History ForTheEvulz / LiveActionTV

** This was also the main motivation of his [[SwornBrothers blood brothers]] Kronos, and the AxCrazy Caspian. The last member of the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, Silas, is DumbMuscle more than anything else.

** This was also the main motivation of his {{Blood Brother|s}} Kronos, and the AxCrazy Caspian. The last member of the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, Silas, is DumbMuscle more than anything else.

** {{Double Subver|sion}}ed in the episodes "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E25ToHell To Hell]]..."/"[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E26AndBack ...And Back]]". The team profile someone who is [[DisposableVagrant abducting random drug users and homeless people]] as someone who is killing For the Evulz -- but it is actually a {{Manchild}} who is carrying out orders of his [[EvilCripple crippled]] ManipulativeBastard brother, who says he was using the victims to perform horrible human experiments in the hope of finding a cure for his condition. Then Rossi [[ShutUpHannibal calls bullshit]] on that and says [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist he's just a]] {{Sadist}} who enjoys forcing his brother to torture and kill people while he watches, since none of the equipment he has on hand is remotely suited to advanced medical research.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice]]", a ReformedButNotTamed Missy kills two bodyguards just to make the point to Clara that "No, I've not turned ''good''."

* Dr. Mikoto Nakadai in ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' is an EvilGenius who is utterly bored with life... until he discovers that tormenting the heroes and plotting widespread death and destruction is just the kick he's been missing.
* On ''Series/BloodDrive'', some of the things that [[MegaCorp Heart Industries]] does can be written off as just amoral money-making schemes. But others, such as the creation of [[FantasticDrug Smax candy]] (which drives the eater insane) and [[TheVirus the Dionysus Strain]] (which turns people into zombies), make ''no'' logical sense whatsoever beyond being done to create death and destruction.
* In ''Series/TheBoxOfDelights'' the villain Abner Brown uses powerful magic to try to prevent the local cathedral's thousandth anniversary Christmas service from taking place. He doesn't stand to gain anything from this, he just knows it would make many people sad and wants to perform "one last great wickedness".

** Beyond his urge for power and money, some acts committed by [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] are very unnecessary:
*** In "Over", where he forces Walt Jr. to drink tequila until he vomits. While this is far less horrible than many of the others, it has the distinction of being the first time he did something sadistic for no conceivable rational reason, but just because he could. Furthermore, this stands out for his serious drive for malice, egomania, and a desire to be dominant.
*** He finally admits to Skyler in the last episode that he did all those awful things as Heisenberg for himself and because he ''liked'' it, not because he wanted to protect the family.
--->'''Skyler:''' If I have to hear one more time that you did this for the family...\\
'''Walt:''' [[ItsAllAboutMe I did it for me.]] [[EvilFeelsGood I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really... I was alive.]]

---->"You could probably… tell me what I'm doing wrong. But honestly, I sorta hope you don't— ’cause I ''really'' wanna torture you."

** Angel and Spike have a conversation in "[[Recap/AngelS05E11Damage Damage]]" concerning how they committed atrocities For The Evulz -- but in different ways. Spike loved killing for the sake of it and didn't bother to give his victims another glance. Angelus couldn't look away from his victims and relished their suffering.

---->'''Spike''': The thing is, I ''like'' this world. You've got Manchester United, dogracing, and ''people''. Millions of people, all walking around, like Happy Meals on legs.

** "[[Recap/AngelS01E14IveGotYouUnderMySkin I've Got You Under My Skin]]"; the demon possessing a small boy did all his crimes For The Evulz, but the boy was a complete psychopath who trapped the demon in his mind and resisted control attempts, then burned things and killed people anyway (even after a successful exorcism) because he didn't see any reason not to. The demon was absolutely ''terrified'' by this, since demons see doing things out of a belief in evil as a valid reason but the boy lacked even that.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** "3rd Life". The three thrill killers from "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS5E4Hopeless Hopeless]]" and the (unrelated) rioters in the same episode.
-->'''Morgan:''' You know what gets me? All this time we figured you guys were down and out. But here who are working? What the hell is so so God-awful about your lives that you have to take it out on everyone else?\\

