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[[File:ami.png|link=Death Note|frame|[[Got the Whole World In My Hand|He's got the whole world]] [[Visionary Villain|in his hand.]]]]
{{quote|''Because you are haughty of heart, you say, '[[Trope Namer|A god am I]]! I occupy a godly throne in the heart of the sea!'''
|''[[The Bible]]'', '''Ezekiel 28:2'''}}
When a character or villain gains superhuman abilities thanks to [[Green Rocks]], [[I Love Nuclear Power|nuclear power,]] [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|Transhumanism]], going [[One-Winged Angel]], being [[Touched by Vorlons]], or [[Ambition Is Evil|just achieving whatever his dream is]], [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|he is left less than sane and often gains delusions]] (or, in some cases, [[
He will often give an [[Large Ham|over-the-top]] speech emphasizing just how far beyond ordinary humanity [[Goal-Oriented Evolution|he has evolved]], and how [[What Measure Is a Non Super|lowly they are compared to him.]] Cue the villain becoming a [[Narcissist]] who is [[Drunk on the Dark Side]] or declaring that they will [[Take Over the World]].
This guy is very likely to be brought down by his own [[Hubris]], though. [[Tempting Fate|Especially]] [[Blasphemous Boast|if he declares himself God right in front of a real God.]]
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There is an alternate form of this trope, in which the [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|protogod character]] gives a speech that is insightful, [[Cryptic Conversation|cryptic]], or both, expressing his discovery of his benevolent and ''[[Put on a Bus|distant]]'' new place in the order of things. He then [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|vanishes entirely from human ken]], never to be seen again.
The character may declare that he has transcended morality as well, and is [[Above Good and Evil]], but the [[
Aiming for godhood by ''rewriting the rules of the world'' is [[In Their Own Image]]. Another alternate version is the [[End of the World Special]]. See [[Physical God]] for those who don't have to try so hard, and [[Apotheosis]] for those who actually succeed. May, but [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|does not always]] result in a [[God Mode Sue]]. Having a sovereign ruler do this makes the character a [[God-Emperor]]. Also, see [[It's All About Me]] for a similar trope, minus the declaration of godhood.
See also [[One-Winged Angel]], [[Smug Super]] and [[Dark Messiah]]. Not to be confused with [[God Guise]]. Contrast with [[A God I Am Not]], where a genuinely godlike being refuses the label to avoid the implications; [[Stop Worshipping Me!]], where a deity doesn't want to be venerated as such; and [[Pro-Human Transhuman]], where a post human remains sympathetic to humanity. Also see [[Like a God to Me]], which is when a character declares someone else godlike but only out of flattery, not as a statement of serious worship.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Death Note]]'', Light Yagami believes himself a god who brings his own form of justice to the world by killing criminals with a supernatural notebook (all thoughts that concern this usually being accompanied by [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]] in the anime). He proclaims his godhood ''in the first episode'' and is generally consistent in this. It's like an [[Action Prologue]]. Eventually, people also start worshipping him as one too, especially Teru Mikami, who always calls him "God". Near eventually [[Shut UP, Hannibal|calls him out]] on this:
{{quote|
** Ultimately, Light's excessive hubris is explained by the revelation of the fact that {{spoiler|[[The Ubermensch|he doesn't believe in morality at all and felt free to invent his own rules because he valued no life except his own]].}}
* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where guns have ceased to exist. Martial arts masters who do not walk the path of righteousness will fall victim to this mental-illness and proceed to build an empire of blood, tears and tyranny.
* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'': Katsura-sensei [[media:
* ''[[Akira]]'': this trope is a major theme.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Gendo Ikari, combining this goal with [[Love Makes You Evil]] (he wants to make himself and Yui God), and is more explicit at the God part in the manga. He fails at trying to become a [[Physical God]], however. {{spoiler|Shinji and Rei do succeed in it, but [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|unwillingly]].}} Also part of Yui's plan. [[Mind Screw|Probably]]. Due to the nonsensical cosmology of this world, it's relatively easy for a Human to become any sort of God, since they already have one of the pieces needed. It just depends on how much of a God they become, and the ultimate version has potentially absolute control over reality, metaphysical concepts, and the ability to create new Universes at will. Maybe. We don't actually know, to be honest.
