History Main / TakeOverTheCity

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' that introduced Panda Bubba, he reveals that his plan to use the Shen GonWu is simply to take over the criminal underworld of Hong Kong.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' with the Archmage, an EvilSorcerer whose goal is to obtain three magical artifacts that will grant him incredible power... but not only had he [[AndThenWhat not really given much thought]] as to what he would ''do'' with that power once he got it, when he is prompted to consider this ([[StableTimeLoop by his own future self, no less]]) the highest goal his tenth-century mindset can come up with at that moment is that he could conquer his original homeland of Scotland. He needs his future self to point out that with this amount of power he ''could'' set his sights [[TakeOverTheWorld a little higher]].

* In the prologue of ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'', the costumed gangs of Metro City descend into all-out warfare when the city’s superhero is murdered. Out of the chaos arises Sutekh, an Egyptian-themed supervillain, who unites the gangs into a single, powerful force.

* Ditto with the Genesis counterpart, ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'', where the criminal mastermind Mr. X repeatedly tries to take over the same city to the point of repeatedly coming BackFromTheDead.

* ''Anime/{{Tekkonkinkreet}}'': The central district of "Treasure Town" is controlled by the Cats, orphans with attitude. They are locked in a tug-of-war with the Yakuza, and later a mob-funded developer who has an eye on converting TT into a gaudy theme park.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Dr. Doofenshmirtz's primary goal is to TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE [[TriCountyArea TRI-STATE AREA]]! (Secondary goals: Get his daughter's approval, [[EvilIsPetty humiliate his popular brother]].)

* In ''Ride/TheAmazingAdventuresOfSpiderMan'' at Ride/UniversalStudios, this is Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Syndicate’s plan, though he refers to it as "merely the first step in our worldwide conquest".

* In Disney’s ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', most villains really only want to take over (or destroy) Agrabah. Even Jafar, though he definitely cared about having a lot of ‘‘magical’’ power, never seemed to extend his political reach beyond Agrabah. Lampshaded by Hades in the Hercules crossover who points out how Jafar is going on about being a sultan when he has the chance to rule the heavens.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': In a change of pace from usual ''[[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]]''-verse villains, Book 1's BigBad, Amon, is primarily focused on just Republic City. Justified in that said city is the economic and technological center of the ''Avatar'' world.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': The conquest or destruction of Jump City is the goal of several villains, most notably Slade whose motives for wanting such are never explained, putting them at odds with the titular heroes who are based there.

* The ''Film/DoubleDragon'' film has BigBad Koga Shuko stating this during a rant.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' [[spoiler: takes this UpToEleven, holding ''all'' of Gotham City, blowing all but one bridge, and warning that any one that leaves or comes will detonate an [[NiceJobBreakingItHero improvised nuclear bomb]]. (ContinuityNod to "Batman: No Man's Land".) [[BigBad Bane]] and cohorts don't really want anything than the eventual and total destruction of Gotham--but not before [[BreakTheBadass torturing a crippled Bruce Wayne by letting him watch his city fall apart.]] Bruce gets better.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': The conquest or destruction of Jump City is the goal of several villains, most notably [[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} Slade]] whose motives for wanting such are never explained, putting them at odds with the titular heroes who are based there.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' is one of the earliest arcade examples. The Mad Gear gang has the stones to kidnap the Mayor’s daughter.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': In Professor Finbarr Calamitous first appearance. Jimmy assumes he's just gonna take over the world, but he says he's going for something smaller. Jimmy scales his thoughts back to the city and its surroundings, and Calamitous agrees.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' had one MadScientist who tried that.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has Daimyo Kubota, a [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrat]] who schemes to take over Azure City, and still plots to assassinate its lawful ruler even after its entire population has been displaced. His main mistake is [[spoiler:severely underestimating Vaarsuvius’ [[RealityEnsues ruthlessness and sociopathy]]]]. Azure City is a city-state (ie. a city and a loyal surrounding countryside to supply it with food and raw materials.

* [[DiabolicalMastermind Coil]] from ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has this as his mid term goal-he intends to take over the city of Brockton Bay, not only the underworld but also every aspect of the local government from the police to the mayor himself. To do this, he bankrolls two teams of supervillains to do jobs and eventually openly take parts of the city, all the while using his control of the media to run a smear campaign against the local heroes for their apparent inability to stop his proxies. Then, he [[spoiler:fakes his own death in an attempted coup that discredits the heroes and their local government superior, before replacing said superior with his own secret identity. At that point, he was effectively RunningBothSides and could control the conflict at his leisure, and if [[VillainProtagonist Skitter]] hadn’t [[BoomHeadshot shot him in the head,]] he would have steadily phased out the supervillain control over the city in order to spread his influence through them to other nearby cities, leaving him in total control with none the wiser.]] Coil does admit his real goal is to try to TakeOverTheWorld... but he's aware that such an undertaking will take a ''very'' long time, so he's just focusing on the city for right now.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has Daimyo Kubota, a [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrat]] who schemes to take over Azure City, and still plots to assassinate its lawful ruler even after its entire population has been displaced. His main mistake is [[spoiler:severely underestimating Vaarsuvius’ [[RealityEnsues ruthlessness and sociopathy]]]].
** Justified, as Azure City is a city-state (ie. a city and surrounding countryside to supply it with food and raw materials, that are a country in-and-of-itself)

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