I Am the Noun

Hi, "The Law"; I'm Dad.

Thomas Wayne (hallucination): You are a disgrace!
Batman: No... no! You are not my father. I am not a disgrace! I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!

— Batman: The Animated Series, "Nothing to Fear"

A character declares him- or herself to be the sole representative of a group or abstract concept. The implication is often that they believe that they can speak for the entirety, and that their needs, wants, and thoughts and those of the group are one and the same.

Will usually come in the form of someone asking about X, with another character replying that they are X.

Not to be confused with Screw the Rules, I Make Them!. Unrelated to I Am the Band and I Am Spartacus. If it is literally true, see Abstract Apotheosis and Anthropomorphic Personification. See also A God Am I, Badass Boast and I'm Your Worst Nightmare. Not to be confused with Spell My Name with a "The". A phrase like this is usually spoken with copious amounts of punctuation. Said phrases might also be lyrics to an "I Am" Song.

Compare [Verb] This!

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I am the examples!:

I am Advertising!

• Australian company Quicksilver Cruises claims, "Quicksilver is the Great Barrier Reef."
• Charter Internet has introduced Timothy, who IS the Internet.
• It is not unusual for companies who want to try advertise themselves as having a "human touch" to depict an average Joe saying "I am [company name]."

We are Anime & Manga!

• Within Carnival Phantasm, "I am the rules!" is Gilgamesh's catchphrase.
• Catherine II in Le Chevalier d'Eon: "I am Russia!" Following popular belief, that's Truth in Television.
• In Death Note, we get this in stereo from Light and L: "I am... Justice!" They both use the same word for 'justice' but different ones for 'I.'
• Dragon Ball:
  • In Dragon Ball Z, when Goku first reaches the Super-Saiyan level he proceeds to lecture Frieza, the gist of which is "I am the hope of the universe!"
  • In Dragon Ball, when Staff Officer Black questions Commander Red's true motives, the commander utters this line: "I am the Red Ribbon Army. What's good for me is good for everyone and I want to be taller. All my life, I've drawn the short straw. I've had to contend with being a mere pebble in a land of giants. It is the curse of my existence. You couldn't possibly understand what it's like... the nightmare of being a genius... yet trapped inside this ugly little body?"
  • Piccolo says to Cell, "I am the Namek!" here. Of course, by then he is a composite of three namekians so he is closer to speaking the truth than most of the examples here. He just goes by 'Piccolo' because it's easier.
  • Gogeta's Bad Ass Boast: "I am neither Goku or Vegeta. I am your doom."
• In Girls und Panzer, Miho and Maho's mother, Shiho, who is head of the Nishizumi school of tankery, says this in Chapter 14 of the manga, in response to Miho's unorthodox tactics.
  "The Nishizumi-style is a symbol of strength for Panzerkraft. Thus the Nishizumi-style itself is Panzerkraft."
• Setsuna F. Seiei from Mobile Suit Gundam 00: "I am Gundam!" Subverted later on when he declares that his True Companions are Gundam too.
• A second-person variation is used in My Hero Academia. Bakugo, in a mock-battle against his teacher - who just so happens to be All Might, the greatest and strongest hero of all time who never, ever loses - comes to the conclusion that All Might isn't just powerful, "He is power".
• In One Piece, Enel introduces himself as "Ore wa kaminari", which means "I am lightning" but with a different kanji can also mean "I have become God".
• Overlord has Ainz use one such boast while thrashing Guu, the Giant of the East.
  Guu: Wh-what are you?! Why don't my attacks reach you?!
  Ainz: I am death! I am he who brings you DEATH!
• In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yami Bakura gets a badass one:
  Yami Marik: Get ready to enter the darkness at the hands of Ra.
  Yami Bakura: Don't you realize that I am the darkness?
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the Supreme King has a rather dramatic one before unleashing Super Polymerization:
  Supreme King: I AM FEAR! I am your undoing! I am the TIMELESS CURSE! THE END OF ALL THINGS! You brought this upon yourself, MORTAL! Now you'll learn the way of DARKNESS!

We are Arts!

• Artemisia Gentileschi's Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, depicting Gentileschi herself holding a brush and palette, was historically taken as a bold statement. Gentileschi was declaring herself the "epitome of painting" in an era where women were not usually independent.

We are Comic Books!

• The Black Panther delivered such a boast to his enemies in the Jabari tribe, led by Man-Ape.
  Panther: Your tribe may be Jabari, but you are all Wakandan! And I am Wakanda!
• 2000 AD:
  • Judge Dredd:
    • "I am the law" is a catchphrase of Judge Dredd. Specifically, it's an expression of how he is the ultimate agent of the law, not that he makes up his own laws.
    • His Evil Counterpart Judge Death seems to have something similar going on, believing himself to be the very embodiment of death.
    • War Marshal Kazan has arranged to assassinate the Diktatorat of East Meg One to seize power. When his bosses try to grovel their way out of their execution by offering him a seat on the council, Kazan scoffs and sneers "I AM the Diktatorat!".
  • Shakara: When Valentine wonders how he could kill Shakara considering he's already dead, the robot responds "Not dead. I AM Death!"
• In the Marvel Universe, Galactic Conqueror Thanos delivers a perfect one after having achieved Godhood.
  Thanos: My skills, my power, are more than a body can provide! I move with the cosmos, held only by thought and never by flesh! I am Thanos, emperor of the universe! I AM the universe!
• Marvel's cosmic characters tend to love this in general:
  • Jean Grey in The Dark Phoenix Saga: "I am Fire made Flesh! I am Power Incarnate! I am Phoenix! Now and Forever!" Or, as she phrased it in her very first appearance: "HEAR ME, X-MEN! NO LONGER am I the woman you KNEW! ... I am FIRE! And LIFE INCARNATE! Now and Forever — I am PHOENIX!"
  • "I am the absence of opposites! I am that which those who live among opposites cannot explain! In short... GALACTUS!"
• New Gods:
  • Darkseid is very fond of this kind of pronouncements. Final Crisis brought us: "Darkseid IS", "I. Am. The. New. God" and "I am the Tiger-Force at the heart of all creation! When you cry out in your dreams, it is Darkseid that you see!"
  • From Mister Miracle Volume 1 #18:
    Shilo Norman: Have you been out in the storm all this time, mister?
    Darkseid: I am the storm!
  • In The Great Darkness Saga, when Mon-El gets a glimpse of the Master of Darkness...
    Mon-El: "Oh my God! Y-you— You're—"
    Darkseid: "POWER. I am Power, Darkness— and all you should Fear, stripling."
• In BIONICLE:
  Zaktan: You think you know horror, Irnakk? Horror is looking into the eyes of the Shadowed One, knowing you are about to die... and then being forced to live. Horror is waking each day to see every part of your body moving on its own - a shifting mass of Protodites where once was solid metal and living tissue. Horror is what is in the eyes of your partners when they look at you... and in the cries of your enemies when your swarm engulfs them. Don't talk to me about fear, creature - I am fear!
  • Later, when Big Bad Makuta manages to successfully pull off his Gambit Roulette and become a Physical God, he tells the heroes, "No longer must I fight you in hopes of controlling a universe. I AM THE UNIVERSE!" Justified in that he actually is the universe.
  • Earlier than that, when Makuta was confronted by The Mole of the Barraki - who claimed that under the Brotherhood Law, he has to be spared - right before he "spared" the Mole, Makuta's response was "Under Brotherhood law? I am Brotherhood law!" Justified in this case as well in a sense, as Makuta is not only the leader of the Brotherhood, he took it upon himself to eliminate any members who would disagree with him long before he started his plan to conquer the universe.
  • Before any of that, in 2001, as part of his speech when the Toa come to destroy him (destroy being The Makuta's word here):
    I am destruction.
• Henry Peter Gyrich, government liaison for The Avengers, had the catchphrase "I'm The Government, mister!"
• Uncanny X-Men:
  • Shortly after the X-Men stop Emperor D'Ken from destroying all reality, it looks like they and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard are about to go for Round 2, when Lilandra steps in and declares "I am the Empire." Then Chancellor Araki steps in to point out that, what with the whole "civil war" and "declared a traitor by her lunatic brother" this isn't actually true.
  • In issue #423 Wolverine says "when it comes to mutants, we are the police!"
    Linkara: Well so much for Law & Order: Mutant's Division.
• In 100 Bullets, Augustus Medici, the head of The Trust, is staring out his hotel window at the lights of the city below. He says they make him happy. The call girl in his room, wondering why, asks if he works for the power company. His response: "Work? No. I am the power company."
• The Comic-Book Adaptation of Batman (1989) has this:
  Mugger: You don't own the night!
  Batman: Tell your friends. Tell all your friends. I am the night.
• From Batman: The Dark Knight Returns:
  Batman: Tonight we are the law. Tonight I am the law. Let's ride.
• In Dark Empire, Palpatine declares, "I've played along with your Jedi dueling games long enough! Now you will experience my full potency... I live as energy... I am The Dark Side!"
• Vol 9 of the comic adaptation of Ninjago Masters Of Spinjitzu has Zane boasting this as he attacks Jay.
  Zane: I am power.
• The Spectre in Last Days of the Justice Society:
  I am the universe...and I am dying!
• Über: After General Sankt denounces Hitler for leading Germany to ruin, Hitler has his new Super-Soldier Markus/Siegfried melt off Sankt's face before sneering "I am Germany".
• A beautiful passage from The Sandman (1989) issue #4, "A Hope in Hell". Dream confronts Choronzon, the demon who had taken Dream's helmet, and is challenged to "The Oldest Game" to get it back.
  Choronzon: I am a dire wolf, prey-stalking, lethal prowler.
  Dream: I am a hunter, horse-mounted, wolf-stabbing.
  Choronzon: I am a horsefly, horse-stinging, hunter-throwing.
  Dream: I am a spider, fly-consuming, eight legged.
  Choronzon: I am a snake, spider-devouring, poison-toothed.
  Dream: I am an ox, snake-crushing, heavy footed.
  Choronzon: I am an anthrax, butcher, bacterium, warm-life destroying.
  Dream: I am a world, space-floating, life nurturing.
  Choronzon: I am a nova, all-exploding… planet-cremating.
  Dream: I am the Universe — all things encompassing, all life embracing.
  Choronzon: I am Anti-Life, the Beast of Judgment. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds… of everything. Sss. And what will you be then, Dreamlord?
  Dream: I am hope. (And Dream wins)
• Promethea uses this trop a lot, especially in the first issue, when Sophie Bangs composes a poem that allows her to become the new host for Promethea. Just one stanza out of several:
  "I am Promethea, the rumored one,
  The mythic bough that Reason strains to bend.
  I am the voice left once the book is done,
  I am the dream that waking does not end."