* In ''[[Transformers Headmasters]]'', Galvatron hatches a scheme to use the Earth as raw material to become a being akin to his creator, Unicron. When Punch, the Autobot spy learned of this plot, he uttered the words, "He's gone mad!" As if all of Galvatron's actions since the third season of the Generation 1 cartoon didn't clue us in already.
* ''[[Kamichu!]]'' contains a noticeable aversion: The main character of the anime actually ''does'' become a god, for no particular reason, just before the series begins. She continues, however, to act like a confused, shy, somewhat overwhelmed middle-school girl, and her deific status is treated more or less like a part-time job. This is not so much a usual instance of A God Am I but more of an expression of the [[
* ''[[Scrapped Princess]]'' also twists this trope in at the end.
* Largo, of ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]],'' not only considered himself a god, but developed a messiah complex for his Boomer "brethren" to boot.
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** {{spoiler|In chapter 104, he uses the five sacrifices to force open the world's Gate, dragging God itself down to Earth and fusing with it.}}
*** Fortunately, that didn't last long, as {{spoiler|[[Batman Gambit|Hohenheim had taken measures to ensure Father got to enjoy his godliness for a couple minutes at most.]] }}
* Cars, the villain of the second part of ''[[
* ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'', in its [[Post Script Season|OVA]], introduced Palparepa, a villain who believed that the "law of the material world" was that the victor was God and the loser was the devil. He always saw himself as the god and GaoGaiGar as the demon, and the color schemes (GaoGaiGar was always black, Palparepa is a medical white) didn't help, giving him a distinct A God Am I variety of confidence in battle as well. After he's finally defeated, he goes out muttering "so this ''is'' the law of the material world...", seemingly acknowledging Guy as a god, albeit one of destruction (and subsequently, as the OVA strives to remind us, rebirth).
* Shapiro Keats from ''[[Dancougar]]'' is always under the ambition that he will be a god. Which leads him to dump his lover Sara, and join the Muge Empire, rising up the ranks as a top-class strategist. But then, his plans eventually come crashing down, but he still held his delusions that he will be a god.
** Which doesn't stop him from {{spoiler|saving the Cyber Beast Force in "Blazing Epilogue" with his anger against the aliens who betrayed him. Dancougar is a machine fed by fury, and he had lots of it.}} All that frustration had to go somewhere.
*** That's if you don't assign the ''Blazing Epilogue'' OAV to [[Canon
* Masami Eiri from ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'': {{spoiler|he commits suicide so he can enter the Wired and become its god, but he states that he's only able to be a god because he has followers, the hacker group known as the Knights of the Eastern Calculus.}} Eiri's ultimate goal is to {{spoiler|connect all of humankind subconsciously through the Wired. That's what he created Lain to accomplish.}}
** {{spoiler|He's proven wrong quite dramatically at the end, where he actually does declare himself an "omnipotent god" before being interrupted by Lain. In a single [[Hannibal Lecture]] she hints at the existence of a real God, mocks Eiri for thinking himself anything more than a puny human and destroys him effortlessly when he tries to attack her in a rage. A God I'm Not...}}
*** {{spoiler|He's declaring this to a girl who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. And probably immortal. Oh the irony...}}
* ''[[One Piece]]''.
** Eneru, the villain of the Skypeia arc, who declares himself God. This is subverted in that, according to Gan Fall, the prior God of Skypeia, "God" is merely the title for the Skypeian leader. However, Eneru believes himself a true god by virtue of his lightning-based Devil Fruit abilities and power to read others' conscious thoughts. And the fact that the word for ''god'' (kami) is similar to the word for ''thunder'' (kaminari) in Japanese. A fact he puns on by introducing himself with "Ore wa Kaminari" which can mean both 'I am Lightning' or 'I have become God'
** Woefully subverted by the Celestial Dragons, a bunch of [[Upper Class Twit]]s who claim to be gods descended from those who created the world. They are not divine in the least, their only true "powers" being political influence as figureheads. In fact, the only Celestial Dragons to show any redeeming qualities - Homing and Mjosgard of the Donquixote family - are the ones who publicly admitted [[A God I Am Not|they were only human.]]
