History Main / CorporateConspiracy

* ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'' has an interesting example of an ideological Corporate Conspiracy. As part of his plot to take down Japan's upper class, Suitengu uses the Tenogu corporation to [[MayContainEvil contaminate products with the]] [[PsychoSerum Euphoric Virus]], causing the murder rate to skyrocket.

* The company Octan in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'' makes everything from TV shows to music [[BreadMilkEggsSquick to history books to voting machines]], fostering a benevolent public image to hide [[PresidentEvil President]]/[[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lord Business]]' ambition to create a [[ThePerfectionist perfectly]] [[OrderIsNotGood ordered]] [[ControlFreak world under his control]].
* The conspiracy at the titular ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' was set into motion by a few bad apples rather than the whole corporation, but it still counts -- [[{{Jerkass}} Randall Boggs]] [[spoiler:along with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Henry J. Waternoose III]]]] formulates a plan to solve the coming energy crisis by [[WouldHurtAChild kidnapping children and subjecting them to the Scream Extractor]], all while maintaining the superstition that humans are poisonous.

* ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'': Spectacular Optical, a corporation that makes everything from cheap glasses to missiles. Under the direction of its CEO, Barry Covex, it tries to use [[BrownNote the Videodrome signal]] to [[MoralGuardians make people fear]] [[NewMediaAreEvil the evolution of media]].

** Essex Corp, a mysterious organization founded by Nathaniel Essex that appears in ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' and ''Film/Deadpool2''. They practice research and experiments on {{Mutants}}, and run a genuine torture facility [[CovertGroupWithMundaneFront under the cover of]] [[OrphanageOfFear an orphanage]]. They also seem to be connected with Transigen, as the blood sample they took from ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} ended up in the hands of the latter.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath "The Green Death"]]: Global Chemicals not only [[ToxicInc dumps toxic waste]] into a Welsh mine ([[ToxicWasteCanDoAnything inadvertently creating]] [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant maggots]]), but they're also dabbling in electronics, building a MasterComputer named [[FunWithAcronyms BOSS]] that promptly goes mad (and gay, apparently) and [[AIIsACrapshoot takes control of the corporation]] in a plan to TakeOverTheWorld.

** ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ian Quinn]], owner of Quinn Worldwide, is a [[VisionaryVillain visionary]] [[VillainWithGoodPublicity philanthropist]] who spearheads a movement that champions deregulation of government interference with scientific research so that he can get his hands on advanced tech [[spoiler:and is allied with the Centipede Group]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Outlast}}'': The Murkoff Corporation, which is viewed as a charitable corporation by the public, is actually a [[PlayingWithSyringes highly unethical]] ResearchInc, reopening the [[MountaintopHealthcare Mount Massive]] [[BedlamHouse Asylum]] as a research facility with the inmates serving as guinea pigs for the Walrider Project.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': Umbrella Corp is publicly [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated your friendly neighborhood pharmaceuticals and cosmetics firm]], but it's all to cover up their real business -- [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically engineering]] {{Synthetic Plague}}s and {{Bioweapon Beast}}s. In fact, they're less a corporation indulging in a little illegal behavior on the side, and more a criminal organization [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub with a pharmaceutical corporation as its front]]. [[spoiler:And as it turns out the real conspiracy isn't creating bioweapons, but creating {{Immortality}}, the true goal of CEO [[EvilutionaryBiologist Ozwell]] [[EvilCripple E.]] [[AGodAmI Spencer]].]]

* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'': [[spoiler:Cradle Pharmaceuticals [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] [[EvilAllAlong Ace/Hongou]] recreated the Nonary Game to research morphogenetic fields and telepathy, this time using children as the participants.]]

* ''Anime/{{Vexille}}'': Daiwa Heavy Industries already has [[spoiler:complete control over Japan [[UnwillingRoboticisation and its citizens]]]], and plans to [[spoiler:do the same to the entire world so as to fulfill Kisaragi's desire to [[EvilutionaryBiologist move mankind to the next stage in evolution]]]].

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hi9E7CDpLs there's a Netflix sharing bubble]]'' has a company CEO learn from his Board of Directors on the eve of the titular streaming service changing its log-in sharing policy that grandfathers all existing screens (not users) of an account onto its bill. He doesn't see that as much of a problem as he's only shared it with one other member of the board. Everyone else in the room confesses that she shared it with them and that they've done the same with other people they know. They've calculated that there are over a million active log-ins of his account, and if he's charged with all of them, it'll eviscerate the company. By itself, this is embarrassing but easily remedied since all he needs to do is change his password to terminate all these connections. The CEO sighs, doesn't move, and to the dawning horror of those around him, they realize that [[spoiler:the account isn't even his.]]