We are Fan Works!

• In RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse, Corona is fond of saying "I am the Sun!"
• In The North Remembers, Sansa Stark says "I am the north. And the north remembers." Shortly before stabbing her would-be rapist to death.
• Inverted in The Devil Is a Part-Timer Abridged, during this exchange in episode 9, when Rika says she wants to see Sadao "play":
  Sadao: [to Rika] What! I haven't even said anything to you.
  Rika: Bending over and taking it, huh?
  Sadao: HUH?
  Rika: Taking it like a little Emi, huh?
  Emi: [off screen] Did you just use me as a noun?
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Abridged: Jotaro Joestar IS THE BUILDING
• Invoked Trope in Rocketship Voyager. Chakotay demands a pardon from Captain Janeway before any of the Maquis prisoners help repair Voyager. Janeway replies that such a pardon would have to be issued by the Federation Council, but Chakotay points out that the captain of a Spacefleet vessel is the Tri-World Federation outside the boundaries of Federation space, and given that they're on the other side of the galaxy, that's certainly the case. Turns out this is why the Psiborg Collective tried to abduct Voyager and specifically its captain, as they wanted someone who was authorized to speak for the Tri-World Federation to be their Mouth of Sauron when they assimilated Earth.
• The Desert Storm series has this exchange between Ben and the Sleeper:
  Ben: What are you?
  The Sleeper: What am I not? I am the Witch from which all Witches descend. I am the Sleeper. I am Dathomir.

We are Animated Films!

• Antz:
  Mandible: Don't you understand? It's for the good of the colony! (killing all the worker ants)
  Z: What are you saying? We are the colony.
  Mandible: (Shoved aside by Cutter) Cutter, what are you doing?!
  Cutter: Something I should have done, a long time ago. This is for the good of the colony, sir.
  Mandible: You useless, ungrateful maggot! I AM THE COLONY!
• Cat R. Waul from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West says something along these lines.
  Cat R. Waul: Simply put, mouseling, I am the law here, and you are a mere hors d'oeuvre.
• Batman: Soul of the Dragon. Lady Shiva throws her sword at Lady Eve, only for it to miss the target and get stuck in the wall.
  Lady Eve: Fool. You gave up your weapon.
  Shiva: [assumes a fighting stance] I am the weapon. [proceeds to break Lady Eve's sword with her bare hands].
• Beowulf:
  • "I AM RIPPER! TEARER! SLASHER! GOUGER! I AM THE TEETH IN THE DARKNESS! THE TALONS IN THE NIGHT! MINE IS STRENGTH! AND LUST! AND POWER! I AM BEOWULF!"
  • "I AM RIPPER! TEARER! SLASHER! GOUGER! I AM THE TEETH IN THE DARKNESS! THE TALONS IN THE NIGHT! I AM THE POWERFUL WAVES OF THE OCEAN! THE MIGHTY WIND IN THE AIR THAT BRINGS THE SOFT BREEZE IN THE MORNING? the, I am the, Dew upon the flowers that glisten in the sunlight?? The pleasant scent of freshly cut grass???, The giver of presents to small children, Igivehugswhennooneelsewillgivehugs. Mine is kindness and sweetness and cheer… i'm beowulf"
• Cars:
  • "Speed. I am speed."
  • Cars 2: "Then Francesco is triple speed."
• The Prince of Egypt:
  Rameses: I am the morning and the evening star! I am Pharaoh!
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: the Wolf, who is very literally Death, as in The Grim Reaper, mocks this trope when he finally properly introduces himself to Puss, implying that he is pretty damn sick of people appropriating his name to emphasize their own lethality:
  Death. And I don't mean it metaphorically or rhetorically or poetically or theoretically or any other fancy way. I am Death. Straight. Up.
• In Rugrats in Paris, Coco Labouche does this after Mr. Yamaguchi fires "dismisses" her.
  Coco Labouche: No one fires Coco Labouche, Coco Labouche fires others! COCO LABOUCHE IS EUROREPTAR!!
• Mok's Villain Song in Rock and Rule is loaded with these:
  "My name is Mok, thanks a lot!
  I'm the power Sodom used on Lot!
  I am the drum, I am the snake,
  I'm the beat that makes you shake!
  I am the killer, I am the source,
  And you will worship me, of course;
  I'm the Oracle, I'm the Seer, the Wit,
  There is no question that I am IT! (Hey girls!)

We are Live-Action Films!