* Subverted in ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'': The Pillar of Cephiro ''has'' limitless power, as it is her will which [[Fisher King|gives shape to the entire world]]. When {{spoiler|Hikaru achieves this state, in both anime and manga, she relinquishes it ''immediately'' and gives it willingly to the inhabitants of Cephiro, so ''they'', rather than a single person, are responsible for their own world.}}
* In ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]]'' {{spoiler|''[[Macross Frontier|Frontier]]'', the ultimate goal of the [[Big Bad]] is to unite the entire galaxy in a galaxy-spanning [[Hive Mind|collective consciousness]] (whether it wants to or not) with the [[Big Bad]] personally at the very top}}.
* {{spoiler|Miyo Takano}}, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]''. Their goal is stated at the end of ''Minagoroshi-hen'' to be "to become a god"; exactly what they mean is explored through their backstory in the beginning of ''Matsuribayashi-hen''.
{{quote|
** {{spoiler|Keiichi too. In the arc where he tries to save Satoko from Teppei, he survives and thinks he has godly powers, because every person he said who died, died. The village, a reporter, and Takano. However, it was a coincidence, and Takano actually went [[Faking the Dead]].}}
** Less seriously, in the first [[Visual Novel]], everyone was playing a card game at the game club. Keiichi was winning almost every card game, and started calling himself a god. Even when it was four to one, Keichii was winning, and was mentally boasting the entire time. [[Hubris|Hubris Ensured]]
* ''[[Slayers|Slayers Revolution]]'': Zanaffar in episode 13:
{{quote|
* ''[[Naruto]]''
** {{spoiler|Pain, the leader of Akatsuki}} thinks that his suffering has made him enlightened and his power made him God. {{spoiler|[[Person of Mass Destruction|It's not entirely unjustified]].}} Though, [[Values Dissonance|it's worth noting]] he means more in a Shinto/Buddhist sense of a god rather than the omnipotent Christian one (in short he doesn't have any illusion that he's invincible).
** Tobi is a bad boy. {{spoiler|Madara's ultimate goal is to essentially brainwash everyone into not fighting and then set himself up as a leader.}}
** Black Zetsu verges on this, declaring boldly "I am the Land!"
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* Creed from ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'' does this after he {{spoiler|uses nanomachines to become immortal}}. He tells Sephiria that her death will be the result of her opposing God (in other words, him). In a rather comedic moment, Creed explains to Train that he can recover from any life-threatening wound in a few seconds except for damage to the brain. Train promptly supplies that makes him more like a zombie, to which Creed angrily replies that it makes him a god.
* [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s ''[[Phoenix]]'': volume Future, has main character Masato Yamanobe fill the role of God. Masato must begin the evolution of Earth anew when the current world is devastated by nuclear war (and it is hinted that this isn't the first time life on Earth has been obliterated). Masato doesn't want to be god and in fact tries to discourage the people he helps create from thinking of him in that way. The real god of the story is the eternal Phoenix, who gave Masato his power and immortality in the first place.
* Claire Stanfield from ''[[Baccano!]]'' doesn't need superpowers to convince him that he's God - he's just a [[Badass Normal]] [[wikipedia:Solipsist|solipsist]].
** It turns out that Claire Stanfield's god complex is hereditary, as his great-grandaughter Claudia has much the same worldview.
* ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' has twelve already mentally unstable individuals empowered with precognitive diaries and [[There Can Be Only One|made to battle each other]]; the winner will become God once the other 11 are dead. As a result, it's probably easier to state which one of the diary holders ''do not'' suffer from this to one degree or another.
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* The exact opposite also occurs: ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' features our green Namekian friend Kami. As you all know by now, that's Japanese for "god". Though he may be called a god, he has higher-ups in heaven and is infinitely weaker than all bad guys in Dragonball Z.
** ''[[Dragonball Z]]'': In the first Broly movie of the series, Broly is able to single-handedly beat down everyone. This includes (All of which are SSJ) Goku, Gohan, Trunks, and Vegeta. After Vegeta gets beat a second time, Piccolo appears to (at least try to) save the day. He looks at the damage, and then at Broly.
