Times where someone demands others kneel before them in Western Animation.
- In The Batman, Lex Luthor forces Superman to do this by drugging him with a combination of Kryptonite dust and Poison Ivy's mind-control pollen.
- Lex also does this to fellow criminal mastermind Gorilla Grodd in the Grand Finale of Justice League Unlimited, by turning Grodd's own Mind Control powers against him. And we love him for it.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
- "Kneel Before Grodd!" Gorilla Grodd travels forward in time to take over the Ape Army and beat the Tiger Army. He succeeds and has the Tiger leader "Great Caesar" bow to him; complete with Agony Beam.
- Fox also tries to make Bronze Tiger kneel before him at the end of "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!", and Bronze Tiger pretends to comply so he could attack Fox while his guard was down.
- Degaton does it to Batman and the Justice Society in "The Golden Age of Justice!".
- "Kneel Before King Superman!" in "Battle of the Superheroes!"
- Vilgax attempted this on Ben in the Ben 10: Alien Force finale when he finally succeeded in taking the Omnitrix from him. Ben's answer: "You already got the Omnitrix, Vilgax. Don't ask too much."
- Old George later attempts a slightly less aggressive version of it on the heroes, with not much more success.
- Big City Greens: The Cyber Knights of "Cyberbullies" repeatedly insist their victims bow down to them and surrender. Naturally, Cricket refuses, and is determined enough to take them down.
- The Danger Mouse episode "Viva Danger Mouse" has Baron Greenback planting cactus needles in the seat cushions of the world's leaders so "I can bring them to their feet before bringing them to their knees!"
- In "Danger Mouse on The Orient Express," DM exclaims that Greenback's plan to eliminate all of Europe's tourist sites and force tourists to visit his museum of Barry Manilow record sleeves will "bring the world to its knees!"
- Danger Mouse and Penfold are disguised in a suit of armor in a bid to stop Merlin's original magician Nozzle, who wants to rule the world today ("The Clock Strikes Back"). Nozzle tells the suit of armor to kneel to him, to which Penfold quips "It's not Neil. It's Penfold and..."
- The Hair Bear Bunch kneel to zookeeper Peevly and beg him to not put Arnie the lovesick gorilla in their cave with them in "Love Bug Bungle."
- In Jackie Chan Adventures, Tarakudo: King of the Shadowkhan does this often. Captain Black once responded with, "The only king I bow to is Elvis, and I don't see you wearing blue suede shoes."
- On The Legend of Korra, Kuvira demands that the entire population of Zaofu bow to her after she finally conquers the city. Zaofu is led by the Beifongs, the family of her Dragon/fiancé, Baatar Jr.; none of them will bow to her, which she accepts calmly, though it infuriates him.
- The Looney Tunes Show: Daffy (as General Zod) has making Bugs kneel before him as his major motivation (and even utters the actual phrase) in "SuperRabbit": the episode being a Whole-Plot Reference to Superman II.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
- In "Not So Awesome Blossom," Mojo Jojo tries to extort this out of Blossom by dangling a Bound and Gagged Professor over a Lava Pit.
- Princess' première ("Stuck Up, Up And Away") also includes her telling Blossom, "Prepare to bow to your princess!" Cue the Fiery Redheaded leader's awesome moment.
- Later on in "Forced Kin", a giant alien robot manages to defeat the Powerpuff Girls, take over Townsville and make the entire town kneel before it. Mojo Jojo (who has been aiding the girls because he couldn't stand to see something more evil than him) witnesses this, utterly snaps, and proceeds to beat the crap out of the five or six times bigger robot with a loaf of stale French bread.
- Parodied in Robot Chicken. Zod demands the viewer to "Kneel before Zod!" Then the camera pans out and reveals he's doing a Bod by Zod workout video.Zod: Lay down on your backs before Zod! Now, using your lower abdominals, raise your legs and hold on a five-count before Zod! One before Zod! Two before Zod! Three before Zod!
- The South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die" has the eponymous Scott force Cartman to get down on his knees, beg him for his money back, and act like a "little piggy".
- Plankton in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "F.U.N." when he imagines himself conquering Bikini Bottom with a giant jellyfish. "All knees will bow to Plankton!"
- In Star vs. the Forces of Evil, the incantation for the Spell with No Name demands this right before unleashing a butterfly-shaped projectile of pure destruction.I call the spell which has no name.
My mother's gift with which she reigned.
Eclipse my heart with rightful power.
Stand before the queen and cower! - Superfriends: In "No Honor Among Thieves", after Lex Luthor steals several heroes' powers, including Superman's, he demands this of Darkseid, Kalibak, and Desaad. Instead, Darkseid outsmarts him and exposes him to kryptonite.Lex: Earth is mine, as is Apokolips. You may kneel before Luthor the All Powerful!
- In The Superhero Squad Show episode "Planet Hulk", the first thing the Hulk hears on arriving on Sakaar is some shouting "You WILL bow down before me!"; the Hulk replies, "Sounds like bully, or politician". When the unseen shouter roars "KNEEL, I said!", the Hulk replies, "DEFINITELY politician!"
- Superman: The Animated Series: In "New Kids in Town", Brainiac travels back in time in an attempt to murder a teenage Clark Kent before he can become Superman. When Clark takes a beating and falls to his knees, Brainiac says, "At last, the son of Jor-El kneels before me."
- The episode "Betrothed" of Teen Titans (2003) had Blackfire telling Starfire: "That's right. Bow down before your Grand Ruler!" Cue Starfire retaliating with "You may be the ruler of this planet, but you are not the ruler of ME!"
- Has happened on VeggieTales a few times, in the dramatizations of the stories from The Book of Daniel. Mr. Nezzer even wrote a song that people can sing as they bow to his giant chocolate rabbit idol. Yeah, it's a weird show.
- Played straight in Wander over Yonder Lord Dominator commands everyone to kneel after beating them in "Battle Royale".
- X-Men: The Animated Series:
- Vertigo in the two-parter "Reunion", when using her powers on Wolverine:
- Here's another:Vertigo: Kneel. Become one of the master's slaves. They cannot help you.
- Young Justice (2010):
- At the end of Season One, Vandal Savage and the Light (adaptational version of the Secret Society) manage to temporarily Mind Control the entire Justice League using Starro-tech. When he arrives at the Watchtower to reveal this to the audience, Vandal has the entire League kneel before him.
- In Season Four, the Trope Namer himself, General Zod, appears as the main antagonist near the end of the season, as the story focuses on the heroes trying to prevent him and his son from the 31st Century, Lor-Zod, from releasing all the Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone. When he meets Superman for the first time in the second to last episode, he orders Superman to kneel before him and join his army. He also has Superboy kneel before him in a prior episode when he brings him to his fortress inside the Zone. Even better is the fact that the first letter of every episode's title in this season spells out the acronym: I.N.V.I.T.A.T.I.O.N. T.O. K.N.E.E.L. B.E.F.O.R.E. Z.O.D.