• In Airheads, as Chazz and his band first take Rebel Radio hostage:
  Milo: Hey, we're all rock 'n' rollers here?
  Chazz: (pointing a plastic Uzi) You look like half a butt puppet! Do you know what it's like to be on the bill and to play for 15 minutes and the only people there to see you are the other bands and their girlfriends? Don't talk to me about Rock 'n' Roll! I'm out there in the clubs and on the streets and I'm living it! I AM ROCK 'N' ROLL!
• Avengers: Endgame: When Nebula tried to convince her past self to not kill Hawkeye and Gamora.
  2023 Nebula: You don't have to do this.
  2014 Nebula: I am this.
• The Batman (2022):
  • The movie brings us this exchange as Batman's Establishing Character Moment.
    Mook: The hell are you supposed to be?
    (Batman dishes out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown against the thug)
    Batman: I'm vengeance.
  • Receives a brutal Ironic Echo later from one of the Riddler's followers, which makes Batman realize his Terror Hero tactics are doing more harm than good.
  • Earlier in the movie, Batman describes his Paranoia Gambit. He can't stop every criminal in the city all at once, but he can make them all afraid.
    Batman: They think I'm lurking in the shadows. But I am the shadows.
• Blades of Glory:
  Charles Michael Michaels: I am ice skating!
• Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddel is trying to avoid running on Sunday and a friend makes a place for this. When one of the English grandees questions the legality of this, another says:
  That's a matter for the committee.
  Then a third says "We ARE the committee".
• The Dark Knight Rises:
  • When Bane and Batman confront each other, we get this exchange:
    Bane: ...and you betrayed us.
    Batman: "Us"? You were excommunicated by a gang of psychopaths.
    (Beat)
    Bane: (savagely pummels Batman) I am the League of Shadows!
  • In the infamous plane scene, CIA introduces himself this way.
    CIA: Dr. Pavel, I'm CIA.
• In Dave (about a man who impersonates the President of the United States), he secretly brings his friend Murray to help fix the federal budget. Murray is hesitant.
  Murray: "What if someone finds out?"
  Dave: "Like who?"
  Murray: "The government."
  Dave: "I'm the government!"
• Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy:
  "I offer you the keys to the kingdom, and you tell me you're an officer of the law! I AM THE LAW!"
• Dragonheart:
  Bowen: "I swore I would not rest until I have hunted every last one of you."
  Draco: "I am the last one!"
• Dredd. Unlike the Stallone adaptation (see below), it's less hammy and saved for a suitably dramatic moment, halfway through the movie when Dredd has survived every attempt thus far by the Ma-Ma clan to kill him.
  Dredd: (speaking on PA system) Inhabitants of Peach Trees. This is Judge Dredd. In case you people have forgotten, this block operates under the same rules as the rest of the city. Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law. Ma-Ma is a common criminal. Guilty of murder. Guilty of the manufacture and distribution of the narcotic known as Slo-Mo. And as of now, under sentence of death.
• Used by Barney Ross as a Bond One-Liner in The Expendables 3 upon killing his ex-partner Conrad Stonebanks instead of taking him alive to stand trial at The Hague.
  Stonebanks: What about the Hague, huh?
  (Ross shoots him on last time.)
  Ross: I am The Hague.
• In the final scene of A Face in the Crowd, Lonesome Rhodes, drunk in more ways than one, makes a big speech in his hotel suite, punctuated with outbursts of canned applause, about himself as the champion of the American people, culminating in a Third-Person Person shout: "Lonesome Rhodes is the people! The people is Lonesome Rhodes!"
• Faust: Love of the Damned: As he's about to be killed in a satanic summoning ritual, Lt. Margolies shouts "All my life I've wanted to know the truth... now I AM the truth!"
• Queen Elizabeth I. in Fire Over England (1937): "Then let me speak for all of you — for I am England."
• In the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, which chronicles the Troubled Production of Apocalypse Now, director Francis Ford Coppola says when presenting the finished result at Cannes:
  "My film is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam."
• Hellraiser:
  • Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth: During the scene in the church near the end, Pinhead corrupts a bible verse after his mock creation of crucifixion stigmata.
    Pinhead: I am the way!
  • Hellraiser: Bloodline:
    Pinhead: What you think of as pain is a shadow. Pain has a face. Allow me to show it to you. Gentlemen, I... Am... Pain.
• Highlander: I know everything! I AM EVERYTHING!"
• Smaug's boast as he goes off to attack Laketown in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
  Smaug: I am fire. I am... death.
• Hook: Peter Pan disarms Captain James Hook but spares his life, ordering him to leave and never return to Neverland. Hook angrily pulls a second sword out of his sleeve and yells, "Fools, James Hook is Neverland!" before attacking Peter again.
• Iron Man:
  • Defied in Iron Man. After Tony declares his intent to run his company with "more responsibility and consideration for the country's greatest good", a reporter shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons in enemy hands, accusing him of hypocrisy.
    Tony: I didn't approve any shipments.
    Reporter: Well, your company did.
    Tony: Well I'm not my company.
  • And lest we forget, the iconic-
    Tony: Truth is... I am Iron Man.
  • Or the even more iconic-
    Tony: And I am... Iron Man.
  • Played straight in Iron Man 2 when he faces the congressional committee that is trying to confiscate his armor.
    Tony: I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one, so to turn over the suit would mean to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on which state you're in.
• Jackboots on Whitehall. The hero Chris bemoans the fact that he's not allowed to join the military because the government says his hands are too big to fit in a trigger guard. Winston Churchill declares "I am the government!"
• John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum has this from the Bowery King when he refuses the Adjudicator's order to abdicate his throne.
  Bowery King: There will be no replacement for me on the throne. I am the throne, baby. I AM THE BOWERY!
• Judge Dredd:
  • The title character's first words are his famous catchphrase Punctuated! For! Emphasis!. While his fellow Judges are crouching for cover in the middle of a blockwar, Dredd does a Dynamic Akimbo while a microphone deploys in his helmet to relay his voice to his bike's PA system.
    Dredd: I am...the Law! Drop...your weapons! These blocks...are under...arrest!
  • A more dramatic version plot-wise is during Dredd's trial.
    Dredd: IT'S A LIE! THE EVIDENCE HAS BEEN FALSIFIED! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I NEVER BROKE THE LAW! I AM THE LAW!
  • Rico's discussion with newly-minted Chief Justice Griffin when they discuss their plans for Mega City One gives us this:
    Rico: "You want fear? I'm the fear! You want chaos? I'm the chaos! You want a new beginning? I AM THE NEW BEGINNING!"
• Kingdom of Heaven: Both King Baldwin and Guy after he becomes King occasionally use the phrase, "I am Jerusalem." Baldwin's iteration usually comes off powerful and majestic, while Guy ends up just sounding megalomaniacal.
• The 1990s TV movie Kingfish starred John Goodman as Governor Huey P. Long of Louisiana (on whom Willie Stark of All The King's Men was also based), and featured a scene where Goodman, in a Dixie accent similar to the one he had in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, bellowed "I am the constitution of the State of Louisiana!"
• Kong: Skull Island: Lieutenant Colonel Packard, played by Samuel L. Jackson, when told that they need to get proof of the Isle of Giant Horrors' existence back to the U.S. so the government will send the cavalry:
  "I am the cavalry."
• The Last Detail:
  Bartender: Beat it, before I call the shore patrol.
  Budusky: I am the fucking shore patrol!
• Magic Mike: I am not my job.
• Used in this exchange from Man-Thing between the heroic sheriff and a Corrupt Corporate Executive:
  Kyle: We'll take this to the county.
  Frederic: I am the county!
• "This ship IS England", Captain Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander.
• Les Misérables (2012) Subverted with inspector Javert. "I am the law, and the law is not mocked." But his identification with the law renders him powerless instead of all-powerful.
• In Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Lane kidnaps Benji and straps a bomb to him to force Ethan to give him the disk. Ethan then memorizes all of the data on the stick and tells Lane "I am the disk" and that the data would die with him if Lane doesn't stop the bomb and lets Benji go.
• Napoléon (1927): After saving the National Convention and being promoted to General-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior as a result, Napoléon Bonaparte states that as of then, he is the Revolution.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984):
  Freddy Krueger: [brandishes his glove] THIS...is God!
• Ocean's Eleven:
  Danny: Who else is on the list?
  Rusty: [Yen] is the list.
• Paycheck:
  Rethrick: Still think you can change your fate, Mike? I AM THE FUTURE, MIKE!
• Before Erik in The Phantom of the Opera (1989) gives Christine the ring that marks her his, he tells her that "You love the music. I am the music."
• In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Davy Jones is informed by one of his Mooks that Will must have been claimed by the sea, to which he replies "I am the sea!"
• In Pokémon Detective Pikachu, the Big Bad, Howard Clifford, shouts at Pikachu: "You think you can stand in the way of the future?! I AM THE FUTURE!"
• The Princess Bride:
  Miracle Max: Beat it, or I'll call the Brute Squad!
  Fezzik: I'm on the Brute Squad!
  Miracle Max: [surveying the giant Fezzik] You are the Brute Squad!
• Jules' last monologue in Pulp Fiction has several of these:
  "The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd."
• In Raiders of the Lost Ark, as Indiana Jones is menacing to shoot a rocket at The Ark of the Covenant:
  Belloq: Indiana, we are simply passing through history. This [points at ark], this *is* history.
• RoboCop (1987): "We practically ARE the military!" Comes back to bite Robo in the ass too: "You thought you could just stroll in here and arrest me? You're product!"
• RocknRolla: He is the Wild Bunch.
• Secret Honor: Richard Nixon at one point rants about being the embodiment of the American Dream.
  Nixon: I am America. I'm a winner who lost every battle, up to and including the war. I am not the American nightmare. I am the American Dream. Period. That's why the system works. Because I am the system. Period.
• SHAZAM!: When Billy decides to use his new adult form to buy beer.
  Freddy: We don't even have fake IDs.
  Billy: Look at me. I am the fake ID.
• The Siege:
  William Devereaux: I am the law. Right here, right now, I am the law!
• On S1m0ne, Victor gets Simone to say "I am the death of real".
• In Spider-Man: Far From Home, when Mysterio reveals his plan:
  Mysterio: I control the truth. Mysterio is the truth!
• In Star Trek: First Contact Data and the Borg Queen discuss this about the Queen's statement of "I am the Borg". Data asks if this means she is their leader, so she replies, "I am the beginning. The end. The one who is many. I am the Borg." To which Data replies, "An interesting, if cryptic, response." Given that the Borg Queen is apparently a personification of the Borg's collective intelligence, her statement was true.
• In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, when Chancellor Palpatine is about to be arrested by Mace Windu for treason and conspiracy, and Windu says that the Senate will decide his fate, he simply replies "I am the Senate!"^note  Not. Yet. Given that his manipulations have essentially granted him control of the Senate, it is not an empty statement. This line, like the scene it apears in, has been subjected to a lot of Memetic Mutation. Chances are if a Star Wars fan references "The Senate", they are talking about Palpatine rather than the actual Galactic Senate.
• The Stunt Man:
  Cameron: Hey, I know you. You're in the movies.
  Nina: I am the movies.
• In Sweet Country, Sergeant Fletcher tells the fugitive Sam Kelly, "Don't count on the law to save you. I am the law."
• Ramses in The Ten Commandments (1956): "I am Egypt." Echoed, aptly enough, by Ramses in The Prince of Egypt: "I am the morning and the evening star..."
• Thor: Ragnarok: Bruce Banner has to walk through the streets of a city filled with fans of the Hulk.
  Bruce: I need a disguise.
  Thor: You are the disguise.
• In Tropic Thunder, when Jay Baruchel confronts his co-stars about whether or not they know the script, the ridiculously deep in-character Kirk Lazarus declares "I am the script!"
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me:
  • Jacques: "I am the Great Went." Laura: "I AM the Muffin." "And what a muffin you've got, eh!"
  • Man from Another Place: "Do you know who I am? I am the arm..."
• In Wishmaster, Alexandra wishes to know what the Djinn's nature is. He takes her to his hell-like home dimension, and tells her in a very evil Badass Boast.
  Djinn: You wish to know what I am? To you, I am this: The cry of the abandoned child. The whimper of the whipped beast. I am the face that stares back at you from the shadowed mirror. The hollowness at the heart of all your hopes, Alexandra. I AM DESPAIR.
• Young Guns II
  John Chisum: "You think you're the baddest man in New Mexico. By God, I AM NEW MEXICO!"

I am Literature!