** Adrian Bale in the early episode "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS1E3WontGetFooledAgain Won't Get Fooled Again]]". He agrees to tell the BAU how to disarm a complicated bomb, and in exchange he will be transferred from his maximum security prison to a mental hospital, and Agent Gideon will have to apologize to his victims' families, and admit that it was entirely his fault their respective relative died. When the inevitable WireDilemma occurs, Bale, even though doing so ''[[StupidEvil completely invalidates his deal]]'', purposely tells them to cut the wrong wire... because the bomb blowing up will give him some kind of "emotional release". [[spoiler:Luckily Gideon remembers Adrian [[NiceJobFixingItVillain telling him that fact]] and tells the bomb techs to cut the opposite (correct) wire, saving the day and sending Bale back to maximum security with no deal and a reputation as a snitch.]]
** It's a TV show about FBI profilers who hunt down (mostly) serial killers using psychological analysis to develop profiles of the likely unsub (unknown subject) so, obviously, most episodes avert this. However, some unsubs do still fall into this trope, making a particularly tricky case for the BAU.
** Subverted in the episodes "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E25ToHell To Hell]] [[Recap/CriminalMindsS4E26AndBack And Back]]". The team profile someone who is [[DisposableVagrant abducting random drug users and homeless people]] as someone who is killing For The Evulz - but it is actually a ManChild who is carrying out orders of his [[EvilCripple crippled]] ManipulativeBastard brother, who says he was using the victims to perform horrible human experiments in the hope of finding a cure for his condition. Then a DoubleSubversion when Rossi [[ShutUpHannibal calls bullshit]] on that and says [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist he's just a]] {{sadist}}, who enjoys forcing his brother to torture and kill people while he watches, since none of the equipment he has on hand is remotely suited to advanced medical research.
** Ben Bradstone from "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS7E2Proof Proof]]". He doesn't understand why people ask why someone would do these horrible things. He says its the same reason people do anything, because it's fun. That's why he [[KickTheDog kicked his dog]] as a kid.
** In the season two episode "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS2E6TheBoogeyman The Boogeyman]]", Gideon asks [[spoiler:young Jeffery Charles]] why he killed three children and almost killed another one. His response? "Because I wanted to."

* On ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', Peter likes Manny, but Emma likes Peter. Manny gets drunk, and Peter films Manny stripping and uses it for blackmail. Emma then puts Peter [[DracoInLeatherPants in leather pants]] and blames Manny, but starts dating the guy who filmed her best friend stripping. Strike that. That whole plot was For The Evulz. Peter's motives are clearer in season 6. (Sean likes Emma, Peter's dating Emma, Peter frames Sean for "possession".) And he actually gets a random FaceHeelTurn in season 7.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E5TheUnderwaterMenace "The Underwater Menace"]]: Zaroff tries to destroy Earth just for the fun of it.
** "Everything you say, Waterfield, is true. If we cannot find Jamie, the Daleks will take pleasure in killing everyone in sight, and their greatest pleasure will be in killing me." — the Doctor, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks The Evil of the Daleks]]".

*** PlayedForDrama and {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in the Creator/BigFinish audio ''Master''. All his evil plans were ''never'' expected to work, they were only designed to cause as much misery and destruction as possible. Why? Because as one of the Doctor's titles is Time's Champion, the Master is ''Death's Champion''.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks "Genesis of the Daleks"]]: Davros, creator of the Daleks, is posed [[GenocideDilemma a philosophical question]] by the Doctor: "If you had a virus that, when released, would kill everyone in the universe, would you release it?" Davros' answer is that yes, [[OmnicidalManiac he would release it]], for no other reason than because he could.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowInTheGalaxy The Gods of Ragnarok]], who were trapped in a parallel dimension (possibly by the Doctor himself) and take over a circus to force people to perform for them, just to alleviate their boredom. When they lose interest in an act, they kill the performer.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways']]: The Daleks arrive at the space station on floor 494 and must get to floor 500 to defeat the Doctor. Before doing that, however, they go all the way down to floor 0 to exterminate a group of innocent humans because they're there.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]]: This dialogue between Martha and a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Toclafane]]. (However, since they were engineered out of innocents by the Master, it's very safe to assume that it's actually the Master's opinion.)

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]: The Weeping Angels tell the Doctor they are forcing Amy to count down to her death "for fun, sir."
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice "The Magician's Apprentice"]]: Missy kills two bodyguards just to make the point to Clara that "No, I've not turned ''good''."
* Thomas and O'Brien from ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', who have attracted criticism that the mostly realistic cartoon series suffers from having these cartoon villains with no identifiable motivation. And ironically, the one thing O'Brien at least thought she had a motivation for ([[spoiler:planting a bar of soap so Cora would have a miscarriage, and wouldn't fire her]]) is the only one she actually shows regret for.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''

** In the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" [[spoiler: Saffron]] implies she might be this, [[spoiler:after Mal questions her about why she needed such a convoluted plan.]]

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': '''Zoom'''. Every other BigBad in the series, from the one before him to all those after him, had some ulterior motive for their villainy -- some sympathetic, some not. Zoom, however, had no such motive. He became a villain [[KickTheDog to gleefully kick as many puppies as possible]], to the point that he pretended to be a hero [[HopeBringer to give hope]] to the people of his earth so he could [[HopeCrusher rip it away from them as Zoom]]. He did involve himself with Barry initially to steal his speed so he could be cured of his cellular degeneration (though it becomes clear he equally enjoyed screwing with Team Flash for his own personal enjoyment), but after he was cured he decided to keep messing with Barry and co. for no other reason than [[ItAmusedMe just because]]. While he did try to justify all his many, ''many'' terrible crimes with his FreudianExcuse, in the end it became blatantly obvious that Hunter Zolomon of Earth-2 was just a depraved individual that got off causing as much misery to others as possible.

