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  • Star Wars: Sith in general are fond of this one, as it fits with their overall theme as tempters, and they seem to take particular pleasure from corrupting Jedi into minions.
    • Darth Vader's offer in The Empire Strikes Back is probably the most heartfelt, if not the Trope Maker, as he offers to take his son Luke on as his apprentice so they can destroy the Emperor together and take over the Galactic Empire. Vader goes so far as to point out (concerning teaming up to destroy his master) that "The Emperor has foreseen this," and some of the Extended Universe novels mention that although (of course) he later pretended to Emperor Palpatine that he was just making a false offer to tempt his son to the dark side, they both knew that the offer was wholly credible and that Vader would quite certainly have delivered on it if Luke had accepted.
    • In Return of the Jedi, The Emperor also tries to lure Luke to the Dark Side, though he's obviously less than sincere about wanting to be replaced; he actually wants to replace Vader. (It fails partially because the Emperor is far, far too obvious about it, and partially because of the very different circumstances under which this latter temptation takes place.)
    • Happens again in Attack of the Clones, with Dooku offering to team up with Obi-Wan to defeat the Sith. Dooku's motives for making this offer are a bit unclear since Dooku himself is a servant of the Dark Lord he claims to be opposed to. Most likely he wants to destroy Darth Sidious and become the new Sith master with Obi-Wan as his apprentice, but the way he frames it makes it seem like he's been infiltrating the Sith to destroy them from within (unlike Anakin to Luke, who makes no bones about the fact that he wants to rule the Empire from the Dark Side).
    • And, again, in Revenge of the Sith, with Anakin offering to rule the galaxy with Padmé as his Empress. As a tireless advocate for democracy, she is naturally appalled. Also earlier in the same film with Palpatine's offer to Anakin, which, unfortunately for the galaxy, he accepts.
    • The sequel trilogy does this again. This time it's a Villainous Crush variant with Kylo Ren and Rey:
      • In the climactic scene of The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren offers to be Rey's teacher in the ways of the Force. (She doesn't go for it.)
      • In The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren wants Rey to join him and for them to rule the Galaxy together (in a speech that sounds eerily similar to the first terrible proposal Mr. Darcy gave to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice) after killing Snoke. Instead of agreeing to turn to the Resistance like she had hoped. She refuses, again. The heartbroken look on her face makes it clear that she knows she really should have seen it coming.
        Rey: Please don't do this, Ben. Please don't go this way.
      • Kylo extends several more of these to Rey in The Rise of Skywalker, with the same results. When he questions why she rejected him, despite wanting to join him, she replies that she wanted to be with Ben, not Kylo.
        Rey: I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand.
    • The animated spinoff Rebels sees Vader offer amnesty to his old apprentice, the ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano, in exchange for helping him hunt down any remaining Jedi.
  • A considerably less credible version of this occurs in the first Spider-Man movie: the Green Goblin recommends to Spider-Man that he "join [him]" — notwithstanding the extreme improbability of Spider-Man possibly being interested in joining the psychopathic killing spree of a supervillain who also nearly murdered his girlfriend. This prompts the Goblin to play the Untrusting Community card, claiming that in prolonging their feud, Spider-Man will be held responsible for anyone killed as collateral damage. Spidey's not buying any of this, of course.

    This offer is particularly bizarre because, at that point in the movie, the Green Goblin had already killed the general who'd wanted to pull Oscorp's funding and the board members who'd wanted to give his alter ego Norman Osborne the boot. Since he'd already settled his scores and secured his position, he had no clear motive to continue operating behind a mask himself, let alone team up with anyone else. What exactly he and Spider-Man would actually do if Spidey had accepted the offer is an utter mystery. Then again, he isn't really thinking straight anyway. To the extent that if Green Goblin's thought processes had any logic at all at this point, he could simply have been thinking that since he and Spidey are both "better" than mere humans, they ought to be on the same side.
  • Subverted in The Princess Bride: when Inigo Montoya has his father's murderer at his mercy, he actually demands the villain try tempting him out of revenge:
    Inigo: Offer me money!
    Rugen: Yes.
    Inigo: Power too, promise me that!
    Rugen: All that I have, and more. Please...
    Inigo: Offer me everything I ask for.