• Neil Gaiman's American Gods: Shadow asks Czernobog (who is smoking a cigarette) if he's frightened of getting cancer. Czernobog scoffs, "I AM cancer. I do not frighten myself."
• Animorphs: Aldrea tries this with Ax and the gang "I am hork-bajir!" Ax doesn't buy it, still seeing her as an Andalite in Hork-bajir form.
• From The Bible:
  • God introduces Himself in very simple terms.
    God: I Am That I Am.
    • The sequel tries to top this:
      God 2.0: I am the way and the truth and the life.
      God 2.0: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
    • Most of the gospel of John is a string of I Ams. For example, John 11:23-25.
      Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
      Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
      Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
    • Jesus does it in the most minimalist way possible:
      Jesus: I AM.
    • He expands on this at other points:
      Jesus: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
  • The 'unclean spirit' (Mark 5.9):
    And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
• Stephen Colbert: I Am America (And So Can You!).
• Discworld: Death's phrase, "There is no Justice, There is just Me."
  • From Men at Arms:
    Assassin: Who are you?
    Vimes: The Law, you sons of bitches!
  • From Hogfather:
    Jonathan Teatime: So I'd rather you didn't try any last-minute stuff.
    Death: I AM Last Minute Stuff.
    • Earlier, when Susan met the original Bogeyman who became the Tooth Fairy (an unusual example of this trope being used in the past tense):
      "I was the dark in the cave! I was the shadow in the trees! You've heard about... the primal scream? That was... at me!"
    • Susan again, after Mr. Teatime mentions how he is in touch with his "inner child":
      "Hi, inner child. I'm the inner babysitter!"
  • From the short story "Theater of Cruelty":
    Carrot: You see, sir, as I understand the law, you are an Accessory After The Fact. Or possibly Before The Fact.
    Death: Young man, I AM the fact.
  • From Sourcery:
    The Archchancelor's Hat: I challenge. And those who will not face me must follow me, in accordance with the Lore.
    Wizard: Whereabouts in the Lore?
    The Archchancelor's Hat: I embody the Lore.
  • From Thud!:
    Vetinari: If you go after them, there could be far reaching consequences.
    Vimes: As far as they are concerned, I am far-reaching consequences.
• In Ethan of Athos, when interviewing the telepathic Terrance Cee for possible recruitment:
  Elli: Of course not. Not on our own people.
  Terrance: Lady, when this thing is activated, I am the other people.
• I Am the Cheese.
• Mistborn:
  • Kelsier and later Vin: "I am Hope."
  • Unsurprisingly, Ruin gets in on it too. "I am mountains that crush. I am waves that crash. I am storms that scatter. I am the end. I am Ruin." He really is those things.
• From Prince Caspian, the werewolf boasts - "I am hunger. I am thirst. Where I bite, I hold till I die" - and goes on.
• The Thrawn Trilogy:
  • The Noghri object to their sovereign Grand Admiral Thrawn breaking their rules by having a commando under suspicion taken to his ship rather than being tried by their elders. He doesn't like this. He doesn't like this at all. In fact, when the maitrakh keeps protesting he reminds them of what it means to defy the Empire by ordering an airstrike on the hills around him - and on Honoghr, where most of the planet is barren, this is really bad.
    "I am the law on Honoghr now, maitrakh. If I choose to follow the ancient laws, I will follow them. If I choose to ignore them, they will be ignored. Is that clear?"
  • When Pellaeon is concerned that the mad C'baoth is breaking away from The Empire, C'baoth retorts "I am the Empire".
• The Warden of Marshwood Hill in Martin the Warrior: "I am the Law!" There's also a snake that declares "I am death to all beastssssss!"
• There's a point in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor where Luke responds to someone's cry with "Yes, I am the Jedi. And I hope I can help." At this point in time, of course, he basically is the entirety of the Jedi; there are a few survivors of Order Sixty-Six, but they're not involving themselves in major events. The context makes his declaration here somewhat similar to how the Doctor introduces himself.
• In the RCN story The Way to Glory, Daniel becomes aware of an Alliance spy and sets a trap for him with Adele's help. When it goes badly — the spy is killed and the admiral he was duping forms a grudge against Daniel and Adele — he frets that perhaps he should've instead reported the matter to the proper authorities. Adele points out that as an agent of Cinnabar's intelligence service, "I am the proper authorities," and nothing the admiral says will outweigh Adele's report on the incident.
• In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Sidious warns his newly minted apprentice Darth Vader that he senses a disturbance in the Force, and that though he cannot say exactly what the danger is, it is real and he should be mindful. (It is, in fact, Obi-Wan Kenobi.) Vader responds respectfully enough outwardly, but...
  He got to his feet, and now the sneer was on his lips and in his eyes. "You're the one who should be mindful, my 'Master.' I am a disturbance in the Force.
• Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock gives a third-person one on his brother Mycroft:
  "You are right in thinking that he is under the British Government. You would also be right in a sense if you said that occasionally he is the British Government.”
• In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel "Station Rage" Captain Sisko tells Major Kira, "I am Starfleet" when out of communication with Starfleet command and he would use his authority to authorize destruction of the wormhole if needed to head off an invasion.
• From the Sword of Truth series:
  Drefan: You don't even have your weapon.
  Richard: I am the weapon.
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo:
  "I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor!..."
• In Warrior Cats, Tigerstar tries to declare himself the sole representative of ShadowClan. It doesn't really work out for him...
• Carl Sandburg: "I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?"
• In The Throne of Fire, the second book of The Kane Chronicles, Apophis declares "I am chaos itself."
• In Sharon Creech's The Boy On the Porch, the sheriff in the town where the boy was left on the porch declares "I am the law" when the boy is finally reported as having been left on the porch, several weeks after it happened. He's not really a bad guy, though, just rather overly officious, and he ends up being a reasonably pleasant and fair character later in the book.
• Gentleman Bastard: Jean confronts the gang that beat up the other Gentleman Bastards the day before by saying, "My name is Jean Tannen. I'm the ambush." With Jean's help, the Gentleman Bastards win the ensuing brawl.
• A Song of Ice and Fire. Subverted when Quentyn Martell thinks I am Dorne, as rather than a Badass Boast it's a sign of his lack of self-worth. He's been sent to form a marriage alliance with the World's Most Beautiful Woman, but thinks himself plain-looking and that Queen Daenerys will only want to marry him because an alliance with Dorne is important.
• Simon Black at Sea. The head of the Australian Secret Service gives Simon and his sidekick Alan Grant an assignment direct from the Prime Minister, saying that for the duration of this meeting he is the Prime Minister. Simon and Alan promptly declare he has delusions of grandeur and debate whether or not he's Napoleon instead.
• Gods and Warriors: In the climax of Warrior Bronze, Issi grabs the dagger of Koronos before Hylas tells her to let the main antagonist Telamon, the last living member of the House of Koronos, have it. Telamon then boasts that he's the House of Koronos before a lightning strike kills him and shatters the dagger, fulfilling the oracle that's been driving the series: "if an Outsider wields the blade, the House of Koronos burns".
• A variation in Titanic:
  Kevin Gilhooey: "You're protecting a criminal! The White Star Line will hear about this!"
  J. Bruce Ismay (stepping forward): "The White Star Line has already heard. I am J. Bruce Ismay, the managing director. How do you do?"
• Rand al'Thor from The Wheel of Time: "Come against me, if you dare! I am the storm! Come if you dare, Shai'tan!"
• Piers Anthony's Xanth series
  "I will send you Torus's worst dream!"
  "I AM Torus's worst dream!"

I am Live-Action TV!

