History Main / DeckOfWildCards

** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': Zurgane and Motodrone were the two among Lothor's generals who were both consistently competent and loyal to him to the end[[note]]Choobo once tried to get revenge on Lothor for banishing him but was ultimately welcomed back into his ranks[[/note]]. Vexacus and Shimazu initially worked together to take over Lothor's army but turned on each other. The latter then teamed up with Marah and Kapri who turned out to be [[NotSoHarmlessVillain a lot more dangerous than appeared to be]] and killed him as part of Lothor's plan. Lothor then imprisons Marah and Kapri having grown paranoid about their potential lack of loyalty after seeing their true colors. This plays a part in their HighHeelFaceTurn.

* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': Pretty much all of the Homeboys have engaged in some kind of backstabbing and betrayal. The entire gang ousts Jefferson Keane after he has a HeelFaceTurn, [[MoleInCharge Paul Markstrom]] and [[TheMole Johnny Basil]] are undercover cops trying to bring the gang down, Adebisi murders Markstrom and takes over once this comes out, Wangler and Pierce turn on Adebisi so they can take over [[spoiler:which leads to him orchestrating their deaths]], and Poet's loyalty is always shifting depending on who he thinks has the better chance at success.

* Creator/DCComics likes ''a lot'' this trope, at the point to having various ensembled teams where every member (mostly made by villains) would kill each other at the minor chance but [[FireForgedFriends stay together for a major mission and sometimes become friends in arms]]. Teams like ComicBook/SuicideSquad, ComicBook/SecretSix and even [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Red Lantern Corps]] are representative of this trope. ''ComicBook/SalvationRun'' is an {{exaggerated|Trope}} version of this, with all villains exiled on a lonely planet and need to stay together to survive and come back to Earth. Considerating that ComicBook/TheJoker and ComicBook/LexLuthor are the "rulers" of this new planet, this trope goes UpToEleven with the rest of the villains here.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** {{Discussed}} in a conversation between Yoda and the spirit of Darth Bane, the creator of the Rule of Two. It's mentioned that the Sith fell thousands of years ago because their ambitions got the better of them, and they wouldn't stop fighting amongst themselves to seize power. Thus, Bane streamlined the process by deeming that there could only be one Master and one Apprentice at a time--one to have power, and one to crave it--to preserve their way of life and ensure the Jedi would eventually fall.
* In the world of ''Franchise/TheTransformers'', both the Decepticons and their descendants, [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars the Predacons]], have established their regimes based around this philosophy. Only those who are strong and cunning deserve to rule, and being deposed of by a weak underling is a sign they were never meant to rule to begin with. Of course, the franchise has tended to depict this haphazardly, so it's not always consistent in this regard.
** The original [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers animated series]] showed that, with the exception of [[UndyingLoyalty Soundwave and Shockwave]], nearly every Decepticon tried to backstab or remove Megatron aside from Starscream himself, as a consequence of their ambitions getting the better of themselves. Notably, Astrotrain and Blitzwing worked with Starscream to depose Megatron, then backstabbed the both of them so they could jointly rule. The Combaticons were also once a band of Starscreams before the series, having been melted down and left [[AndIMustScream as just personality components]] for trying to overthrow Megatron long ago, and falling right back onto old habits the moment the TropeNamer himself brings them out of storage for his own ends. By the third season, even Galvatron's most loyal subjects--Scourge and Cyclonus--were not above doing this, as a consequence of DrunkOnPower and committing his insane leader to therapy respectively.

** This was taken literarily in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', when Starscream cloned himself to create an army of Seekers he could use to depose Megatron. It almost worked until Megatron trounced his treacherous underling, at which point his clones {{Subverted}} this trope and joined Megatron instead. If anything, the Decepticon forces avert this trope entirely, since they are all loyal to Megatron's cause to a fault.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

This is the Deck of Wild Cards, where most, if not all, members of a group or organization are going to play Starscream and try to kill you so they can seize power for themselves, even if it means going over each other to make it happen. Because damn any friendships they might have made; they want their supervisor's corner office, and will kill anyone that stands in their way to get it. Expect constant EtTuBrute moments, lots of {{Xanatos Gambit}}s piling on top of one another to see who can outsmart who, and someone inevitably being killed or thrown to the wolves along the way--especially if one of these Starscreams acts like a FalseFriend so they can thin the herd on their way to the top.

* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': Pretty much all of the Homeboys have engaged in some kind of backstabbing and betrayal. The entire gang ousts Jefferson Keane after he has a HeelFaceTurn, [[MoleInCharge Paul Markstrom]] and [[TheMole Johnny Basil]] are undercover cops trying to bring the gang down, Adebisi murders Markstrom and takes over once this comes out, Wangler and Pierce turn on Adebisi so they can take over [[spoiler:which leads to him orchestrating their deaths]], and Poet's loyalty is always shifting depending on who he thinks has the better chance.

[[quoteright:200:[[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starscreamclones.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200: You know what they say. If you want your boss overthrown right, just clone yourself!]]

* Creator/DCComics likes ''a lot'' this trope, at the point to having various ensembled teams where every member (mostly made by villains) would kill each other at the minor chance but [[FireForgedFriends stay together for a major mission and sometimes become friends in arms]]. Teams like ComicBook/SuicideSquad, ComicBook/SecretSix and even [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Red Lantern Corps]] are representative of this trope. ''ComicBook/SalvationRun'' is an {{exaggerated|Trope}} version of this, with all villains exiled in a lonely planet and need to stay together to survive and come back to Earth. Considerating that ComicBook/TheJoker and ComicBook/LexLuthor are the "rulers" of this new planet, this trope goes UpToEleven with the rest of the villains here.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starscreamclones.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200: [[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated You know what they say. If you want your boss overthrown right, just clone yourself!]]]]

[[folder: Comics Books]]

[[folder: Film - Live Action]]

** The Empire is built upon the backs of the fallen Republic, and is made up entirely of ambitious individuals willing to screw each other over to gain favor with Palpatine. Grand Moff Tarkin, for example, used his personal connections to Palpatine to rise to a prominent position, subsequently [[Film/RogueOneAStarWarsStory hijacked Orson Krennic's Death Star project]] [[spoiler: and then killed him with his own weapon]], and was that respected enough he was able to keep [[TheHeavy Darth Vader]] himself on a leash.
** The First Order, the Empire's successor, is no better in this regard. Kylo Ren rose to Supreme Leader by [[spoiler: killing Snoke]], General Hux was willing to [[spoiler: betray the First Order and sell out information to the resistance to spite Kylo]], and Captain Phasma [[spoiler: betrayed her own mentor so she could have it cozier in the organization.]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'', the MirrorUniverse actually expects this of their underlings...up to a point. Here, in a reality where the Federation is actually the twisted and xenophobic Terran Empire, every officer who rises in stature has to kill their predecessor in order to get where they want to be. Should they succeed, they are rewarded for their strength; fail, and they will be subject to the most horrid of ColdBloodedTorture they can imagine. ''The Original Series'' shows that Mirror Kirk rose to captaincy of the ''Enterprise'' by killing Christopher Pike, while ''Discovery'' reveals that a coup was staged against the Terran Emperor [[spoiler: Phillipa Georgiou]] because her follows thought she was being [[DoWrongRight too soft on alien species by enslaving them instead of killing them]].

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]

* Creator/DCComics likes ''a lot'' this trope, at the point to having various ensembled teams where every member (mostly made by villains) would kill each other at the minor chance but [[FireForgedFriends stay together for a major mission and sometimes become friends in arms]]. Teams like ComicBook/SuicideSquad, ComicBook/SecretSix and even [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Red Lantern Corps]] are representative of this trope.
** ''ComicBook/SalvationRun'' is an {{exaggerated|Trope}} version of this, with all villains exiled in a lonely planet and need to stay together to survive and come back to Earth. Considerating that ComicBook/TheJoker and ComicBook/LexLuthor are the "rulers" of this new planet, this trope goes UpToEleven with the rest of the villains here.