    Rugen: Anything you want. *attacks Inigo again*
    Inigo: *jabs Rugen in his heart* I want my father back, you son of a bitch. *drives the blade home*
  • At the end of 300 Emperor Xerxes offers the Spartan King Leonidas the opportunity to serve him as Warlord of Greece, by simply kneeling before him, or else die in a hail of arrows. Leonidas responds by wordlessly removing his helmet, dropping his spear and shield, and kneeling before Xerxes...the better to aim as he hurls a spear at Xerxes' face and proves "that even a God-King can bleed."
  • In the sequel 300: Rise of an Empire, Artemisia is looking for a man to be at her side, and as her Generals prove to be totally incompetent. She summons Themistokles to her ship, gives him a We Can Rule Together speech, and tries to kiss him. He falls for the temptation and they proceed to have sex so violent that it's more like a "Who's raping who" contest. Just at the climax, when she shows her satisfaction for finally finding a real man up to her status, he simply replies "No".
  • In Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen invites Data to join her, causing him to actually consider the offer. (For a total of 0.68 seconds - almost an eternity for an android with a supercomputer in his head.)
  • In Flash Gordon, Ming offers Flash rulership of the Earth in his name at one point. However it's pointed out earlier that Ming is clever regarding this trope: by giving troublemakers their own lesser kingdoms, they'll fight each other and not cooperate to overthrow him.
  • In David Cronenberg's Scanners, Revok has been tracking down Vale for the whole movie specifically to offer him to lead his new empire together, because they're brothers. He seems to feel genuinely hurt and betrayed when the offer is refused. He also has a more roundabout way to force Cameron to comply: by devouring his mind.
  • Dick Tracy (1990). Big Boy Caprice captures Tracy and offers him $15,000 to join Big Boy's organization.
    Big Boy Caprice: Welcome to new waters, Dick! We're gonna run one hell of a ship with you aboard. There's a big world out there, and it's up for sale. All of it. All we gotta do is make sure that the people know I'm the one big enough to run it.
    Dick Tracy: And that you are guilty of attempting to bribe an officer of the law.
  • Long John Silver offers Jim Hawkins a chance to join him and the pirates in Muppet Treasure Island.
  • Damien: Omen II: Damian Thorn, the adolescent antichrist, offers to let his beloved cousin join him. Unlike in most stories, when the young idealist refuses and vows to stop him, Damian has an attack of "real life" and just kills him.
  • Judge Dredd. Rico makes the offer to Judge Dredd after capturing him.
  • The Killing Box: Elkins repeatedly tries to get Strayn to join the zombie army and lead it like he did their old regiment.
  • The Avengers (1998). Diabolical Mastermind Sir August tells Mrs. Peel, "Join me, Emma, and we have the world."
  • Adrian sort of makes this offer to Jon in Watchmen. He explains that the plan was Jon's achievement as much as it was his own and that without Jon's interference, a united humanity could create a perfect world. Jon leaves Earth.
  • In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Big Bad makes this kind of an offer to The Mole, though it's not so much "join me" and more "stick around a while longer". The Mole declines — not out of any particular moral code or personal conviction, but simply because he doesn't think it's worth the effort. He's been around long enough to see other empires crumble, and so knows that the Big Bad's is going to follow suit eventually.
  • In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Major Cain is hopeful in getting Action Girl Alice to join him: "With my help, just imagine what [we] can achieve!"
  • X-Men: First Class:
    • At the climax, Sebastian Shaw offers Magneto a chance to join him so that together they can ensure mutant supremacy, a goal that Magneto actually agrees with. Unfortunately, Shaw was the one who killed Magneto's mother in the concentration camp, so Magneto kills him and takes up his "mutant vs. human" crusade himself. Later, he tells Xavier that he wants him by his side in the cause, but Xavier refuses.
    • When Shaw introduces himself to the kids, this is his main pitch. Angel actually takes up the offer, as she feels humans will never respect mutants. Darwin also claims to defect, but that's only a ploy to give his teammate Havok a clear shot at the villains (and also to shield Angel). Not that it does him any good.
    • Also implied between Magneto and Mystique.
  • In the first scene of Superman: The Movie, as Jor-El is about to sentence Zod and his followers to the Phantom Zone, Zod tries to sway him with this trope. "Yours will be a powerful voice in the new order, second only to my own." Jor-El just walks away, prompting Zod to create a trope; "YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME, JOR-EL! BOTH YOU, AND THEN ONE DAY, YOUR HEIRS!"
  • Justified Trope in Man of Steel due to the Fantastic Caste System on Krypton. General Zod and his followers are genetically engineered to be soldiers, so don't have the natural skills or temperament to rebuild their world. Jor-El was created to be a scientist, and Kal-El (Superman) is his son, so Zod tries to enlist both men to his cause. When they refuse, however, he's fully prepared to continue regardless.