• 24:
  • Season 2 we got:
    Civilian: Get out or I call the police!
    Jack Bauer: I am the police!
  • In Season 3:
    Wayne: This is politics. It's not medicine. Do me a favour and stay out of it.
    Anne: "Stay out of it?" I am it!
• In Angel, as the title character tools up for the big fight scene...
  Angel: You're driving.
  Doyle: Wait a minute! No, no! I'm not combat ready, man. I'm just the messenger!
  Angel: And I'm the message.
• Arrow: Oliver has said on more than one occasion:
  "The bow and arrow are just tools. I'm the weapon."
• Babylon 5:
  I am Susan Ivanova. Commander. Daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanova. I am the right hand of vengeance... and the boot that's going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am Death Incarnate... and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.
• Averted in Blake's 7. When Servalan is deposed in a coup, the rebels urge their leader to let them kill her, arguing that "Servalan is the Federation". The Rebel Leader points out this is only true while Servalan is alive, and she can be forced to order her armies to surrender. Kill her, and the war goes on as one of her subordinates would inevitably fill the power vacuum.
• Blue Bloods: In "Identity", Season 9 ep. 21, the head of a social justice organization is recruiting Police Commissioner Frank Reagan's daughter Nicky for a job, apparently in order to use her as a mole into the Reagan family. So Frank gets the community organizer's brother a job with the NYPD in order to use him as "insurance". When the community organizer asks Frank if he pulled any strings to get her brother a job Frank responds, ominously, "I AM THE STRING."
• The Boys (2019). Subverted when Homelander tries to throw his weight around with Stan Edgar, the CEO of Vought Industries, by claiming that as he's the worlds most famous superhero, then "I am Vought!" Mr. Edgar points out that Vought is not a superhero company but a pharmaceutical company, and so its most valuable asset is not Homelander but the confidential Super Serum used to create superheroes, which due to Homelander's stupidity is no longer either confidential or the sole property of their company. Homelander gets payback in a later episode when Mr. Edgar goes to The Seven for help getting Vought Industries out of a scandal and Homelander refuses to help, saying "We are not Vought!"
• In one of Breaking Bad's most iconic scenes, formerly mild-mannered Walt delivers a shocking Badass Boast to wife Skyler:
  Walt: I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!
• Buffy:
  • In season three, during the aftermath of Faith's murder of a fellow human being and the ensuing angst, Faith says to Buffy: "We don't need the law, we are the law!" Echoed in season 7's "Selfless", when Buffy tells Xander, "I am the law."
  • In season six Dark Willow proclaims: "I'm not back on magic. I am magic."
• Cheers: When Sam brought a dog to the bar.
  Sam: I thought we could keep him around, he'll be like our bar mascot.
  Norm: I always thought I was the bar mascot.
• The Chosen: After Jesus makes the unbelievable claim of being the Messiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, Rabbi Benjamin begs Him to recant His words or be stoned as per the Law of Moses. Jesus calmly asserts, "I am the Law of Moses."
• Daredevil (2015), from the first season finale:
  Wilson Fisk: It means that I'm not the Samaritan. That I'm not the priest, or the Levite. That I am the ill intent... who set upon the traveler on a road that he should not have been on.
• Yo-han says this on two different occasions in The Devil Judge.
  • At the Social Responsibility Foundation he delivers a speech where he exclaims that he's "the power."
    Yo-han: I am power! I am power. Me, me, me!
  • When Professor Min quotes Friedrich Nietzsche's famous "if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" quote referring to Yo-han becoming like the monsters he claims he fights, Yo-han tells him "you misunderstood the situation. I'm the abyss."
• Due South invoked this with the episode "We Are The Eggmen".
• The Flash (2014):
  • In episode "Killer Frost", Big Bad Savitar says he is "the future". It turns out it was Exact Words: Full sentence was "I am the future Flash." and we were initially let to think it was "I am the future, Flash."
  • In season 9, the villain Red Death says "I am vengeance!" when revealing herself as Ryan Wilder.
• Foundation (2021): The Galactic Empire's ruling clone dynasty use "Empire" as an honorific, referencing the conceit that they are the "imperishable permanence" that sustains the imperial status quo.
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Will uses this in "Father Knows Best" to dissuade Ashley from confiding in a personal matter. The matter in question being that she dropped out of Bel-Air Academy and has been attending public school.
  Will: Don't tell me, 'cause if I know, I can't say I don't know when you get busted and Uncle Phil start rounding up the usual suspects. And I am the usual suspects.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Rejected in "The House of Black and White". Rather than just killing a captured member of the Sons of the Harpy, Queen Daenerys orders he have a fair trial. Mossador kills him instead, and tries to argue that Daenerys is the Law and can do what she wants. Daenerys rejects the idea that she's above the law, and has him executed. The act does not make her any more popular.
  • Euron Greyjoy is fond of this boast. He says he is the Drowned God and The Storm.
  • When Daenerys first meets Tyrion we have this exchange:
    Jorah: Khaleesi please, I just need a moment of your time. I brought you a gift.
    Tyrion: It's true, he has.
    Daenerys: Who are you?
    Tyrion: I am the gift. It's a pleasure to meet you, your grace. My name is Tyrion Lannister.
• A variation occurs in House of the Dragon
  Viserys Targaryen: You will wed Ser Laenor Velaryon, and you will do so without protest.
  Rhaenyra Targaryen: The son of the Sea Snake? So I can be a remedy for your political headaches?
  Viserys Targaryen: You are my political headache!
• Iron Fist (2017). Similarly when Danny Rand is challenged to a Duel to the Death, his opponent tells him to choose his weapon, only for Danny to reply, "I am the weapon." Seeing as Danny's superpower is the eponymous Iron Fist, this is literally true.
• Pennywise in the miniseries adaptation of It:
  "I'll kill you all! I'll drive you crazy and I'll kill you all! I'm every nightmare you've ever had! I am your worst dream come true! I'M EVERYTHING YOU EVER WERE AFRAID OF!"
• On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Stephen Colbert doesn't use "The" but it sorta of applies. When Stephen Miller (in Joseph Goebbels mode) says that Donald Trump's powers would not be questioned, Stephen Colbert pretends to be Miller, "Adding 'I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds...Kneel Before Zod.'"
• Leverage: When Hardison made a robot to help Parker with her work and Parker felt like he was trying to replace her.
  Hardison: It's not a toy, it's a safe-cracking machine.
  Parker: I am a safe cracking machine!
• Luke Cage (2016). Luke goes to take on a couple of Cottonmouth's thugs who just shook down a strip club worker for her tips.
  Stripper: Don't you need a gun?
  Luke: I am the gun.
• Kamen Rider Kabuto. This is one of Souji Tendou's quotes quoted from his grandmother.
  Tendou: My grandmother said this: "I am Justice."
• Kamen Rider Wizard: Haruto Soma has his catchphrase "I am the last hope." When all the other attempts to save a Gate from falling over the Despair Event Horizon failed, he has to fight their literal inner demons before they rip that person to shreds from inside out. He is their only chance of survival.
• M*A*S*H. In "The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan", Colonel Flagg declares, "I am the wind". This is mocked by the others (especially later when Flagg injures himself doing a Super Window Jump. "The wind just broke its leg.")
  Hawkeye: I told you he was the wind. You said he was the stars.
  B.J.: No, I said he was the moon.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000:
  • Dr. Forrester told TV's Frank to push the button and Frank said, "I am the button!" He was acting high at the time, though.
  • Dr. Forrester introduces a new line of Rennaisance Faire inflatable punching bags.
    Forrester: "I am Harlequin!"
    TV's Frank: I am your worst nightmare!
• Multiple Police Procedural shows:
  Random civilian: Get out of here before I call the police!
  Cop: I am the police!
• Rome. After losing the Battle of Pharsalus, Cicero and Brutus head to Caesar's camp to surrender.
  Guard: Halt! In the name of Rome!
  Cicero: Calls himself Rome now, does he? We are Rome, boy.
• The Savage Eye:
  • Ireland's President for Life claims to be the nation of Ireland itself.
  • In the Sports episode, she travels back in time to November 19, 2009 and cuts off Thierry Henry's hand off for knocking "me, the Irish Nation" out of the World Cup.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • The Goa'uld have a tendency to yell "I am your god!" at defiant foes.
  • Also, O'Neill, at his promotion ceremony: "All these years, I've been sticking it to The Man. Now I'm The Man!"
• Stargate Atlantis: The Wraith go for the somewhat more disturbing "I am your death."
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • In "The Circle", Kira discovers that Jaro Essa, a minister for Bajor's provincial government, is actually conducting activities for the terrorist group Alliance for Global Unity, or the Circle.
    Kira: So, you're involved with the Circle.
    Jaro: I am the Circle, Major.
  • Used for a Wham Line in "The Search, Part II":
    Kira: You're part of the Dominion, aren't you?
    Female Changeling: Part of? Major, the Changelings are the Dominion!
• Star Trek: The Next Generation:
  • In "Skin of Evil", Picard quotes to Armus that "all spirits are enslaved that serve things evil". His reply: "I do not serve things evil; I am evil."
  • In "The Offspring", when Picard tells Admiral Haftel that he's prepared to go to Starfleet regarding Haftel's order that Data must surrender his daughter, Lal, Haftel replies "I am Starfleet, Captain!" Picard, naturally, is not intimidated.
• Star Trek: Voyager: In "Parallax", the Emergency Medical Hologram says, "I am the embodiment of modern medicine." Unfortunately, he doesn't deliver a Major General Song, as it's before he discovered opera.
• Used a lot by Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It. Things he is include the matrix, the press and the heart of government:
  Olly Reeder: You want to have a loop?
  Malcolm Tucker: Fuck you, Andy Pandy, I am the loop...
• Trailer Park Boys:
  • The alcoholic Jim Lahey, who is the liquor.
  • "Against the law, is it Randy? Well I AM THE LAW! Go get the chains and orange gag balls."
• The West Wing:
  Donna: [Despairing of the nigh-impossible process of getting travel expenses reimbursed] We're getting beat by the system, Josh.
  Josh: We are the system, Donna.
  Donna: ...Well, we suck!
  • When Donna had described him as not practicing law: "I don't practice law? I help write the laws! I make the laws! I am the law!"
  • And later:
    Leo: You don't pick losing candidates and usher them to their principled end. You're the guy who takes good men and makes them great. You and Josh still think you're barking at the heels of the party - you are the party!
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Scenes from a Hat has these suggestions for "announcements that will make this audience cheer wildly":
  Ryan: In ten minutes, we bring out the liquor!
  Wayne: I'm the liquor licker!
• One episode of WKRP in Cincinnati involved disc jockey Venus (very drunk at the time) wandering into Mr. Carlson's office:
  Carlson: Shouldn't you be on the air?
  Venus: On the air? I AM the air! I am the wind!

I am Music!

• Anthrax's homage to Judge Dredd, appropriately enough titled "I Am the Law".
• The recurring catchphrase of the Greek Chorus in The Protomen's first album repeatedly chant "We are the dead."
• Stratovarius has a song called AlphaΩ that is almost full of lines like this. "I am the low and high/ I am the earth and sky..."
• Panic! at the Disco: There's a Good Reason These Tables... - "Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer?"
• The Beatles example: "I am The Walrus" would be missing quite a few words if this trope didn't exist.
• The Chemical Brothers' album "We are the Night"
• Dead Kennedys
  • Their cover of I Fought The Law, keeping in with the lyrical subversion (instead of a robber who went to jail, it's a criminal who pulled a Karma Houdini on the authorities), changes the final line to "I am the law so I won".
  • They also use this trope in their original song I Am the Owl.
• Dimmu Borgir has a few of this. From The Serpentine Offering: "I am hatred, darkness and despair"
• Selena Gomez: "You are the thunder, and I am the lightning..."
• I Am the War by Sodom.
• The Smiths: "I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar..."
• "I Am The Storm" by Blue Öyster Cult
• Sabaton's "We Burn" features the line "I am the law"
• "I am the root! I am the progress! I'm the aggressor! I am the tablet! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM! I AM!" from Lou Reed
• Touched By The Crimson King by Demons & Wizards:
  "I am the angel, I am madness
  I am the word, I am the law
  I am holding truth, release your sadness
  I am the key, I am the door"

Hello Vagina by Margot and the Nuclear Killers. "I am your right hand I am your best man, I am I am I am"

• DMX: "I am the hood! I am the street! You bitch-ass nigga!"
• I am the table!
• I AM THE CHAIR!
• Pantera: "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I AM THE NIGHT"
• I am a Rock by Simon & Garfunkel
• "I am music, and I write the songs," by singer/songwriter Barry Manilow (who, ironically, didn't write that song).
• The Police, "Demolition Man" features, "I'm a three-line whip, I'm the sort of thing they ban."
• Sting has a few in "Brand New Day"; "I'm the train and you're the station, I'm a flagpole to your nation."
• Fall Out Boy, "The Phoenix": "We are the jack-o-lanterns in July, setting fire to the sky."
• E Nomine features a non-English version in "Das Böse" (The Evil). Translated from German, it goes: "Am I evil? AHAHAHAHAHA! I am Evil!
• "The Exile" by Vernian Process, which is basically a song-long Badass Boast by Captain Nemo, contains quite a few of these, especially in its second half. Notably, "I am the sea!" gets repeated no less than three times.
• Triarii - Emperor of the Sun
  I am the king, i am the leader of battle and war
  I am the legion, I am the bringer of light
  I am the torch, I am the love, I am your sin
  Come to me, kneel down for me, one more time
• grandson's Blood // Water:
  I am the people! I am the storm!
  I am the riot! I am the swarm!

