History WellIntentionedExtremist / ComicBooks

* ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':

* In the ''Comicbook/UltimateEnemy'' trilogy, [[spoiler:Ultimate Reed Richards is willing to kill his own family to fake his death, attacks organizations that he feels are repressing science's potential for their own corrupt reasons, and tries to TakeOverTheWorld so that he can finally "fix things" the way he always knew he could. Afterwards, he creates a utopian civilization in another dimension, then brings it back and tries to ''wipe out humanity'' to replace it with this "better" version]].

** On the other hand, when the Eradicator took over as Superman during ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', he had no qualms about using deadly force and thought he was doing what Superman would do. However, he's shown to be shaken by Guy Gardner's admiration and a couple of WhatTheHellHero speeches from ''Comicbook/LoisLane'' and ''Comicbook/{{Steel}}''.

* Amanda Waller, from ''SuicideSquad''. She's a tremendously shrewd politician and a MagnificentBitch in the dog-eat-dog world of DCU politics, who often has to battle her possessiveness and prejudice to do what really's right. Deep under the IronLady and the BlackBossLady, she's still human, even if she mutes her conscience on a daily basis.

* In the ''Ultimate Enemy'' trilogy, [[spoiler:Ultimate Reed Richards is willing to kill his own family to fake his death, attacks organizations that he feels are repressing science's potential for their own corrupt reasons, and tries to TakeOverTheWorld so that he can finally "fix things" the way he always knew he could. Afterwards, he creates a utopian civilization in another dimension, then brings it back and tries to ''wipe out humanity'' to replace it with this "better" version]].

** Comicbook/{{Cyclops}} took this role after the events of ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', having [[spoiler:killed Professor X]] and dedicated himself to starting a new Mutant revolution. He's been explicitly compared to Magneto by both supporters and detractors -- which is more than a little comical since a reformed Magneto is a member of Cyclops' team of rogue X-Men.

** Spider-Man has often fought a high-tech KnightTemplar called Cardiac who targets people who commit evil and immoral acts, but find legal loopholes to ecape justice. And let's face it; a lot of people would take Cardiac's side here. His victims are [[AssholeVictim horrible men]] who rob people blind and cause innocents to suffer, but find ways to legally do it, always with selfish goals in mind. Even Spider-Man, who tries to stop him when he can, can't help but admire him a little sometimes.

** After Hal Jordan's home town was destroyed, he was driven insane and became the supervillain known as Parallax. His goal was the [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of the universe-]] to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans rebuild it and make it better.]] It was noted several times by other characters that Hal believed he was acting for the right reasons, but had simply lost his way. Eventually, he would regain enough of his former morality and nobility to sacrifice himself to save the world and redeem himself, and it was later retconned that he had been [[DemonicPossession possessed]] the entire time.

** Likewise, both Buffy Season Eight and ''[[Series/{{Angel}} Angel and Faith]]'' feature Whistler as one, first with his involvement in the Twilight apocalypse (which he freely admits to Angel would have resulted in the deaths of at least two billion people), and later his plan to "evolve" the world with a magic plague. Despite the heavy casuality risk in both plans, Whistler truly believes that what he's doing is necessary to preserve the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil and save the world. Angel is actually sympathetic to his cause in the latter, but simply refuses to help him harm any more innocents or cause any more collateral damage than he has already.

** Comicbook/{{Cyclops}} took this role after the events of ''Comicbook/{{Avengers vs X-Men}}'', having [[spoiler:killed Professor X]] and dedicated himself to starting a new Mutant revolution. He's been explicitly compared to Magneto by both supporters and detractors -- which is more than a little comical since a reformed Magneto is a member of Cyclops' team of rogue X-Men.