  • James Bond:
    • Played with in Dr. No. Dr. No says that he was impressed by Bond's skills and was considering offering him a job. Unfortunately, Bond has pissed him off way too many times, so instead he's going to have him tortured and imprisoned. In fairness, Bond also offered Dr No the opportunity of working for the West, only for Dr No to inform Bond that both sides of the Cold War had already rejected his services.
    • Also played with and subverted in GoldenEye. The Big Bad says that he considered making this offer to James, but realised that Bond would never accept it because of his loyalty to Queen and Country.
    • James makes a Title Drop in The World Is Not Enough, as his family's motto, to reject another such offer by the Big Bad in that movie — you couldn't buy his services even if you offered the world.
    • In Skyfall, Silva had first tried to persuade Bond to ally with him against M.
    Silva: You see, we are the last two rats. We can either eat each other... mmm... or eat everyone else.
  • In Prince Valiant (1997), Morgan le Fay tries to convince Valiant to join her and kill everyone, so they can rule together as King and Queen. She even shapeshifts into his beloved Princess Ilene. The real Ilene arrives and snaps him out of it.
  • Wild Wild West. After Jim and Gordon attack Loveless' spider tank with a flying machine, they're captured. Loveless then compliments them on their ingenuity and offers them to come work for him. West tells him to shove it.
  • After Cmdr. Shaw is captured by the rogue Chinese in Battle Beneath the Earth, General Lu offers him a position as a puppet leader to the soon-to-be-demolished-with-atom-bombs United States.
  • Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled: The Djinn offers Lisa to rule beside him as his queen, and offers her immortality and eternal bliss along with it. The contents of her wish ("I wish I could love you for who you really are", not knowing that he's an evil Djinn at the time) dictate that his offer of ruling beside him be sincere.
  • In Ben 10: Alien Swarm, the Queen attempts this on Ben and fails.
  • In Dragonheart 2, Osric regains his dragon form and asks Drake to join him in his campaign to wipe out humanity. Drake is initially overjoyed to find a fellow dragon, but his human friend Geoff reminds him that Osric tried to steal Drake's heart to change into a dragon again and only stopped because he found another heart instead. Drake angrily declares that Geoff is his true brother, not Osric. Cue the final battle.
  • In Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, Pinhead promises Monroe a place by his side for helping him. When Monroe fails, he makes the same offer to Terri, and she gives in. He "rewards" them both by turning them into lesser Cenobites.
  • In Machete Kills, Voz says he sees Machete as the ultimate warrior and tries to recruit him, or at the very least, get him to consent to being cloned. Machete refuses both requests.
  • In End of Days, Satan offers Jericho to forget his mission to protect the chosen girl from Satan and to bring back his dead wife and child in exchange and come work for him in his new hellworld. Jericho is genuinely tempted by the offer because of his grief, but he ultimately rejects.
  • In Good Burger, Kurt tries to get Ed to quit his job at Good Burger and work for him in order to gain his ultra-popular sauce recipe.
  • In Anaconda, the human villain Paul Sarone suggests to Owen Wilson's character that they should become partners so he can help him catch the Anaconda. Wilson looks forward to getting rich off it and filming the whole thing. He gets bitten for his troubles, with Sarone sacrificing him without a second care.
  • Implied in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King when Aragorn leads his ragtag army to assault Mordor in order to buy time for Frodo to complete his mission. Aragorn looks into the Great Eye atop Barad-dûr and hears the Black Voice whispering his Quenya Elvish name, Elessar, in the same seductive tone that has been previously heard from the Ring. After taking a moment to compose himself, Aragorn's only response is to whisper "For Frodo"... and charge
  • In Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Mole offers Eggsy the chance to join him and Valentine in honour of Harry's memory. Eggsy says he'd rather join Harry.
  • The Running Man: A variation. After Ben Richards kills several stalkers, Killian offers him a job as a Stalker. Having had to close the eyes of his friend who was just killed by a Stalker, Ben strongly refuses in a way that even Cinema Sins admired.
    Ben Richards: You cold-hearted bastard! I'll tell what I think about it. I live to see you eat that contract! But I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and BREAK YOUR GODDAMN SPINE!
  • In Terminator Genisys, John offers his parents a chance to be assimilated willingly, so they can become one Big Badass Family of cyborgs. They don't agree to it.