We are Podcasts!

• Jemjammer has a more lighthearted version: when asked if she needs to buy healing potions, cleric Jylliana's deadpan response is "I am the healing potion".

I am Poetry!

• Walter de la Mare's poem on Napoléon Bonaparte during his invasion of Russia.
  'What is the world, O soldiers?
  It is I:
  I, this incessant snow,
  This northern sky;
  Soldiers, this solitude
  Through which we go
  Is I.'

I am Professional Wrestling!

• "You call me a student of the game? I am the damn game!" And thus, Triple H's most well-known nickname was born...
• "I am Samoa Joe, and I am pro wrestling."
• AJ Styles' theme song. I am I am!
• The Undertaker, from a speech he gave during his Ministry of Darkness phase: "For I am the Reaper of Men, the Chaser of Souls, the Weaver of Nightmares. I am the heart of darkness."
• Dolph Ziggler is perfection! (perfection!)
• Because I'm The Miz... and I'm...AAAAAWWWWWESOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!'"
• Chris Jericho is the best in the world at what he does. Subsequently, CM Punk is the best in the world (Bryan Danielson did it before either of them)
• I AM THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!
• Bret Hart is The Best There Is, The Best There Was and The Best There Ever Will Be!
• After "The Miami Pound Machine" Rod Steel was declared the IPW (Florida) Heavyweight Champion, he would end his promos by saying, "I am your champ, the champ, the Rod damn champ!"
• Jessicka Havok describes herself as "women's wrestling".
• While "leading" SCUM, Steve Corino called himself "The Most Evil Professional Wrestling On The Current Scene."
• "We don't just set the bar— We are The Bar!"
• When addressing accusations of holding other women down in WWE, Charlotte Flair declared that she doesn't take opportunities— she is the opportunity.

We are Tabletop Games!

• Konrad Curze from Warhammer 40,000: "I fear no evil. For I am Fear Incarnate!"
  • The Canticle of Absolution of the Grey Knights.
    I am the hammer!
    I am the hate!
    I am the END!
  • St. Ollanius Pius, the Patron Saint of the Imperial Guard, to Horus Lupercal.
    Where I fall ten more shall take my place! And one-hundred each of them! So strike me down! I am the harbinger!

I am Theatre!

• At the end of the opera Paul Bunyan, as the lumberjacks are bidding goodbye to The Ghost title character, Inkslinger asks him who he is. Paul answers:
  Where the night becomes the day,
  Where the dream becomes the fact,
  I am the Eternal Guest,
  I am Way,
  I am Act.
• In Wicked, there's this exchange.
  Fiyero: Why is it that every time I see you, you're causing a commotion?
  Elphaba: I don't cause commotions, I am one.
• Inspector Javert from Les Misérables
  Javert: I am the law, and the law is not mocked!
• I am Africa, from The Book of Mormon.
• Peter Pan:
  Peter: I am youth. I am joy. I am FREEDOM!
• Peer Gynt:
  • An inmate of the Cairo Asylum, called Hussein, presents himself to Peer this way:
    I am a pen.
  • Peer responds by calling himself an "imperial parchment". In an attempt to sharpen himself, Hussein slits his own throat, and dies, saying: "He lived and died as a held pen..." Peer freaks out.
• The title character in Evita says: "I'm Argentina, and always will be."

We are Toys!

• BIONICLE: Moments before his Heroic Sacrifice to save Mata Nui, Matoro does this as an extremely effective Badass Boast:
  Matoro: Turaga Nuju once said that the universe is a riddle. Today, I am the answer.

We are Video Games!

• Azure Striker Gunvolt: The game opens on Gunvolt captured by a Sumeragi officer, and on the receiving end of some Electric Torture. Unbeknownst to his captor, however, Gunvolt is a powerful Adept with the power to control electricity, which he promptly uses to break out of his restraints and escape. When his shocked captor asks how Gunvolt can be unharmed after being pumped full of electricity, Gunvolt simply responds, "I am electricity."
• The bad ending of Alone in the Dark (2008), has the protagonist, Edward Carnby, possessed by Lucifer declare "I'm the FUCKING UNIVERSE!!!"
• In Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, during the Liberation of Rubicon route, V.II Snail makes it clear he's not just the Deputy Commander of the Vespers, Arquebus Corporation's elite AC pilot strike force, he IS Arquebus.
• The Flaming Fist Mercenaries in the first Baldur's Gate.
  "I AM THE LAW!"
• Batman: Arkham Series:
  • In Batman: Arkham Knight, Batman repeats his iconic line in full at his climatic triumph over the Joker and Scarecrow.
    "I am vengeance, I am the night! I am Batman!"
  • Batman: Arkham Origins has the "I Am The Night" mode, in which if you die you have to start over the whole game.
• Thomas Mutton/Dumuzid from Catherine utters "I AM THE MORNING STAR!"
• Command & Conquer:
  • From Command & Conquer: Red Alert:
    Kane: "For the foreseeable future"... Comrade Chairman, I am the future.
  • Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun: This gets a Call-Back in the final GDI cutscene where Kane is about to destroy the world with a Tiberium missile when GDI commander Michael McNeil comes in to save the day. Kane is still shouting his drivel about being the future incarnate when McNeil impales him with a Tiberium shard.
  • And in the Firestorm expansion to Tiberian Sun.
    Slavik: I AM Nod!
• Darkest Dungeon: Followers of the church regularly chant "We are the Flame, and Darkness fears us!" The Ancestor gloomily snarks that a trip to the dungeon will make them squeal "We are not the flame, we are but moths, and we are doomed!"
• Dawn of War:
  • Soulstorm'' had this from Archon Tahril:
    "I am the deadly shadow and the bird of prey. I am the poisoned dagger that brings swift death!"
  • From other units as well:
    Space Marine Chaplain: I am the Emperor's will made manifest.
    Chaos Space Marines:' We are the destroyer!
    Eldar Fire Dragon: I am the purity of flame.
    Eldar Dark Reaper: We are doom incarnate.
    Daemon Prince: DESPAIR, FOR I AM THE END OF DAYS!
• In Destiny 2, when Clovis Bray I asks who Xivu Arath is when she begins her siege of Bray Exoscience, her response is a straightforward "I AM WAR."
• In Deus Ex, if JC Denton chooses to kill Leo Gold, the commander of the NSF in the first level, instead of interrogating him, he gives out this particular Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  Leo Gold: I AM the people!
• In the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 5, Vergil's leitmotif, "Bury the Light", invokes this with the line "I am the storm that is approaching!"
• From Diablo III: Justified as being the Archangel of Justice, he actually is the personification of the virtue.
  Tyrael: You cannot judge me. I am Justice itself!
• In Disco Elysium the Player Character, a police detective, can introduce himself to the various people he meets by proclaiming "I am the law!", much in the style of Judge Dredd. Do this enough, and he will start introducing himself as "the Lawbringer", and you will even unlock a thought concerning how saying that phrase makes the detective's jaw shift and resulting in the words coming out in a strange way that sounds really awkward.
• In the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi games (which feature a moderately changed script from the movies/anime), when Goku goes Super Saiyan against Frieza, Frieza, displaying visible fear, asks "What ARE you?" and Goku comes back with ""I am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace, I am protector of the innocent, I am the light in the darkness, I am your WORST NIGHTMARE, FRIEZA!"
  • The English dub did something similar.
  • As well as the 2 dimension side-fighting predecessor, Dragon Ball Z Budokai.
• In Fallout: New Vegas, if you attempt to defeat Lanius via Speech by stating that his armies from the East will not easily take the lands of the West, he'll boast that "I am the East, and I shall prove it this day."
• This trope is spoken by two of the final bosses in two of Fire Emblem games, and another is used by a main protagonist in another game:
  • In the final battle of Fire Emblem: Awakening when Chrom tells Grima that he has come to end him, Grima replies by saying "...ARROGANT MORTAL...I AM THE END!"
  • In Fire Emblem Fates, at the end of chapter 27 of the Conquest campaign Possessed Takumi appears and states "Betrayal... Betrayal... I am betrayal!"
  • In Fire Emblem Engage, one of Alear's critical quotes have them say "I am the Divine Dragon!"
• Halo 2 has Gravemind's special way of introducing himself:
  Gravemind: I am a monument to all your sins.
• Several examples in Heroes of the Storm.
  Diablo: I am Fear Manifest!
  Kerrigan: I am the Swarm.
  Rehgar: "Heroes of the Storm"? *chuckle* I am the Storm!
• Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2:
  • An example of Kain's dry sense of humour in
    Duncan: Restricted area. This passage is for night shift workers only.
    Kain: I am the night shift.
  • The Elder God often speak of himself this way. From Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance:
    Elder God: I am the Engine of Life, the source of Nosgoth's very existence. I am the hub of the Wheel, the origin of all Life, the devourer of Death.
    
    Elder God: I am the still center of the turning wheel, the hub of this world's destiny.
    