Some, if not most [[MegaCorp corporations]] in fiction are ObviouslyEvil. Others [[VillainWithGoodPublicity might seem benevolent]] but are actually engaged in unethical business practices. However, some corporations go the extra mile. Not content with mere [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corruption]], they engage in a wide-reaching, [[TheConspiracy secret]] EvilPlan to achieve their goals - usually, but not always profit. This is the Corporate Conspiracy.

* The Italian/British series ''Devils'' features a clique of corporate investment bankers called the Thirteen Floor, who manipulate global finances and situations like the real estate collapse of 2008 or Greece's problems in the 2010s for their own gain. For most of them, this is simply a matter of profit, but in the case of the group's most prominent member, NYL Bank CEO Dominic Morgan, it's a means to an end -- [[PatrioticFervor he views American economic hegemony as the key to world peace and prosperity]], and will sacrifice the economies of entire countries to secure it.

** ''Creator/MarvelKnights'' would propose that post WWII corporations would conspire to protect their interests from the rising threat of superheroes by backing the creation of supervillains. Years later ''ComicBook/SpiderManBeyond'' would elaborate on this by revealing that certain corporations cover up blue collar crime by engineering flashy public battles that destroy all the evidence of illicit activity in the crossfire. One CEO does this at the behest of a shadowy group of figures.

* ''Series/{{Revenge}}'': The Americon Initiative serves as one in the series. Initially thought to be an independent terrorist cell, they are eventually revealed to just be a cadre of savvy businesspersons who profit off of society's fear. They carry out acts of terrorism and then profit off the reconstruction that follows afterward by investing in the right companies beforehand. They then proceed to pin the blame on various patsies.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

** The Hand, which features prominently in the ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'' and ''Series/{{The Defenders|2017}}'' series, are an AncientConspiracy that has wormed its way into dozens of companies like Rand Enterprises and Roxxon Corporation, just to name a few, allowing them access to large amounts of cash and the ability to move their resources and operatives wherever they need to go.

* The Italian/British series ''Devils'' features a clique of corporate investment bankers called the Thirteen Floor, who manipulate global finances and manipulate situations like the real estate collapse of 2008 or Greece's problems in the 2010s for their own gain. For most of them, this is simply a matter of profit, but in the case of the group's most prominent member, NYL Bank CEO Dominic Morgan, it's a means to an end -- he views American economic hegemony as the key to world peace and prosperity, and will sacrifice the economies of entire countries to secure it.

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* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': Vought International are initiating a gradual "coup from the inside" by replacing essential US government figures with Vought toadies.

* The Business Plot, an conspiracy allegedly formulated by a group of quasi-fascist businessmen in 1934 to attempt a coup against UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, whose presidency would have harmed their business interests. The conspiracy was reported by Smedley Butler, a retired [[SemperFi U.S. Marines]] Major General turned anti-war activist. Historians are divided on whether the allegations were true -- in any case, no one was prosecuted.

A subtrope of TheConspiracy and CapitalismIsBad. May be connected to a GovernmentConspiracy if the writer wants to invoke the "Military-Industrial Complex". For the blue-collar version, see MilkmanConspiracy. See also CorruptCorporateExecutive, EvilInc. Overlaps with IncompetenceInc if the conspiracy backfires in an EpicFail or HoistbyTheirOwnPetard.

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} by ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack: [[VideoGame/TheJackboxPartyPack Full Stream]]''. [[spoiler: [[MegaCorp Binjpipe]] is secetly planning to TakeOerTheWorld through an AssimilationPlot where all life on Earth will be "[[InsideAComputerSystem turned into content]]". However, as a result of both that and the fact that their recommendation algorithm is actually an EldritchAbomination, the streaming service that serves as a front for all of this is IncompetenceInc, with programming that Nate Shapiro describes as "sub-public domain". This ultimately hurts the conspiracy arm of the company, with the maximum number of people they could capture being 8 or so.]]

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'': Deus Ex Machina Industries (DEM), the only corporation to manufacture Realizer Units, is secretly being used by its Managing Director [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Sir Isaac Ray Peram Wescott]] in his plan to seek and harness all Spirit powers, and thus plunge the Earth into chaos and destruction. His ultimate goal is to remake the world so that [[SuperSupremacist humans will be subservient to Mages]].

* ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'': [[BitchInSheepsClothing Nobuyuki Sugou]], the director of RECT Inc.'s research institute, hijacks the minds of 300 of the SAO victims (including his then-fiance Asuna) and traps them in his own game [=ALFheim=] Online to [[PlayingWithSyringes conduct experiments on human subjugation via full dive technology]], in addition to attempting to take over RCT Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is unconscious. His ambition is to [[GodhoodSeeker become a god in real life]], [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans just as he is in ALO]].

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'': Nicole Horne was already part of the GovernmentConspiracy Project Valhalla, and when that was discontinued she took the SuperSerum they were working on and sold it on the streets as a FantasticDrug through her company Aesir Pharmaceuticals. Max notes that her computer probably has information on other conspiracies, but isn't interested in investigating further.

* ''Film/BatmanReturns'': [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Max Shreck]] is a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity powerful and respected]] businessman, owns multiple enterprises including department stores and construction companies, and wants to use his electric company to build a power plant in Gotham. The thing is, the power plant is actually meant to steal energy from the citizens of Gotham, leading to the rest of the movie's conflict as Shreck attemps to murder Selina Kyle for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]] (turning her into ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}) and tries to make ComicBook/ThePenguin mayor so that Penguin can use his position to approve Shreck's plan.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Decima Technologies is a private technology firm that is stealing data to [[spoiler:[[TheComputerIsYourFriend program an AI to create a new world order]] [[BigBrotherIsWatching via constant surveillance]]]].

* ''Series/{{Utopia}}'': Corvadt and Pergus Holdings, massive multinationals spanning dozens of different industries and part of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation the Network]], are working on [[spoiler:a SterilityPlague that is formed of two parts, [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically modified]] corn starch and a flu vaccine, that only activate when [[MayContainEvil combined in a human]]]].

* ''Franchise/{{Robocop}}'': Omni Consumer Products [[CorruptCorporateExecutive is not the most ethical of corporations]]. [[Film/Robocop1987 The original film]] had a vice-president willing to make a deal with a crime boss to start a crime spree, so that OCP can step in and offer to [[LawEnforcementInc privatize the police force]]. And all of this to [[VillainousGentrification demolish Detroit and rebuild it as Delta City]]. By the time of [[Film/Robocop3 the third movie]], they're even hiring a street gang to drive out the locals.
* ''Film/{{Scanners}}'': Biocarbon Amalgamate, a pharmaceutical corporation producing [[FantasticDrug Ephemerol]] that is actually under the control of Darryl Revok, a [[PsychicPowers psychic]] SuperSupremacist trying to [[spoiler:create a race of psychic supermen by prescribing Ephemerol to pregnant women, [[BizarreBabyBoom causing psychic mutations in the fetuses]]]].

* ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'': The fashion industry is controlled by a conspiracy that grooms male models into becoming ManchurianAgent assassins, and has been responsible for most of the political assassinations of the past 200 years including Abraham Lincoln and JFK - the former because he ended slavery, making it more difficult to manufacture cheap cotton, the latter because his trade embargo on Cuba prevented the import of Cuban manufactured Sansabelt slacks.

* In the ''Literature/AgentG'' books by Creator/CTPhipps, a group called the Big Twenty use their vast influence to manipulate global politics via HollywoodCyborg assassins operated by a MurderInc named the International Refugee Society. The Big Twenty are the world's largest corporations and eventually become the Big Two Hundred when the setting moves from TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture to a {{Cyberpunk}} dystopia.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': [[WeWilluseManualLaborInTheFuture Manpower, Incorporated]], who are TheManBehindTheMan for the Mesan Alignment, who themselves instigated the war between the Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom of Manticore.

