History Main / EcoTerrorist

Very closely related to the AnimalWrongsGroup, but with a much broader scope of interest, which includes not just animals, but also plants, habitats, and, well, the entire ecosystem. May overlap with EvilLuddite if they believe that technology is the biggest threat to the environment. Contrast with GreenwashedVillainy, when a villain pretends to be eco-friendly to cover up their polluting actions, and EcocidalAntagonist, who wants to do as much harm to the environment as possible. See also OverpopulationCrisis, which egregiously extreme eco-terrorists are frequently ''[[AMillionIsAStatistic deeply]] [[FinalSolution concerned]]'' with preventing.

* [[BigBad Thanos]] is revealed to be the OverpopulationCrisis-fearing variant of eco-terrorist in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. In his backstory, his homeworld, Titan, faced an overpopulation crisis, with the leaders desperately seeking a solution. Thanos proposed that half of the planet's population be killed off, with who lived and who died being determined strictly by random chance. [[EveryoneHasStandards Understandably]], the leaders of Titan were aghast with Thanos's solution and adamantly refused to implement it; however, no effective alternative was found, and the crisis continued to grow in severity, which probably wasn't helped by Titan's axial tilt somehow being thrown out of whack, resulting in devastation and ecological disaster ''far'' beyond the scope of merely growing population. This tragedy fuels Thanos's relentless desire to "balance the universe" by killing half of all lifeforms on all worlds -- no more, no less, selected randomly -- [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist allegedly in order to spare the universe as a whole from suffering the apocalyptic fate his home faced and succumbed to]], and he seeks the Infinity Stones simply because [[RealityWarper they are the most efficient means of accomplishing his goal]].
** However, according to WordOfGod he was more concerned with proving himself right than actually helping the universe, which is why he doesn't just take the simpler solution of doubling the resources [[Film/AvengersEndgame and goes ballistic when the Avengers try to undo it]]. In fact, his plan affected plant and animal life too, effectively halving the resources he claimed he was trying to preserve and causing massive ecological damage. He's called the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mad Titan]] for a reason.

* While Forrest Taft in ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' is depicted as a [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality nature-protecting hero]], in reality he's this. How else would you call a person that tries to save an environment ''by blowing up an oil rig with adjacent refinery'' and presumably killing countless [[PunchClockVillain Punch Clock Villains]], including a secretary whose only fault was working for the BigBad?
* The villains of the 2019 spy film ''Film/TheRookies'' are an eco-terrorist group who intends to cleanse the earth of overpopulation. Getting their hands on a green virus which can [[{{Transflormation}} transform humans into plants]], the BigBad intends to unleash the virus on major cities worldwide to replace human life with plants, and in fact managed to release a sample of the virus in New York.

* The terrorist organisation Force Three in the ''Literature/AlexRider'' novel ''Ark Angel''. [[spoiler:They turn out to be a subversion, as they're being bankrolled by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Nikolei Drevin]], and their environmentalist goals are just a RedHerring to stop anyone drawing a connection between the two.]]

* In ''VideoGame/CivilizationCallToPower'' II, late-game civilizations running the Ecotopia government can recruit units actually called Eco-terrorists. Their deadliest weapon, the Nanite Cleanser, removes all signs of human habitation in its radius -- mines, farms, [[Main/DepopulationBomb cities]].

* Caleb Goldman, the [[BigBad primary villain]] of ''VideoGame/TheHouseOfTheDead''[[note]]GreaterScopeVillain of ''1'', ''3'', and ''Overkill'' and BigBad of ''2'' and ''4'' (despite [[PosthumousCharacter being dead]] in ''3'' and ''4'' -- [[VillainousLegacy it's]] [[CrazyPrepared rather]] [[ThanatosGambit complicated]])[[/note]], is a classic example of this; [[GaiasVengeance motivated by disgust at the destruction humanity has caused to the global ecosystem]], he funds Dr. Curien's research into life and death and deliberately uses the results to unleash a ZombieApocalypse and cripple humanity. [[note]]FridgeLogic kicks in when one considers [[DidntThinkThisThrough the ecological ramifications]] of converting a huge chunk of the human population into mindless beings who seek only to devour all living things they can sink their teeth into.[[/note]]