    Elder God: I am the Wheel and its turning. I am the circle of life and death.
• Legend of Mana, as proclaimed by the Goddess of Mana, who is the final boss:
  (the beginning of the story)
  Remember me!
  Need me!
  I can provide you with everything!
  I am love.
  Find me, and walk beside me.
  
  (the final battle)
  I am light.
  I am darkness.
  Half of myself is what
  You have fought in the past.
  I create, I destroy.
  And I create again.
  I am love.
• Mass Effect 2:
  Shepard: Better for humanity? Or just Cerberus?
  Illusive Man: Cerberus is humanity.
  • Don't forget Aria:
    "I am Omega."
  • According to Javik, the Protheans invoked this trope right and left. There's an avatar, a "voice" of just about everything. He is the avatar of vengeance. He later proclaims Shepard to be the avatar of victory.
  • After being unshackled in the second game, EDI refers to herself as the Normandy itself.
    Shepard: You control the Normandy?
    EDI: I AM the Normandy.
  • One of Grunt's warcries is:
    Grunt: I! AM! KROGAN!
  • Played with at the end of the Omega DLC. If you took mostly Paragon decisions and opposed Aria's more ruthless methods, the speech she gives after reclaiming the station ends on the following note — "We may be bruised. We may be bloodied. But we are Omega."
• Overwatch's teaser had the titular team recite this:
  Pharah: We are hope.
  Reinhardt: We are honor!
  D.Va: We are courage!
  Soldier: 76: We are justice.
  Mercy: We are compassion.
  Tracer: We are determination!
  Genji: We are harmony.
  Winston: We... are Overwatch.
• In Path of Exile, the boss fight against Innocence has him call out everything like this:
  "I am Order! I am the new and the eternal! I am Innocence!"
  "I am the storm!" "I am the torch!" "I am the Emperor!" "I am your God!"
  "I am... no more."
• PAYDAY 2 has one enemy proclaiming:
  The Bulldozer: You are up against the wall, and I AM THE FUCKING WALL!
• In Persona 5 Strikers, the party first meet Zenkichi when he gets attacked by a drunken salaryman and knocks him out cold in self-defence. When the man's work colleague threatens to call the police on Zenkichi, he produces his police badge and retorts, "I am the police. Now scram."
• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne: Kagutsuchi every other turn: I am eternity. *casts Infinite Light* I am destiny. *casts Infinite Light* I am truth. *casts Infinite Light*...
• In one expansion of The Sims 2, there is a Law career. Most of it is about being a lawyer. The final, ultimate position has your sim becoming The Law.
• From his theme song in Sonic Adventure 2: I am the Eggman! That's what I am, I am the Eggman! I got the Master Plan..."
• In the opening cinematic of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Kerrigan begins her Badass Boast by saying "I...am the Swarm." She ends the final cinematic with the same words.
• From Stranglehold:
  Mr. James Wong: You are nothing, Tequila! I am Hong Kong!
• The non-playable hidden boss version of Gouki / Akuma does this Street Fighter Alpha 1 and 2:
  "I am power made flesh! Feel how weak you truly are!"
• In Unreal Tournament Xan Kriegor's taunts include "I am the Alpha and the Omega."
• From Vagrant Story:
  Callo Merlose: It's far too dangerous! We must wait for reinforcements!
  Ashley Riot: Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements.
• In World of Warcraft, Deathwing gets this just before the last phase of the final battle.
  Deathwing: I am Deathwing. The Destroyer. The end of all things. Inevitable. Indomitable. I! AM! THE CATACLYSM!
  • Yogg-Saron in Ulduar:
    Sara ^note  an Avatar of Yogg-Saron yells: I am the lucid dream. The monster in your nightmares. The fiend of a thousand faces. Cower before my true form. BOW DOWN BEFORE THE God OF DEATH!
  • In Legion Illidan says this when Xe'Ra tries to forcibly infuse him with the Light.
    Xe'Ra: The Light will heal your scars!
    Illidan: I AM MY SCARS!

I am Web Animation!

• Weebl & Bob gives a nod to the Oppenheimer quote at the top of the page:
  Death: Lo. I have become death. Stealer of pie.
• Homestar Runner: Amusingly, unlike most examples this is neither hyperbole nor even particularly boastful; in the Strong Bad Email "army" Homestar has declared war on StrongBadia, Strong Bad's tiny fiefdom which, inanimate citizens aside, consists entirely of himself and whoever happens to be hanging out there at the moment.
  Homestar: Strong Bad, so I see you decided to join the other side, eh?
  Strong Bad: What joining? I am the other side!
• A bonus video from Red vs. Blue has Caboose mishear the word "resolutions" for "revolution" and say "I don't think we should make a revolution. I love my country and I think we should support our troops!" Tucker replies with "Caboose, we are our troops."
• Sonic Shorts:
  Sonic: Um, who the heck are you?
  Tails: I'm Tails, your new sidekick.
  Sonic: [beat] Get out.
  Tails: What?
  Sonic: Get outta my game now!
  Tails: But... Sega said I could...
  Sonic: Sega? Did you say Sega?
  Tails: Yeah, but...
  Sonic: [getting angrier] Sega... Sega!? [grabs Tails] I AM SEGA!!! [throws him into the water]
• In RWBY: Ironwood's image song, "Hero", includes such lyrics like I am might / I am power / I am due process, all reflecting Ironwood's persistent belief that he, and he alone, must be the one to decide how to fight Salem and protect Atlas. And considering what he does near the end of Volume 7, this is very foreboding.
• The Beerus vs. Galaxia DEATH BATTLE! gives us an example with the former when he grabs the Star Seed the latter had just ripped out of him.
  Galaxia: What?! That's impossible!
  Beerus: Now you're catching on! I AM THE IMPOSSIBLE!

We are Webcomics!

• Girl Genius has Colette Voltaire mark the beginning of her reign as the new Master of Paris by declaring "I am Paris", which is no exaggeration considering that the city is now an extension of her will, just as it was with her father before her.
• Schlock Mercenary:
  • Petey does this, with some (almost certainly intentional) linguistic ambiguity that also makes it sound like A God Am I.
    Admiral Argharghrar: I can't evacuate on the word of an agent from a foreign power.
    Petey: I'm no agent. I simply AM.
    Admiral Argharghrar: That's a bold statement, considering "I am" is a popular name for God.
    Petey: I meant "I AM a foreign power."
  • Tagon does it a bit later.
    Kevyn: How do you do this 'calm in the storm' thing?
    Tagon: I am the storm.
• Strong Female Protagonist: Zulie, from the Show Within a Show: "DO YOU HEAR ME, TITANS?! I will not fear the darkness! for I am the light! I am the torch!"
• Vexxarr: During a meeting of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens.
  Foss leader: Then in what way are we mistaken.
  Grey Goo avatar 1: That we are getting of this ship.
  Foss leader: And why will you not?
  [Entire meeting hall changes into the Grey Goo's black and red color scheme]
  Grey Goo avatar 2: Because he is your ship.

I am Web Original!

• I Am the law!
• In the beginning of the Hayek vs. Keynes rap:
  Receptionist: Your agenda.
  Keynes: That won't be necessary, I am the agenda.
• From Kickassia, complete with Lampshade Hanging:
  The Cinema Snob: You're out of order, they're out of order! The whole system is out of order!
  The Nostalgia Critic: I am the system!
  Snob: I know you're the system! That's my point!
  Critic: I know it's your point! It's just when you say that I'm out of order and the system's out of order it's kind of redundant!
• In the MRE episode of My Drunk Kitchen, Hannah ties a tartan blanket around herself and proclaims that "I am Braveheart, and so can you!"
• Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
  • Vegeta demands an explanation over Piccolo being much stronger than him. When Vegeta's inflated ego makes him think he's a God after learning that Kami, whom Piccolo fused with, was God and he was still here, a gobsmacked Trunks questions if he believes his own hype that much.
    Vegeta: I AM THE HYPE!
  • Later invoked by Mr. Satan during his rather protracted introduction at the beginning of the Cell games, prompting Vegeta to literally tell Mr. Perfect Cell to kill Mr. Satan.
• The Cry of Mann: Courtney claims:
  I am the thunder and light that shatters bodies. I AM THE KILLER SUPREME!
• In the Real-Time Fandub of Sonic Adventure 2, when Eggman threatens to call the police on Tails, he responds with this trope:
  Eggman: That's it, I'm calling the police! 911-
  Tails: I am the police!

I am Western Animation!