** The Sith "Rule of Two", as detailed in both the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse and its predecssor ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', was specifically created to ''prevent'' this. The Sith encourage {{Klingon Promotion}}s; the Sith master embodies power while the Sith apprentice craves it. However, Darth Revan refused to take more than one apprentice because he realized that it was likely they would team up to kill him before either of them were strong enough, negating the [[SuperiorSuccessor entire point]]. Darth Bane later heeded Revan's advice and created the "Rule of Two" that the Sith would follow from then on, barring a few exceptions. Note that Darth Bane did what he did as much out of disgust with the Brotherhood of Darkness having partly ''abandoned'' this tendency as anything else: Lord Kaan demanded greater cooperation of the Sith in order to more effectively fight the Jedi and Republic, even eschewing the use of the title "Darth" as an attractive nuisance, which Bane viewed as having abandoned the essence of being Sith.

Like with most Starscreams, everyone in the organization has their reasons. The boss may have a OneHundredPercentAdorationRating and they want [[ItsAllAboutMe that kind of attention for themselves]]. It could be that the boss has a ZeroPercentApprovalRating, and they're trying to pull this to keep the group from falling apart. Or, in rarer cases, the entire group may try this because it's excepted; after all, who deserves to rule an EvilEmpire if they can't stop themselves from being betrayed?

** The entire Separatist Alliance was made up of this trope, as there wasn't a single member whose ambitions to rise to power didn't play a part in their eventual downfall. Dooku was planning to eventually betray Sideous, Asajj would eventually decide to betray Dooku (though thanks to Sideous, this was forced on her earlier than expected), General Grievous hated Dooku enough that he was planning on removing him from the picture, and so on and so forth.

** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': Zurgane and Motodrone were the two among Lothor's generals who were both consistently competent and loyal to him to the end was Zurgane[[note]]Choobo once tried to get revenge on Lothor for banishing him but was ultimately welcomed back into his ranks[[/note]]. While Choobo did go rogue once he was ultimatelyVexacus and Shimazu initially worked together to take over Lothor's army but turned on each other. The latter then teamed up with Marah and Kapri who turned out to be [[NotSoHarmlessVillain a lot more dangerous than appeared to be]] and killed him as part of Lothor's plan. Lothor then imprisons Marah and Kapri having grown paranoid about their potential lack of loyalty after seeing their true colors. This plays a part in their HighHeelFaceTurn.

** The Sith "Rule of Two" was specifically created to ''prevent'' this. The Sith encourage {{Klingon Promotion}}s; the Sith master embodies power while the Sith apprentice craves it. However, Darth Revan refused to take more than one apprentice because he realized that it was likely they would team up to kill him before either of them were strong enough, negating the [[SuperiorSuccessor entire point]]. Darth Bane later heeded Revan's advice and created the "Rule of Two" that the Sith would follow from then on, barring a few exceptions. Note that Darth Bane did what he did as much out of disgust with the Brotherhood of Darkness having partly ''abandoned'' this tendency as anything else: Lord Kaan demanded greater cooperation of the Sith in order to more effectively fight the Jedi and Republic, even eschewing the use of the title "Darth" as an attractive nuisance, which Bane viewed as having abandoned the essence of being Sith.

Compare ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, where a lot of these characters pull this on everyone. Contrast UndyingLoyalty and TrueCompanions. See FireForgedFriends for those that may have been trying to fight each other for the same position, but grew closer as a result of the experience. Compare and contrast AnarchoTyranny, in which an entire government does this, but on a level of total lawlessness they control.

There's always that one person in most groups who clamors for power above all else, and will stab you in the back the moment the moment they get the chance so they can rise to the position they believe they so richly deserve. They don't actually want the responsibility; they just want the prestige that comes with the position, and will happily flaunt their own ego until they inevitably goof up. That is TheStarscream in a nutshell.

This is the Deck of Wild Cards, where most, if not all, members of a group or organization are going to play Starscream and try to kill you so they can seize power for themselves, even if it means going over each other to make it happen. Because damn any friendships they might have made; they want their supervisor's corner office, and will kill anyone that stands in their way to get it. Expect constant EtTuBrute moments, lots of {{Xanatos Gambit}}s piling on top of one another to see who can outsmart who, and someone inevitably being killed or thrown to the wolves along the way--especially if one of these Starscreams acts like a FalseFriend so they can thin the heard on their way to the top.