** Team Flare, the villain team of ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', initially appear to not be an ecologically-driven organization; their activities for most of the game are illicit money-making endeavors at the expense of innocent people and Pokémon in the vein of Team Rocket. [[spoiler:However, making as much money as possible is not their true goal; their leader, Lysandre, turns out to be a bitter, insane [[MisanthropeSupreme misanthropist]] who firmly believes that there is a finite amount of happiness in the world, [[OverpopulationCrisis that the world's population is too large for happiness to be available to everyone]], and that the vast majority of people and Pokémon are simple-minded, selfish beings whose very existence is a blight on the world. Team Flare is his attempt to gather together as many of the few people whose existence he deems worthwhile as he can before he harnesses the power of the legendary Pokémon Xerneas or Yveltal (depending on the game version) with AZ's ultimate weapon [[FinalSolution to kill off the rest of the population]]. Naturally, the player has to capture Xerneas or Yveltal to put a stop to Lysandre's plans.]]
** Team Skull, the villain team of ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', are not an example of an eco-terrorist organization, being a group of hoodlums with no grand ambitions beyond making a living by any means necessary and lashing out at a world that they believe has rejected them. Team Skull wouldn't even be worth mentioning on this page if not for the fact that [[spoiler:they are secretly backed by the Aether Foundation, an organization that exists to protect wild Pokémon populations and the habitats that they live in. However, the Aether Foundation isn't an example of eco-terrorism either, as their ecological preservation goals have nothing to do with their criminal activities; they only do bad things because their leader, Lusamine, is [[{{Yandere}} a psychotic nutcase with an obession with Ultra Beasts and a very warped, egocentric view of the concept of love]]. Team Skull and its boss, Guzma, directly assist Lusamine in her endeavors to reclaim Cosmog from her runaway daughter, Lillie, and use it to open a gateway to Ultra Space, and the climax of the game begins with their successful abduction of Lillie and Cosmog, forcing the player, Hau, and Gladion to storm the Aether Foundation's headquarters to rescue them. [[note]]Lusamine isn't even fully at fault for her villainous deeds, as she's under the influence of Nihilego, a parasitic Ultra Beast that drives its victims insane with inhibition-ruining neurotoxins, causing her obsession with entering Ultra Space (and the rank-and-file members follow Lusamine's erratic commands because they're also affected by Nihilego's neurotoxins; [[TokenGoodTeammate Wicke]] and [[TheQuisling Faba]] appear to be the only members of the Aether Foundation who aren't being driven crazy by Nihilego). However, the way Nihilego's toxins work (they don't directly modify the victim's behavior, but instead amplify their deepest desires and disable their inhibitions) mean that Lusamine can't be fully absolved from responsibility for what she does under Nihilego's influence.[[/note]] Once Lusamine is defeated and restored to her senses, the Aether Foundation returns to being a benevolent, legitimate ecological preservation organization, and Guzma, like Maxie, Archie, and N before him, also resolves to change his ways and be a friendlier Pokémon trainer]].

* In the role plays of ''Webcomic/WhiteDarkLife'', Malthus and his organization, the Light Demons, fit this trope to a T, as [[GaiasVengeance they seek to kill off most of the sapient population in order to halt sapient-induced ecological damage]] (and, as their leader's name would imply, they also believe that they are acting as a bulwark against an otherwise-inevitable [[OverpopulationCrisis Malthusian Catastrophe]]). However, in practice, they spend much of their time trying to kill off the Heroes' League, particularly Legault Dawn, Arthur Calibur, and [[RevengeByProxy their girlfriends/wives, siblings, parents, and cousins]], due to Legault and Arthur having humiliated him and crippled the Light Demons several years ago; Malthus continues to hold a fierce grudge and [[DisproportionateRetribution is determined to utterly ruin their lives]] in addition to killing them. Malthus is also notable for himself and his direct subordinates, the Chi Trinity -- Persephone, Lamarck, and Teresa -- being among the only evil characters in the setting with HolyHandGrenade abilities (though in their case, they channel [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Mako]] rather than holy power); as a result, they are an extreme threat to [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Lily Natchralli]], Legault's LoveInterest.

* ''VideoGame/DaveTheDiver'' has Sea Blue, an organization fronted by ex-Navy Seal John Watson that, supposedly, fights to prevent the exploitation and destruction of the sea and its resources. Dave's friend Cobra, though, notes that Sea Blue are unusually aggressive in their actions, and they only ever target small or independent fishers like Dave rather than targeting the MegaCorp fisheries that do the real damage to the environment. Watson himself shows a callous disregard for the environment during his boss fights with Dave, attacking Dave with grenades and missiles and [[BlamingTheVictim blaming Dave]] [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou when his missed shots blow up the reef or nearby wildlife]]. [[spoiler: Midway through the game Sea Blue is revealed to be a front for a massive, unethical fishery that is operating in the area, and Watson's antagonism was meant as a means of driving out a perceived competitor so he could exploit the giant blue hole for all it's worth]].