  • Doctor Mordrid: Kabal gives Mordrid the standard "join me and we'll rule this world together" offer, though with more cause than most examples as they used to be sworn brothers. Mordrid naturally refuses, pointing out that wizards have no right to rule humanity.
  • Kull the Conqueror: After arranging Kull's fake death on their wedding night to usurp the throne from him, Akivasha wakes up Kull in the dungeons. Since he was so good in the bedroom she offers him to rule by her side. He instantly refuses.
  • Nemesis: Commissioner Farnsworth offers Alex to join forces with the other cyborgs late in the movie. Alex shoots him in the face while delivering a Precision F-Strike in response.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Vampirella: From the moment they meet, Vlad tries to get Vampirella to join his side.
  • Ares offers Diana a chance to work together at the climax of Wonder Woman (2017), the two using their powers to destroy humanity and return Earth to the natural state it was before Zeus created Man. After all, she's his sister, as well as the only person able to kill him. Even after having her idealism shattered by the hell that was World War One, Diana refuses to take part in mass genocide.
  • In A Face in the Crowd, the scene in which Marcia finally realizes that Lonesome Rhodes is utterly Drunk with Power and must be stopped at all costs is the one in which he tells her, "I'm gonna be the power behind the President and you'll be the power behind me."
  • In Tragedy Girls, Lowell tries to persuade McKayla to let him go, in exchange for making her his partner in crime, claiming that McKayla's current partner Sadie is only holding her back. McKayla laughs in his face, since Sadie is also her best friend; she confidently claims that nothing could ever get between them. After the girls have a falling out, McKayla does team up with Lowell... but she was prepared for his sudden, but inevitable betrayal. The second he threatens Sadie, she shoots him dead, and the two girls make up.
  • In The Film of the Book of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, although he is not a villain, Edmund is still an Anti-Hero tempted by evil who actually tries to convince his little sister, Lucy, to gain power along with him.
    Edmund: Lucy, we'd be so rich...no one could tell us what to do. Or to live with.
  • Mythica: Szorlok makes this offer to Marek, which she seriously considers since he promises to save the rest, but ultimately rejects.
  • The Babysitter (2017): Bee makes this offer to Cole towards the end, saying they can claim the other cultists attacked them and let them posthumously take the fall. She explains that she made a Deal with the Devil because she used to be a frightened child, just like Cole, but now she's strong and powerful, and she seems sincere when she offers to share that power with him. It's implied she does this partially because she does care about him, and also because he reminds her of herself, once upon a time. Either way, he rejects the offer out of hand.
  • Jurassic City: After confessing how he engineered the disaster to begin a hero, La Franco tells Tolbert that he can take part of it too. Tolbert isn't interested and based on how quickly La Franco went for his gun, he may have simply been lulling him into a false sense of security anyway.
  • God Told Me To: The murderous, mind-controlling Half-Human Hybrid Phillips explains to fellow hybrid Pete that his alien genes are dominant, but Pete's are recessive. He invites Pete to impregnate him so they can create a race of hybrids, all of whom will be alien-dominant.
  • In Mulan (2020), Xianniang offers this to Mulan after the Chinese forces have expelled her for being a woman. Mulan doesn't take her up on it, and eventually Xianniang has a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Road House (1989): After Dalton has established he's not simply going to go away by sending one or two goons after him, Wesley attempts to recruit him, offering to pay him way more than he could ever make at the Double Deuce.
  • Zigzagged in The Suicide Squad. The handsome President of Corto Maltese offers his hand in marriage to Harley Quinn. Harley being well...nuts, quite likes the idea and they have Destructo-Nookie sex. But when President Luna talks of having the children of his political opponents Fed to the Beast Harley just shoots him on the spot, having become wise to the perils of boyfriends who are even more psychotic than she is.
  • In It's a Wonderful Life when George becomes a thorn in the side of Potter's evil business empire he tries to hire him away from the building & loan at the rate of $20000/year! (Which seems to be about ten times what he's currently making) with the implication that the building & loan will collapse without him and Potter will take over the whole town.
  • Pitch (2009): As Belial departs at the end, he drops an offer to Jim to help him switch to the side of the demons.
    Belial: If you just happen to be interested in a change of profession, you know where to find me. I've always known you had a great imagination. It'd be nice to see you put it to better use.

  • Power Rangers (2017): This film opens in the early Cenozoic Era, with Zordon and the other Rangers dead or dying. The Green Ranger (Rita Repulsa) stands over Zordon and laments that she and Zordon could have used the Zeo Crystal to rule the Universe together.

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