{{quote|
Broly: "Monster? No...I'm the Devil." (In the edited version this is replaced with "I AM A DEMON!") }}
** Freeza shows vibes of this during his eventual [[Villainous Breakdown]], completely unwilling to accept that he lost to a "[[Fantastic Racism|monkey]]" such as Son Goku.
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** You can even argue that this trope regarding the heroes is {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|subverted]] ''and'' [[Defied Trope|defied]] at the end of the series. Simon could have ascended to god-status easily and permanently; at a certain point one might assume this will be the case, considering the amazing power he and Team Dai-Gurren have amassed. But instead, Simon refuses to take that role; Yoko and he even give the ''opposite'' of the "A God Am I" speech: [[Defied Trope|"Simon isn't God, Gimmy." / "I'm just Simon the Digger."]] (He had his reasons, though it's a very controversial end.)}}
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' gives use several. Kagemaru wishes to harness the power of the Mythic Demons/Sacred Beasts to "become the God of the world" and restore his youth. Saiou, possessed by an [[Eldritch Abomination]], wished to cleanse the world and remake it in "the image of light." Yubel wanted to fuse all twelve dimensions into one, and rule over them with Judai. Amon Garam wants to become the god of the alternate dimensions. [[Monster of the Week|Duelist of the week]] Frantz, who dueled using a copy of the Winged Dragon of Ra, merged with Ra using its special ability:
{{quote|
* Rex Godwin in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]''. He tries to [[Take a Third Option]] in the Signer vs Dark Signer war that has been going on for millennia by losing to a Dark Signer on purpose to become a Dark Signer himself, then grafts his brother's amputated arm with the fifth Signer mark onto his own stump of an arm. The end result is that he becomes a Signer and a Dark Signer at once, planning to use the Dark Signer's power to destroy the world, then use the Signer's power to remake the world in his own image.
** ZONE in the most recent season is apparently also a "God of Destiny" ( {{spoiler|being able to change the past and all that}}).
{{quote|
* ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'': {{spoiler|Nakago.}}
* ''[[Ayashi no Ceres]]'': {{spoiler|Shiso.}} Sort of.
* Director Kakuzawa in ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' wants to be the father of the future generations of the Diclonius race so that when it replaces humanity he'll be worshiped as their god. {{spoiler|This doesn't work out well for him in the end, as it involved the cooperation of Lucy, who decided to kill him instead.}}
** Moreover, his own status as a Diclonius {{spoiler|turns out to be based on the racial myths of his once-persecuted, very Human family. Lucy's evolutionary offshoot has no connection to his clan whatsoever, as Lucy tells his corpse.}}
* Played with, but ultimately averted in ''[[Ranma ½
* Played with in ''[[The World Only God Knows]]'', where the protagonist is a god...of [[Dating Sim
* Knives from ''[[Trigun]]'', eesh.
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', Emperor Ganishka takes a stab at this, but {{spoiler|Griffith}} really gets it done.
** In the bloopers the voice over guy has a mental breakdown and becomes convinced that he is God when he finds out they've finished the last episode.
* {{spoiler|Theodore Dudek}} in ''[[King of RPGs]]'' wants everyone to play [[Role Playing Games]] constantly. Yes, you guessed it... he wants to {{spoiler|be the Game Master!}} Shesh's reaction and the last line illustrate this is a parody, but it's still a good example.
{{quote|
* Hardner from ''[[Rave Master]]''. Interesting in that the ultimate [[Big Bad]], Lucia, doesn't seem too concerned with anything godlike ([[Motive Decay|sometimes]]). It's more like Lucia's [[Artifact of Doom|Sinclaire]] wants him to have this sort of mentality.
* In ''[[Angel Beats!]]'', after the SSS manages to [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|oust Angel from her Student Council Presidency]], gets Naoi Ayato to succeed her; in all respects, he is this trope. Though {{spoiler|it becomes much more humorous after his [[Heel Face Turn]]}}
* In ''[[Psyren]]'', the [[Big Bad]] Amagi Miroku claims to be "the god of a new world." Also, {{spoiler|Usui leads the people of Neo Amakusa}} who view him as one.
* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' gives us the Exceed, an ''entire race'' who view themselves as this over the humans. {{spoiler|Happy turns out to be part of this race}}.
* The Mage from ''[[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]]'', once he became [[The Unfettered|an unfettered psychic]] and {{spoiler|hammered the Earth, then did it again in a different time/dimension a dozen more times}}.
* In ''[[
** Accelerator is interesting because he doesn't particularly want to be a god. He doesn't want to take part in the program, doesn't want to be a Level 6, or even an esper. He hates fighting. But he's decided that the only way to stop the fighting is to reach the point where "even thinking of challenging me would be a sin."
* Still in ''[[
* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'': Byakuran can also be placed here, going as far as to {{spoiler|kidnap Uni for her soul so he can activate the tre-ni-sette to create a new world under his rule.}}
* ''[[Rosario
* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'': Yusuke Urameshi had a moment like this when it turned out that {{spoiler|[[Tomato in the Mirror|he's really an]] [[Super Weight|uber-powerful]] [[Youkai]]}}, shouting "Kneel down and worship me, you insects!". Subverted in that he immediately reveals it to be [[It Amused Me|an immature prank]] and says that they should have seen their faces. Which was itself a strong indication that he hadn't changed.
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'': Happens twice in the novels, after {{spoiler|Kaname Chidori}} becomes possessed by {{spoiler|Sophia}}, the original Whispered. The first time, in ''Semaru Nick of Time'', just before {{spoiler|Sophia}} takes over, she resonates with {{spoiler|Kaname}} and she claims that: "If a God exists, then we are that existence. You are the entirety of the three Moirae. Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos." The second time it happens in the second part of ''Zutto Stand By Me'', when {{spoiler|Sophia/Kaname}} thinks that there is no God, no help coming from anywhere, only herself and {{spoiler|the machine she had created to change the world}}.
{{quote|
** It's worth mentioning that most people loyal to Leonard Testarossa seem to think the same way about her, considering her and Leonard as Gods that would {{spoiler|make their sad pasts go away, and give them a new, better life in return}}.
* Yasako begins seeing herself as the goddess of the civilization growing on her face in one episode of ''[[Dennou Coil]]''. It was...an odd episode.
* This trope is the main reason why [[Haruhi Suzumiya|Kyon, Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki]] spend so much time, effort and stress to keep [[Haruhi Suzumiya|Haruhi]] from finding out she is a {{spoiler|[[Reality Warper]]}}
* In ''[[Kamichama Karin]]'', the titular character's magical girl form is that of an actual goddess. Her transformation [[Catch Phrase]] is "I am God".
* {{spoiler|Zeus}} in ''[[King of Thorn]]'', who manipulated the Medusa in {{spoiler|Shizuku}}, and gave himself some nifty abilities in the process. {{spoiler|He also orchestrated a lot of things in the plot}}, and is [[Giggling Villain|a giggling]] [[Complete Monster|asshat]].
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Explored in ''[[Doctor Solar|Solar Man of the Atom]]''.
* This is common in [[Superhero]] comics, as [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]. Perhaps the single best-known example is Jean Grey of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]], who, as Dark Phoenix, goes to star-eating levels before committing suicide. (Though later [[
** In one particularly literal case, Dr. Doom tried to claim [[The Mighty Thor|Thor's]] hammer to gain his power.
** Doom is the unsurpassed master and monarch of this trope. "I want that power. By right, it is mine. For ultimate power is the ultimate destiny of Doom!" And, in fact, Victor von Doom has come within a fraction of a hair's width of securing Real Ultimate Power (TM) several times in the past - to the extent of successfully stealing not only the Power Cosmic of [[Galactus]] but also The Beyonder's apparently omnipotent abilities in the course of the ''[[Secret Wars]]'' story arc. Naturally, [[Status Quo Is God|he is beaten in the end once again]], but still...
*** After [[Mark Millar]]'s run he gained god-like powers at a level strong enough to kill a Watcher. Still, it's possible that all writers will quickly forget about it.
