On top of micromanaging Adrien's schedule, Gabriel immediately starts forcing his will onto Felix when he comes to visit, forcing him to cut his hair to better fit "the Agreste image". He also refuses to recognize that Felix is nonbinary, ignoring his preferred pronouns of he/they.
- Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe:
- Alya insists on having full run of the 'Girl Squad' and getting to dictate how they spend their time, particularly when it comes to the matter of her various Zany Schemes to 'help' Marinette hook up with Adrien. She also insists that Marinette is utterly incapable of making her own decisions about her love life... or anything else, for that matter. She constantly insults and condescends her 'best friend' behind her back, trying to convince Juleka and the other girls that they need to force Marinette to do whatever she demands — it'll only help her in the long run~!
- Adrien also displays this as Chat Noir. He really doesn't like Ladybug having other heroes to rely upon, insisting that their 'partnership' is special and that he's irreplaceable... despite liking to play The Millstone. In fact, this is part of WHY he dislikes other heroes; having people she can count upon to have her back makes her less susceptible to his antics, since she's no longer forced to appease him just to have backup against akumas.
- The Karma of Lies: Gabriel's insistence on controlling and dictating everything he can comes back to haunt him after he's arrested. Since Adrien is so sheltered, he becomes an Unwitting Instigator of Doom who enables Lila to clean out their emergency account by accessing it right in front of her. On top of that, Gabriel declared their manor and as much of their property as possible to be part of his company in order to dodge taxes, meaning that all of those assets become vulnerable and wind up in Audrey's hands when she takes over.
- The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral): Part of what makes the post-Wish world in Gabriel's Lament a Self-Inflicted Hell for him is how he effectively lost most of his ability to influence and control events around him. In the new reality, somebody else has become Hawk Moth, while his wife Emelie is now a Miraculous-wielding superheroine. On top of this, he threw himself into one of the few avenues that was still available to him, micromanaging Adrien's life to an even greater extent... fostering a sense of helpless resentment and despair that made his son a prime target for akumatization.
- This is Marinette's Fatal Flaw in lies of attrition: She tries to keep a handle on everything around her by keeping the others Locked Out of the Loop. If secrets won't cut it, she'll resort to lies and misdirection. The issue being that she tends to Freak Out when she does lose control, driving herself to self-destructive recklessness in an effort to regain it, causing things to spiral into complete chaos amazingly quickly.
- Miraculous Alliance: Gabriel, as is canon, has a strong tendency to micromanage his son life, even isolate him from his godfather after his wife's disappearance. It's later revealed that he was also this to his wife Emilie, wanting her to isolate her from the world and think he knows what's best for her. In chapter 45, Nathalie finds out that his plans for the Miraculouses isn't just to wake Emilie from her coma (which he caused when she tried to fight back) but to "fix" her into his ideal image, along with Adrien, Nathalie, and the rest of the city.
- Marinette Dupain-Cheng's Spite Playlist: One of the ways Lila slanders Ladybug is calling her a control freak who dislikes being outshone by any of the other heroes. This doubles as Psychological Projection, as Lila is heavily motivated by her need to be the center of attention at all times.
- The short story Meddling Mother-In-Law depicts Emilie as one, as she casually attempts to take over all of the arrangements for Marinette and Adrien's wedding. Including commissioning another bakery to start working on their wedding cake before bringing it up with them. Being an Extreme Doormat when it comes to his parents, Adrien scolds Marinette for reacting poorly, leading to her deciding to cancel the wedding entirely.
- The One to Make It Stay depicts Alya as one, especially when it comes to her Shipper on Deck tendencies:
- Despite Marinette's clear discomfort with her Zany Schemes to help her get closer to Adrien, Alya continuously strong-arms her into participating. When this continues after she's already given up on him and started dating Luka, Marinette puts her foot down and outright refuses... only for Alya to stage an 'emergency meeting', inviting all the other girls to the bakery and attempting to force her into another scheme. Followed by trying to override Marinette's attempts to send the others away so they can talk privately, with Marinette having to point out that they're currently in her room, in her house, which she invited herself and the rest of them to without permission.