** Ser Amory Lorch seems to have graduated in the same knight school as Ser Gregor — i.e. be as much of a jerk as you can as long as you are still loyal to House Lannister.

* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' has no motive for any of the things he does beyond proving his own superiority and simple curiosity. [[spoiler: When Will finally figures it out, he admits that the lack of any traceable motive is what made Hannibal so hard to spot.]]
* About the only reason why Arthur Petrelli of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' does anything. Mr. Linderman of Season 1 wanted to blow up NYC to heal the world and Adam Monroe of Season 2 wanted to release a deadly virus to give his people a second chance, but Arthur didn't even bother with idealistic pretense. He just spouted the usual [[CardCarryingVillain villainous clichés]], and in a half-hearted fashion, as if he could barely be bothered to even offer a modicum of justification for his douchery.

* When [[spoiler:Methos]] from ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' finally tells Duncan about his days as an evil marauder back in the depths of time, he sums up his motives as a combination of this and EvilFeelsGood.
-->Killing was all I knew. Is that what you want to hear? I killed. But I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed TEN thousand! And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it.
** This was also the main motivation of his {{Blood Brother|s}} Kronos, and the AxeCrazy Caspian. The last member of the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, Silas, is DumbMuscle more than anything else.
* One episode of ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' had Pembleton and Felton track down a teenager who had murdered his grandmother and [[TongueTrauma cut out her tongue.]] When he casually admits to doing it immediately after they start questioning him, they ask why. The teenager simply shrugs and replies "I dunno. [[DisproportionateRetribution I guess she talked too much.]]"
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': A lot of what [[TheSoulless the Sinners]] did was for this reason, when it wasn't to get more souls for Ammut. One notable example being Fabian [[BreakThemByTalking giving Joy a cruel speech]] when she came to him ''specifically for comfort after being heartbroken'', leaving her feeling completely destroyed, and then going on his way. Another example is with Alfie insulting and dumping Willow just before flirting with Joy and Mara directly in front of her.

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Despite having millions of dollars at his disposal, Frank Reynolds prefers to live in squalor because he's more interested in the thrill of getting rich through zany schemes and sketchy business scams than actually living a wealthy lifestyle.
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'', given that it focuses on {{Locked Room Myster|y}}ies and other planned murders, usually has very rational and logical villains with complex motives. Thus this trope came as something of a surprise when it was played in season four - after the media suggests that a series of murders are inspired by the fact that all the women killed were named after flowers (as an attempt to "deflower women") and the real killer is caught, Jonathan notes that no-one had considered the idea that a young woman would kill other young women "simply because she likes to". The floral connection of the names was just a coincidence.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'' The BigBad was quite different from other final bosses of Kamen Rider. No speech about his desire to win the game, all he wants to do is fight Yusuke and as he died fighting him, he didn't whine about how a mortal had beaten him, just smiling as he watches Yusuke being so violent.
* On an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', a serial rapist and murderer who is also a PhonyPsychic keeps butting into a case in which he is actually the killer. After he's captured, a detective asks him why he did it, since he'd probably have gotten away with it if he hadn't. His response? "I just had to see what I had set in motion. The expressions on your faces were priceless. This place was like a big beehive that I poked with a stick."
** In one episode, a Romanian boy is kidnapped and murdered after school. The detectives are led to believe that a man with the mind of a child, who's living with his mother, committed the crime. But it was actually two teenage girls whom framed the mentally challenged man and planted evidence in his room. When the detectives finally figure it out, Olivia asked the blonde teen, who was the leader of the two, why she did it. Her answer? "Why not?"

** A good deal of [[MonsterOfTheWeek meteor freaks]] have this mentality. While some of them have "goals" like mating with [[DamselScrappy Lana]], some just liked killing.
** Icicle Jr. originally kills for revenge (judging by how many he killed it already borders on DisproportionateRetribution), but then his freeze-choke on Chloe (whom he never met) is like this.
** In season ten, Darkseid. Unlike in other adaptions, where he is usually goal-driven (albeit still an OmnicidalManiac), this one just likes to corrupt people.

** Q, half the time. The other half he's playing a [[TricksterMentor mentor]]...

* In ''Film/TheChristmasThatAlmostWasnt'', the BigBad Phineas T. Prune seems to have no concrete explanation for why he does what he does, until the end, when he experiences his HeelFaceTurn.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'' The BigBad was quite different from other final bosses of Kamen Rider. No speech about his desire to win the game, all he wants to do is fight Yosuke and as he died fighting him, he didn't whine about how a mortal had beaten him, just smiling as he watches Yuusuke being so violent.