** [[Storm]] was also worshiped as a goddess by African tribes when she was young.
* Another [[Incredibly Lame Pun|X-ample]] with [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Apocalypse]], who claims to have masqueraded as various gods during his millennia-long life. In the [[X-Men (animation)|'90s cartoon]], he delivers a great line to Graydon Creed: "I am as far beyond mutants as they are beyond you!"
** And later, the returning [[The Vamp|Selene]] has made it very clear that she was now aiming straight at godhood. Well, not before making her enemies suffer and pay for having impeded her.
* [[Wolverine]] narrowly avoided this during ''Lost in the Funhouse''. After being imbued with the power of the issue's [[MacGuffin]], he briefly revels in the thought of what he could do - before realising that if he starts using it, he'll never be able to stop and [[He Who Fights Monsters|end up like the villain of the issue]].
{{quote|
* Hopping up on Chaos energy tends to do this to Echidnas in ''[[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series; both Enerjak and his descendant Knuckles have attempted to warp reality to their own design after being supercharged by the Master Emerald.
** In an alternate reality's future, Knuckles did succeed in altering the world as he saw fit, crushing all real resistance with ease and tearing out the souls of the most talented opponents (main cast included). However, in a twist of irony, he became so bored without a challenge he let the Freedom Fighters continue to exist for entertainment value.
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* Winnowill from ''[[Elf Quest]]'' has some very distinct ideas about The World How It Should Be - including her own unquestioned dominion over earth and space, and the non-existence of the main cast. Her [[Love Martyr]] Rayek suffers from the same malady, to a somewhat lesser extent (not that much lesser, though).
* In ''[[The Books of Magic]]'', Timothy Hunter may become this in the future, and we catch glimpses of it. The first story arc of the series involves various magicians in [[The DCU]] trying to decide what to do about this.
* {{spoiler|Element Lad}} in the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (
* In the ''[[Planet Hulk]]'' storyline, {{spoiler|the Red King claims to be God in the flesh while fighting the [[
* During the end of [[Peter David]]'s run on Marvel's [[Captain Mar-Vell|Captain Marvel]], Genis, the then-Captain, became Cosmically Aware ''and'' empowered. He was driven mad by being suddenly conscious of every event and being that existed throughout the universe at once, then subsequently went about erasing ''all of reality'' within a meager few pages. Reality gets better later, though. He later goes on to harass preachers and Asgard in an attempt to force his self-declared godhood on the rest of the world.
* Ironically subverted during "The Korvac Saga" in ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]''. Korvac, a supervillain, accidentally gains cosmic powers and knowledge... and, realizing humanity is at the mercy of [[Cosmic Horror Story|uncaring cosmic beings]], decides to help free the universe from them. Unfortunately, he is tracked down by The Avengers (who had no idea what had happened to him) and is exposed, ruining his plans. In the end, he commits suicide out of despair. This story has been retconned later to make it seem that Korvac was still villainous and that the Avengers were right in opposing him, but anybody who reads the original version can clearly tell that wasn't the case.
* Even though ([[Depending on the Writer]]) the [[New Gods]] aren't really gods per se, rather being highly advanced aliens, the New God [[Darkseid]] has always held himself to be a dark god in the flesh and is indeed worshiped as such by the people of Apokolips. He is the unquestioned ruler of his planet, has highly advanced powers and the only opponent who can stop him even temporarily is [[Superman]]. In [[Superman: The Animated Series|the animated series]], when Supes manages to beat Darkseid in battle, his followers pick him up and help him.
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** [[Final Crisis|"I. AM. THE. NEW. GOD."]]
* Every other appearance by [[Thanos]] has him stealing an artifact or power source that gives them godlike power. This was most obvious when he acquired the Infinity Gems.
* ''[[Thunderbolts]]'' #120: [[Norman Osborn]] loses his shit, resulting in the following exchange;
{{quote|
'''Green Goblin''': "I am God!" }}
* The Skull of ''[[Earth X]]'' has the power to control the minds (or at least bodies) of every human being on Earth. Not surprisingly, he declares himself to be God. Ironically, he's more of [[Touched by Vorlons|a pawn]] of the "real" gods of the setting, the Celestial Host.