- She's so invested in "helping" Marinette hook up with Adrien that when Marinette points out she's currently dating Luka, Alya implies she's just using him for an Operation: Jealousy. Later, Alya attempts to stage one of her own by using Lila as her Unwitting Pawn, believing that if Lila starts dating Adrien, Marinette will immediately want to break them up. When Lila learns about this, she treats it as proof that Alya is just as manipulative as her.
- Alya also sees nothing wrong with heavily editing footage she secretly took of one of Chat Noir's Love Confessions to make it seem as though Ladybug returned his feelings, then posting it on her Ladyblog as an 'exclusive scoop'. When Ladybug confronts her about this, she's completely dismissive of her feelings, even suggesting that Ladybug is somehow being unreasonable for wanting control over her own image or who she dates.
- Side story The Hour Glass is Drifting Away touches on Nino's discomfort with her efforts, revealing that she forced her way into the trip to the wax museum when he originally just wanted to have some 'bro time' with his pal. He was also uncomfortable with her plans to post that footage on her blog, but didn't speak up... and when Ladybug gently confronts him on this, recognizes that he made a mistake and accepts being benched for the summer with grace.
- Recommencer:
- Gabriel's canonical tendencies towards this are taken to whole new levels when it's revealed that he ensured that Adrien would no longer have any contact with Félix after Adrien said that he wanted to become his wife. Not only did he seperate them, falsely claiming that Félix's family had moved to the UK, he cracked down on any of Adrien's efforts to explore their gender identity.
- Vice Principal Durant is an utter Jerkass who harasses anyone who doesn't fit into the little boxes he shoves them into. His Establishing Character Moment has him go after a student who's using sign language, not recognizing it as a legitimate form of communication because he's never bothered to learn it, and declares that Hemi's selective mutism makes him "broken" and unfit for performing.
- Scarlet Lady: Mme. Bustier shows elements of this; she tries to enforce 'harmony' in her classroom by making her students "play nice" with each other... but refuses to discipline bullies, instead pressuring her better-behaved students to "lead by example" and forgive their tormentors while they get off scot-free. When Marinette calls her out on this, Bustier swiftly raises her voice and snaps at Marinette, trying to guilt-trip her back into compliance... and when that doesn't work, gets akumatized into Zombizou, who is hellbent on Brainwashing everyone into being her Mind Controlled "sweet hearts".
- Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath:
- Adrien confronts his father about this: when Gabriel blames him for everything that went wrong and repeatedly insults his intelligence, Adrien fires back that Gabriel was responsible for most of his schooling... and never taught him anything about financial security, refusing to let him access his own wages.
- This is also why Nooroo specifically requests that his counterpart in the Ladybug: Miraculous Journey film series be depicted as a secretly evil Man Behind the Man, as he knows that even the mere suggestion that a fictional counterpart of Hawk Moth wasn't in full control at all times will drive Gabriel absolutely up the wall.
- Weight Off Your Shoulder:
- Gabriel, so much so that Chloé plans to exploit this to her own ends by offering him an alliance. After all, it will be much harder for him to dictate every aspect of Adrien's life from behind bars... but she could do that for him, were he to support her relationship with his son.
- Future!Alix has convinced herself that becoming Bunnyx grants her an Omniscient Morality License, enabling her to manipulate the timeline so that it turns out precisely how she wants it. And the only thing she cares about is turning Marinette and Adrien into the "ultimate power couple". Everything else? All the horrors inflicted upon the world by Hawk Moth, all the tragedies like him getting his hands on the Miracle Box or someone else taking up the Butterfly Miraculous...? None of that matters. All that suffering is just 'meant to happen', just like how her ship is GOING to sail no matter what it takes to make it happen.
- What Goes Around Comes Around:
- Both of Adrien's parents are massively controlling; many of his issues stem from how they raised him to believe that it's perfectly normal to become a Love Martyr. After Marinette's Secret Identity is exposed, he expects her to comply entirely with his wishes and do everything he wants while offering nothing in return. Ironically, both of his parents are disgusted by how he turned out; Emelie gives her son a Breaking Speech over his naivete and reveals their intent to 'start over' by forcibly merging him with his cousin Felix through a Wish in hopes of creating a son that better suits what they "deserved" from him.