** The ''UltimateMarvel'' take on Nuke is this. Essentially created as the ComicBook/CaptainAmerica for the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, he eventually felt his country had betrayed him and the very values it claimed to stand for, walking off into the jungles and disappearing. When he resurfaced, he was trying to create SuperSerum to give a new army of super soldiers with which to tear down the irredeemably corrupt America that had arisen, and deliberately tried to break Captain America by confronting him with all of the atrocities that the USA has performed and the corrupt governors that have arisen, including UsefulNotes/RichardNixon and his illegal campaign of carpet bombing in Cambodia and Laos and the C.I.A.'s ousting of a democratically elected president of Chile to install the corrupt regime of Augusto Pinochet.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' story arc ''Comicbook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' Atrocitus -leader of the Red Lantern Corps- is determined to avenge injustice... by killing whoever he finds guilty.

* "Imagine. I now possess the power to end hunger. To abolish disease. To eliminate crime. To establish a perfectly content, perfectly ordered world - all under the benevolence of MY IRON WILL!" - DoctorDoom

* General Zod, long-time enemy of Franchise/{{Superman}}, has been reinvented as this over the last year in the "World of New Krypton" storyline. Normally a conquering madman, he has been named military commander of New Krypton and is devoted to protecting the new planet by any means necessary, but he has been shown to be fairly honorable and decent. He cracked down on his sadistic minion Gor, promoted Superman in his place when he was incapacitated by an assassin, and came to appreciate his former enemy while still maintaining views that are much harsher than those of Superman's. If New Krypton is destroyed, [[UnstoppableRage all bets are off]].
** Actually, Zod and General Lane are only W.I.E.s at first glance (advancement of New Krypton and protection of Earth from aliens, both of which are understandable). Recent developments, however, show that they aren't this at all. Lane's actions [[spoiler:are purely antagonistic and uncoerced for the most part. While he has a point about being prepared and protected against alien invasions, he has done all he can to provoke a war with the Kryptonians.]] And all of this is largely due to the subtle notion that [[spoiler:he is disgusted that his daughter, Lois, is attracted to Superman.]] Zod is no better, as he [[spoiler:sent his own spies, composed of Phantom Zone criminals and army grunts, to invade Earth and more-or-less complimented Lane's actions]]. The whole reason Zod's doing this? It's because [[spoiler:he hasn't forgotten his blood-vendetta against the Son of Jor-El and his house and had his pride wounded by being beaten on Earth before]].

* It's a good thing that Franchise/{{Superman}} is smart enough to be freaked out by the possibility of becoming this trope, since his power would make fulfilling any goals he may set pretty easy.
-->'''Superman:''' "I'm not a soldier of any kind...It's only a short step from there to calling yourself a crusader, or something equally dubious. Too many powerful people make these silly declarations...then it's all "holy war" and "sacred destiny". That's generally when the trouble starts."
** On the other hand, when the Eradicator took over as Superman during ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', he had no qualms about using deadly force and thought he was doing what Superman would do. However, he's shown to be shaken by Guy Gardner's admiration and a couple of WhatTheHellHero speeches from Lois Lane and {{Steel}}.
** And in ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'' where Superman was raised under the belief of communism, he does just this. Taking over Russia and becoming a Dictator to protect the people. He tries to do this to the whole world but is stop by Lex Luthor with a simple [[ArmorPiercingQuestion note]] that makes him realize he is no better than Braniac trying to put the world in a bottle.

* "Imagine. I now possess the power to end hunger. To abolish disease. To eliminate crime. To establish a perfectly content, perfectly ordered world - all under the benevolence of MY IRON WILL!" - Doctor Doom

** He's been ping-ponging back and forth on this. He later tried to use a virus created from an [[TheInhuman Inhuman]] boy to sterilize most of the humans around the world, sincerely reasoning that this would put an end to the problems caused by overpopulation and the planet's dwindling resources.

* Sinestro falls into this, especially during his debut and the ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar''. His planet was, by all accounts, lawless and wild, so he used his ComicBook/GreenLantern ring to conquer it and instill order, by brutally oppressing the entire population. When the [[Characters/GLSinestroCorps Sinestro Corps]] starts up, he seeks out people who can instill great fear, including Franchise/{{Batman}} (who refuses), so he can save the galaxy from itself. Again, by ruling the entire population through fear.