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'''[[Captain America (comics)]]''': "Then I'm Nietzsche." }}
** Mar-Vell gains omniscience in the sequel. Yeah, there you go.
* A... different example was [[Crazy Awesome|Snowflame]] from ''New Guardians'', a villain whose power source was ''cocaine''. After snorting a massive amount of it, he declares himself "a true god"
** In some traditions there are deities or deity like beings that do worship the higher god in the pantheon. But yeah, a villain whose power source is a drug probably is just insane.
* Hiro-Kala, teenage son of Hulk, gave us a really badass example, telling a whole army that:
{{quote|
* Rughal in ''[[The 99]]'' attempted to become godlike by absorbing all the knowledge of the noor stones. It didn't end well.
* In ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'' this happens ''twice'' to Robotnik. The first time, in the "Robotnik Reigns Supreme" storyline, he manages to absorb the power of the [[Green Rocks|Chaos Emeralds]] and has reality completely at his whim until he gets outwitted by Sonic and drained of his powers. Much later he is hooked up to an alien machine supposed to drain the life force out of the planet and into his body, which gives him a brief moment of god-like powers until he is defeated again.
* Toyed with in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'', as, when Jon experiments with creating life, he becomes more god-like than most of the examples on this page, and yet he pointedly avoids thinking of himself in such terms.
* Blume, the [[Cephalothorax|giant floating head]] from ''[[Green Lantern]]'', tries to pass himself off as a "God of Hunger" so he can con aliens out of their valuables. The trick doesn't work very well on [[One-Man Army|Larfleeze]].
* In one two-part story in [[Captain America (comics)]], the Red Skull obtains the [[MacGuffin|Cosmic Cube]] and becomes this. He demonstrates by making himself a suit of golden armor and generating a [[Mook]] for Cap to fight. Eventually, Captain America knocks the Cube from the Skull's hand, and the Skull [[Disney Death|presumably dies]] diving into the water after it.
* Borderline example: Evil Kryptonians like General Zod tend to see themselves as above everyone due to their incredible power. At least Zod is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize ''some'' people can threaten them, urging his [[Mooks]] to learn decent fighting skills and battle tactics.
* In a Marvel UK ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' story, Galvatron fits a massive energy collector to a volcano and keeps telling everyone present that as soon as he absorbs all the energy, he'll become a god. He fails, but just barely.
* In ''[[Superman]]: Godfall'', Lyla manages to drain a portion of Superman's power into herself, and she quickly goes to Metropolis and demands worship. She is ''quite'' surprised when the people don't comply.
* Thankfully averted [[Beware the Superman|by Superman]], who never thinks that his powers should grant him privilege and worship. Batman does note while observing Superman lifting up buildings that it's sometimes hard ''not'' to think of Clark as a
** Superman himself lampshades this trope on occasion when justifying the often debilitating strictness of his pacifism: the immensity of his power means he doesn't dare risk [[Slowly Slipping Into Evil]] ''at all'' for fear of [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|falling right into the dark side.]]
* A [[Chick Tract]] had one of
* The [[Scarlet Witch]] attained godlike powers for a time, which naturally proved highly detrimental to her sanity. Birthing children with an android probably didn't help.
* ''[[Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja]]'': Alfie O'Meagan often proclaimed himself to be the most powerful and most generous being in the universe. Justified in that he's a [[Reality Warper]] [[Psychopathic Manchild]].
* In ''[[Action Comics]]'', [[Lex Luthor]] merges with a Phantom Zone entity and becomes a massive godlike [[Energy Being]]. He uses his new power to halt entropy in all of existence and grants everyone immortality and eternal bliss while reveling in his godhood and flaunting it in the face of [[Superman]]. {{spoiler|Then his Loisbot informs him that the zone entity made sure Luthor couldn't do anything negative with that power such as killing Superman. He can't refrain from trying, and so squanders his power in self-destructive pettiness.}}
* Doctor Destiny from [[The Sandman]] when he briefly acquires one of Morpheus' artifacts. He actually does manage to cause mass chaos in both the real world and the dream world, and almost destroys the dream world entirely... {{spoiler|until he accidentally gave the Lord Of Dreams a [[Power-Up]]}}.