* ''Literature/MaximumRide'': The MegaCorp Itex is secretly running a laboratory of {{Mad Scientist}}s that specializes in [[LegoGenetics animal-human]] [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke gene-splicing]] [[PlayingWithSyringes experiments]].
* ''Literature/RainbowSix'': Horizon Corporation is another example of a Corporate Conspiracy motivated by ideology, as it is [[spoiler:secretly an EcoTerrorist group that plans to mitigate the [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourelves inevitable]] fall of human civilization by quickening it through a [[SyntheticPlague genetically-engineered strain of the Ebola virus]] to [[DepopulationBomb wipe out 99% of humanity]]]].
* ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'': On the surface, IOI is just like any other competitor for Halliday's Egg, and ownership of the [[{{Cyberspace}} OASIS]], albeit with manpower and resources that give them a huge edge in the game. This was apparently not enough for them, though, as they also engaged in stealing user data, attacking Wade Watt's real world home in an attempt to kill him, actually killing another teenaged player by having mercenaries throw him off the balcony of his apartment, buying up people's debts in order to put them in indentured servitude, and grand scale cheating by closing down any area of the OASIS that might contain a clue to Halliday's game. This all ultimately comes to light when [[spoiler:the game ends with Wade in control, and its hinted that the company's lawyers will be scrambling to prevent IOI from losing all access to the OASIS and thus the internet]].
* In the ''Literature/RedRoom'' series by Creator/CTPhipps, Pantheon Corp is the world's largest corporation and allied with TheIlluminati-esque House. Pantheon Corp's CEO, Cassandra Cassidy, wants to bring down the latter by triggering a ZombieApocalypse. ItMakesSenseInContext.

* ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'': Intellitech, a company that [[spoiler:literally manufactured hopelessness [[GoneHorriblyRight until]] [[AnthropomorphicPersonification it grew a mind of its own]], becoming [[HumanoidAbomination Man in Suit]]]].

* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': [[Characters/TheBoys2019VoughtInternational Vought International]] are initiating a gradual "coup from the inside" by replacing essential US government figures with Vought toadies.

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': Charon Industries, headed by Malcolm Hargrove, is perfectly willing to [[spoiler:start a war on Chorus in order to wipe out the entire population and seize the planet for themselves]].

* In the ''Literature/AgentG'' books by Creator/CTPhipps, a group called the Big Twenty use their vast influence to manipulate global politica via HollywoodCyborg assassins operated by a MurderInc named the International Refugee Society. The Big Twenty are the world's largest corporations and eventually become the Big Two Hundred when the setting moves from TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture to a {{Cyberpunk}} dystopia.

Some [[MegaCorp corporations]] in fiction are ObviouslyEvil. Others [[VillainWithGoodPublicity might seem benevolent]] but are actually engaged in unethical business practices. However, some corporations go the extra mile. Not content with mere [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corruption]], they engage in a wide-reaching, [[TheConspiracy secret]] EvilPlan to achieve their goals -- usually, but not always, profit. This is the Corporate Conspiracy.

What exactly this plot entails varies. The conspiracy may be [[ArmsDealer selling armaments]] to incite WarForFunAndProfit, they may be manipulating property value to [[VillainousGentrification gentrify the neighborhood]] and KillThePoor, they may be [[PoisonAndCureGambit deliberately spreading diseases while selling the cure/solution to the masses]], or be PlayingWithSyringes to make {{Super Soldier}}s and TakeOverTheWorld... what counts is that they're evil ([[BenevolentConspiracy again, with a few exceptions]]), and [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated they're secret]].

A subtrope of TheConspiracy and CapitalismIsBad. May be connected to a GovernmentConspiracy if the writer wants to invoke the "Military-Industrial Complex". For the blue-collar version, see MilkmanConspiracy. See also CorruptCorporateExecutive, EvilInc. Overlaps with IncompetenceInc if the conspiracy backfires in an EpicFail.

A subtrope of TheConspiracy and CapitalismIsBad. May be connected to a GovernmentConspiracy if the writer wants to invoke the "Military-Industrial Complex". For the blue-collar version, see MilkmanConspiracy. See also CorruptCorporateExecutive, EvilInc. Overlaps with IncompetenceIncorporated if the conspiracy backfires in an EpicFail.

A subtrope of TheConspiracy and CapitalismIsBad. May be connected to a GovernmentConspiracy if the writer wants to invoke the "Military-Industrial Complex". For the blue-collar version, see MilkmanConspiracy. See also CorruptCorporateExecutive, EvilInc. Overlaps with Incompetence,Incorporated if the conspiracy backfires in an EpicFail.

A subtrope of TheConspiracy and CapitalismIsBad. May be connected to a GovernmentConspiracy if the writer wants to invoke the "Military-Industrial Complex". For the blue-collar version, see MilkmanConspiracy. See also CorruptCorporateExecutive, EvilInc. Overlaps with Incompetence Incorporated if the conspiracy backfires in an EpicFail.