- Truth & Journalism has Andre the Ice-Cream Man get incredibly upset over the fact Marinette is dating Luka, since the latter doesn't match the 'true love' he described the first time he served her his 'magical ice cream'. He outright refuses to serve the couple, snobbishly telling Marinette that she'll find 'her heart is telling her' that she needs her original order.
- The Wolves in the Woods:
- Alya loves putting herself in charge of things, including others. It's eventually revealed that this was her main motivation for turning on Marinette; worried that her friend might grow too confident after being recognized as a talented fashion designer, she wanted to break her back down and turn her into an Extreme Doormat dependent upon Alya's approval and "friendship".
- Both Gabriel and Adrien are shown to be equally controlling in their own ways; while Adrien has less power than his father, he still expects others to follow his wishes and act how he expects, trying to guilt-trip Marinette into returning to Francoise Dupont after she transfers away to escape the Barbaric Bullying she was subjected to there.
- Your Wish is my Command: Gabriel proves to be even more controlling towards his daughter Lila than he was with Adrien in the original universe, plotting out her schedule even more tightly. It hardly helps that Lila sticks with her usual tactics, spurring Gabriel to crack down in an effort to curb her bad behavior.
- Cain: While Katsuki accuses Izuku of being 'obsessed with him' and wanting to control every aspect of his life, in reality, he's the one obsessed with beating him down and "reminding him of his place". For years, he ensured that Izuku was completely isolated at school, belittling his dreams of becoming a Hero and telling him that he should just give up. After witnessing All Might offering to help Izuku out, his controlling behavior dramatically escalates into stalking, taking photographs, and trying to break into the Midoriyas' home after Izuku transfers out of Aldera.
- Crimson and Emerald: Endeavor tries to control Shouto's life right down to the minute. The only reason he sent him to U.A. is because not letting him attend a Pro Hero school would have potentially raised suspicion. Once Shouto manages to escape his sphere of influence, he still tries to micromanage his life by telling Hawks what he is and isn't allowed to teach his son.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Marionettes has The Stallions, who are obsessed with controlling the Destiny of Equestria and everyone within it.
- Rainbooms and Royalty: In Storm on the Prairie, Twilight admits that she's had troubles with this in the past, drawing a parallel between her need to have everything exactly right and Applejack's insistence on tradition, suggesting that both use them as a means to make sense of the world and make themselves more comfortable.
- Spectrem in The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World. At least, he attempts to be one. George and Paul won't let him.
- Probably Simon too.
- Notably, while Paul is a Real Life Control Freak, he doesn't exhibit much of that in With Strings Attached, probably because he's not got a lot of control over his own body, let alone the circumstances the four have been thrust into.
- Jacques was already this in canon, but his Ruby and Nora counterpart is this to such an extent he willingly signed up with Salem to control Atlas.
- Soul Eater: Troubled Souls turns Medusa Gorgon into one of these. In one part of the Cobra Island Arc, she is noticeably frustrated and fidgety during the maze level. She expected Maka and everyone else to struggle hopelessly as they encounter death trap after death trap while being on the clock. What instead happens is they put their heads together and rally through the maze with ease. When the game inevitably goes awry, Medusa is ecstatic that she is back in control. Furthermore, there is the haughty and superior attitude she displays toward Shaula. Finally, Crona's shadow, who is pretty much Medusa's mouthpiece, tells Crona how he/she is nothing without her. All in all, Medusa can't stand not being in control of people she deems lesser.
- In Distance Learning for Fun and Profit..., Alexandria becomes increasingly obsessive over who's creating the latest advances in technology. As far as she's concerned, only a Tinker could be behind it; therefore, she believes they and all of their 'Tinkertech' should be under her control. The government blocking her efforts to learn the Gadgeteer Genius' identity and force them into her service only make her increasingly determined to track them down and take what she believes is rightfully hers from them.
- Hive Daughter: Doctor Mother and Alexandria are so accustomed to relying on Contessa's power that they can't handle the idea of anyone making it unreliable — no matter how good the results. When Hive's presence in the Canberra quarantine zone results in stability, rapid rebuilding, and prevention of the massacre that the Simurgh wanted, but also blacks the city out to precognition, Alexandria considers wiping the whole place out.Legend: So the problem is that we are losing control over the area?
Alexandria: Of course.
Legend: But the area is recovering?
Alexandria: Yes? Didn't you already mention that?