• Adventure Time:
  • Farmworld Finn does this in "Jake the Dog" when he goes insane from wearing the ice crown.
    Finn: I am the end and the beginning. I am the hand of madness.
  • This happens in the part two of the following season premiere, "Escape from the Citadel".
    The Lich: You are strong, child, but I am beyond strength. I am... the end.
• Æon Flux Opening Narration:
  Trevor: You're skating the edge.
  Aeon: I am the edge.
• American Dad!:
  Roger: You want me to leave this nation? I AM THIS NATION!
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
  • A truly classic one with the villain M.O.D.O.C.:
    M.O.D.O.C.: I am SCIENCE!!! I AM GENIUS!!!
  • And then he takes a hammer to the face.
• Mademsoille Soretoza on the original animated Babar show in "The Show Must Go On." - "I am the show.
• Batman: The Animated Series:
  • Batman dishes out a triple threat: "You are NOT my father. I am NOT a disgrace. I am Vengeance. I am the Night. I AM BATMAN!"
  • When the pilot episode of the animated series was scripted out, Batman's first scene was going to be fairly similar to how it was in the then-recent Tim Burton Batman movie from 1989, but meddling executives made them change it because they felt it was too frightening for children, particularly as this was the first episode and they wanted to hook the audience first. Like in the movie, at the end of a fight Batman grabs a thug and holds him over the edge of rooftop. The criminal defiantly yells, "Who do you think you are?! You can't rule the night!", to which Batman coldly declares "I am the night!" and drops him off the building.
• Batman Beyond:
  • Derek Powers declares, "I AM POISON!"
  • Mutro Botha says, "I am the Society of Assassins." Unlike most examples of this trope, Botha's statement is not a Badass Boast. He's telling Batman that he's the Last of His Kind because Curare killed all the other members.
• Beast Wars:
  Waspinator: Wait! Need plan! Wazzpinator in charge!
  Dinobot II: I am the plan.
  • Also:
    Optimus Primal: Megatron, don't! Their power is beyond what you can imagine. You can't control it!
    Megatron: I am power.
• ''Bob's Burgers:
  Ms. Labonz: I am the morning announcements!
• Darkwing Duck:
  I am the terror that flaps in the night!
  I am the metaphor that changes every single episode!
  I am Darkwing Duck!
• On The Dragon Prince, as Lord Viren takes the throne, Opeli tells him that he isn't above the law. He replies that she's badly misjudged the situation.
  Viren: I am the law.
• DuckTales (2017): In "The Shadow War!", Donald Duck has a voice modulator that changes his usual voice to the deep, understandable voice of Don Cheadle. This allows him to spout Badass Boasts like:
  Mrs. Beakley: Get ready for the storm.
  Donald: I am the storm.
  Beakley: Seriously, have you been saying things like that this whole time?
• From the G.I. Joe cartoon:
  STORM SHADOW: Anyone can use a weapon, but the ninja is a weapon.
  (proceeds to dismantle a tank with his bare hands)
• In the Inspector Gadget episode "Snakin' All Over," Gadget is to meet up with a "security force" to help him protect a rare coin collection. He ends up meeting an old man who proclaims the he is the security force. Less egotistical than many examples of this trope, as he has been guarding the coins all by himself for 73 years.
• The Legend of Korra:
  Tarrlok: What? What are you?
  Amon: I am the solution.
• The episode The Real Ghostbusters featuring Marduk, the Babylonian God of the city is titled "I Am The City".
• Mademsoille Soretoza on the original animated Babar show in "The Show Must Go On." - "I am the show."
• ReBoot: "I am become Gigabyte, destroyer of systems!"
• South Park:
  • Used in reverse, in a somewhat more... belittling manner.
    This is deeply offensive to the Jewish community!
    You are the Jewish community!
  • "Simpsons Already Did It":
    Cartman: Oh my God! The tiny underwater civilization has advanced hundreds of years. Look! There's a library! A-and a temple! And a- woh-? Oh. They think I'm God. Yes!!! I am god of the sea people!!! You hear that?! I am god of the sea people!!! I am master of their great sunken empire!!! Mo-o-om! I'm god of the sea people!
    Mrs. Cartman: That's nice, poopie.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Much Ado About Boimler", the captain of the Osler declares "I am the rules!" when Boimler tries to talk him out of violently nipping a mutiny in the bud.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars has the following line from Jedi Master Plo Koon.
  Plo Koon: We [The Jedi] are Justice.
• Star Wars Rebels:
  "I am the light. I am the dark. I am the Bendu."
• Steven Universe: In "Jailbreak", while facing off against Jasper, Garnet sings this trope in her song "Stronger Than You";
  "Because I am a feeling, and I will never end..."
  (later)
  "I am their fury, I am their patience, I am a conversation..."
• Superman: The Animated Series
  Brainiac: "I am Krypton."
• Trident on Teen Titans states in his introduction, "I am excellence. I am perfection. I am Trident!"
  Trident: I will win! I always win! I am superior!
  Beast Boy: And I thought Aqualad had a big ego.
• Transformers: Animated: Optimus Prime's first encounter with the rogue bounty hunter Lockdown has the young Autobot captain blindsided when Lockdown transforms from a muscle car into robot mode, initially believing that the criminal he was chasing was human. Lockdown responds with the following:
  "I am the vehicle."
• The Venture Bros.: "I am the Bat."
• Watership Down (2018). When the Efrafans baulk at tracking down the escapees because they have Kehaar and possibly other elil (rabbit predators) under their control, Woundwort lambasts them for their cowardice, concluding: "In Efrafa, we run from no elil. We ARE the elil!"
• We Bare Bears: In "Charlie Ball", after Charlie the Bigfoot's poor sportsmanship drives Grizzly to kick him off their pick-up basketball team, Charlie retorts "I am the team!"

I am Real Life!

• "You think you are the State? No, I am the State." - Louis XIV
  • Interestingly inverted by his last words: "I am dead, but the state will survive" and even more so when you consider French law. It considered the king the personification of the nation, but the new king ascends instantly upon the death of the old king. Therefore, Louis XIV's great-grandson Louis XV (his son and grandson, both also named Louis, died a few years before Louis XIV did) became "the state" at the moment of his death. Thus the phrase, "The King is dead. Long live the King."
  • This is consistent with the idea of the Divine Right of monarchs, where the king or queen is seen as the source of all law and political authority in his or her domain. In this framework the monarch is above the law. This is why you'll see similar statements from almost every European ruler from the Renaissance to the modern age. Even where monarchs are firmly constitutional, they frequently are the legal embodiment of the state. For example, where American criminal cases are The People or The State v. Whomever, British and Commonwealth Realm cases are R^note Short for Regina/Rex (Queen/King) v. Whoever.
  • Incidentally, this is why Queen Elizabeth II didn't need a driver's license or passport to travel in any of her realms. Such documents were typically issued in her name by her governments, and it would've been redundant for her to issue one to herself. The same principle previously exempted her from having to pay taxes to the British government, but she began doing so voluntarily in the 90s as a goodwill gesture. The same goes for her successor, King Charles III.
• France likes these: "The Revolution is over: I AM The Revolution." - Napoleon
• Maximilien Robespierre: "I am not the courtier, nor the moderator, nor the tribune nor the defender of the people, I am the people myself."
• Richard Jeni's skit about two people going on a date for the first time. They would sit down and take turns plunking down cards with all of their emotional problems.
  Man: Look, I'm neurotic. I need to see other people. (Plunk!)
  Woman: I'm schizophrenic; I AM OTHER PEOPLE!!!
  Man: Okay! Take the pot. You win.
• Salvador Dalí: "I do not take drugs. I am drugs." Also, when asked to define surrealism, he answered "I am surrealism."
• Portly Miami sports radio talk show host Hank Goldberg once dealt with an obnoxious caller this way. Doubly funny, considering that a self-deprecating sense of humor is normally one of the last things that one would associate with Goldberg:
  Caller: You don't know anything about basketball!
  Hank: What do you mean? I AM a basketball!
• While they never explicitly said "I am the State", Nazis spent a great deal of time and effort in promoting that image. For example: "Ein Volk, ein Staat, ein Reich, ein Führer. (One people, one State, one empire, one leader)". Then during a party congress speech, Rudolf Hess said "Hitler ist Deutschland!" ("Hitler is Germany!").
• In an interview, Amy Lee from Evanescence declared "I AM Evanescence."
• Fidel Castro said of Che Guevara, 'he WAS the revolution'.
• Roy Bean, while serving as a Justice of the Peace, often called himself "Law West of the Pecos". See here◊.
• Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report claims, "I know Western culture; I am Western culture."
• Jorge Luis Borges' "A New Refutation of Time": "Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire."
• In the intentional crash of Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771, the final exchange on the cockpit voice recorder ended with the murderer, David Burke, making a statement of this type before killing the pilots and crashing the plane.
  Flight Attendant: Captain, we have a problem!
  Pilot: What's the problem?
  Burke: I'm the problem! (shoots pilots)
• The quote that introduces the Iron Lady article:
  Josip Broz Tito: Women shouldn't meddle in politics.
  Margaret Thatcher: Mr. Tito, I don't "meddle" in politics, I am politics.
• Most important German rainbow press tabloid "BILD" proclaimed "We are pope!" when German cardinal Josef Ratzinger was elected the new Pope in 2005.
• J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the Manhattan Project's chief scientists, recalled in a 1965 documentary that a line from the Bhagavad Gita came to him when he witnessed the successful Trinity test, which he translated as "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
• First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton: "We are the president."
• H. P. Lovecraft has "I am Providence" on his tombstone. This was probably an irresistible pun for him, being that he was from Providence, Rhode Island (and that, other than his horror of seafood, he was probably the most typical old-school Providencian you could find).
• Since becoming Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper has had all official government communications refer to his administration as "the Harper Government."
• "I am not an American. I am THE American." Mark Twain.
• During the First Anglo-Afghan War, General William Elphinstone decided, in a fit of stupidity, to retreat from the safety of Kabul through enemy territory back to Jalalabad. Only one man (Assistant Surgeon William Brydon) out of the entire army made it to safety without being killed or captured. When the commanders at Jalalabad asked about the rest of the army, he replied, "I am the army."
• During the first presidential debate in 2020 between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Trump began telling Biden what the Democratic Party was planning to do if Biden got elected. Biden countered by saying, "I am the Democratic Party right now."
• Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro told reporters in 2020 "Eu sou realmente a Constituição," meaning "I am actually the Constitution."
• Megan Fox's infamous account of meeting her eventual fiancé Machine Gun Kelly:
  I just remember this tall, blond, ghostly creature and I looked up and I was like, “You smell like weed.” He looked down at me and he was like, “I am weed.” Then, I swear to God, he disappeared like a ninja in a smoke bomb.

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