** [[spoiler:In the end of the ''Sinestro Corps War'', Sinestro admits that what he really wanted was to improve the Green Lantern Corps by making them accept the use of deadly force when necessary.[[XanatosGambit He achieved his ends either way.]]]]

* ComicBook/NormanOsborn during the ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' saga saw himself as this, as we see in his [[spoiler:"monologue"]] at the end of ''Siege''. He says that his idea was to make a safer world by not letting just anyone put on a costume and decide to save the world by themselves, since they would end up causing more harm than good, knowing that, someday, the mutants would turn against mankind, or the Hulk would snap and go on a rampage that could kill millions. And he used the Superhuman Registration Act in his attempt, since it would be the perfect excuse - whoever was against him was automatically labeled as "non-sanctioned" and hunted down.

** Cyclops took this role after the events of ''Avengers vs X-Men'', having [[spoiler:killed Professor X]] and dedicated himself to starting a new Mutant revolution. He's been explicitly compared to Magneto by both supporters and detractors -- which is more than a little comical since a reformed Magneto is a member of Cyclops' team of rogue X-Men.

* In IDW [[TheTransformersIDW Transformers]], there are a band of aliens called the Reapers (not those [[Franchise/MassEffect Reapers]]), who all seek to end war in the universe by eliminating any violent races and destroying any thing worth fighting over.

* ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}}'s enemy, the Vulture, is a good example of the other type of this trope. Many years after his debut, he was given a backstory in which an unscrupulous business partner cheated him out of the proceeds from his inventions. He wrecked said partner's business, stole back his money, and discovered that he enjoyed the thrill. Eventually, the partner surfaced, and the usually not-murderous Vulture went after him; Spidey stopped the Vulture but taped the partner's confession.

* {{Magneto}} in ''ComicBook/XMen'' is one of the archetypal examples in the medium. He wants peace and safety for mutantkind--but he's willing to achieve it at the expense of humanity at large. Magneto's characterization varies wildly depending on who is writing him, but the most influential version is the one envisioned by Chris Claremont and fits this trope to a tee.

* {{Magneto}} in ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' is one of the archetypal examples in the medium. He wants peace and safety for mutantkind--but he's willing to achieve it at the expense of humanity at large. Magneto's characterization varies wildly depending on who is writing him, but the most influential version is the one envisioned by Chris Claremont and fits this trope to a tee.

** Buffy Season Eight reveals that all of [[spoiler: Angel's]] actions as Twilight (including being the head of an anti-Slayer military organization and putting Buffy and her crew through all sorts of hell) were all to prevent anything like the Fall of Los Angeles (as detailed in [=IDW's=] ''After the Fall'') from happening to the entire Earth. Of course, the higher being that convinced him to do so had also duped him into thinking it was good when it [[GodOfEvil wasn't]].

** To back his words up, Doom says that he once took a journey through various alternate futures and the ''only'' one where Earth wasn't either destroyed or a dystopia was the one where Doom rules.

* It's a good thing that Franchise/{{Superman}} is GenreSavvy enough to be freaked out by the possibility of becoming this trope, since his power would make fulfilling any goals he may set pretty easy.

* Baron Helmut Zemo is a rarer example where we actually see him become this from an outright villain. His original motivation was to avenge his evil Nazi father, and general take over the world shenanigans, he saw this change during his time on the ''ComicBook/''Thunderbolts''''. He had put this team together with the idea of faking being heroes to take over the world. Yet when most of his team mates genuinely liked becoming heroes, he changed his motives. While not reforming in standards to be a true hero, he found a lot of his ideas as a "take over the world" plan could instead be a "save the world plan".

* Baron Helmut Zemo falls here these days. While his original motivation was to avenge his father, his current MO is to take over the world...so he can save it.
** Similarly, he leaked ComicBook/BuckyBarnes' identity to the press and essentially ruined his life...because he had genuine moral outrage over the fact that a former Soviet assassin was being allowed to wear the ComicBook/CaptainAmerica costume.