* Two words. [[Reality Warper|Emperor]]. [[The Joker|Joker]].
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* ''[[Thousand Shinji]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Misato ascending to becoming the new Chaos gods}}, leading after a [[Time Skip]] into ''[[The Open Door]]''.
* ''Until the End of Time'': [[Dragonball Z|Super Saiyan]] [[Those Wacky Nazis|Hitler]]. Complete with a [[Shout-Out]] to the ''[[Street Fighter (film)|Street Fighter]]'' movie.
* ''[[Harry Potter and
{{quote|
* There are fanfiction roleplayers who fall under this trope. They really love God Moding, even if it's a huge annoyance to others. Can you say "[[Mary Sue]]"?
* In ''[[The Shape of the Nightmare to Come]]'', [[Warhammer
* In ''[[Divine Blood]],'' this is averted as Tessa Testarossa became the first Ainur more about ensuring the psychological and spiritual survival of her people against things like [[The Virus|this fic's version of Kodachi Kuno]] and to serve as a message to the Gods and Demons that humanity can't be pushed around anymore. She still insists on being kept in the normal chain of command and suggested that having a full Ainur division would be a mistake and point of vulnerability.
* In ''[
* Although he doesn't actually gain any godly powers, Calvin seems to believe this in [[Makes Just as Much Sense in Context|one long insane spurt]] in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes:
{{quote|
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship
* ''[[
==
* ''[[The Man Who Would Be King]]'' is practically the [[Trope Codifier]].
* In ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'', the Train Man is a [[Physical God]] while in his subway:
{{quote|
'''Train Man:''' Don't you get it? I ''built'' this place. Down here, I make the rules. Down here, ''I'' make the threats.
'''Train Man:''' ''*punches Neo into the back wall*''
'''Train Man:''' "Down here[[Beat|.]][[Dramatic Ellipsis|..]] I'm God. }}
* ''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]'' (1931): [[Ur Example|One of the earliest examples]]. After Henry's famous [[Large Ham|"It's alliiive!"]], when he goes on to say [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c "Now I know what it feels like to be God!"] Originally, that part of the line was cut because the censors said it was blasphemous (which it is). It was cut off by a thunderbolt; the full line wasn't restored until ''1999'', 12 years after most of the other excised scenes were restored in full.
* ''[[Batman Forever]]'': Neatly subverted, as The Riddler makes a deep dark speech involving the titular line, finished with a [[Power Echoes|deep, echoing invocation]] of "I", then asks, "[[Large Ham|Was that over the top? I can never tell!]]"
* ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'': Jafar does a textbook example of the rundown of this trope, wishing to become an all-powerful genie. In his following exultations, he mentions how the universe is now his to control, even going so far as to create a small solar system between his hands just for the hell of it. This is until Aladdin reminds him what the other half of "phenomenal cosmic power" is... "itty bitty living space".
* Skeletor has one of these speeches at the climax of the ''[[Masters of the Universe (film)|Masters of the Universe]]'' live-action movie, right down to the line "I am a god!"
* ''[[The Lawnmower Man]]'' (has [[In Name Only|nothing but the title in common]] with the [[Stephen King]] short story), where Jobe declares his intention to be the "Cyberchrist." His defining line (referring to [[Cyberspace]]): "[[Punctuated!
* ''[[Groundhog Day]]''. After reliving the same day over and over again, and attempting suicide in a vast number of different ways,
* ''[[Street Fighter (film)|Street Fighter]]'': At the climax, [[Raul Julia|Bison]] (now mad with power) delivers the following line as he goes [[One-Winged Angel]] on [[Jean
{{quote|
:: After kicking Guile's ass for the next couple of minutes, Bison delivers one of the [[Ham and Cheese|hammiest lines ever recorded]].
{{quote|
:: Considering he's directly paraphrasing [[The Bible|Luke 10:18]], he's probably not just claiming godhood, but that he is the Christian or Abrahamic God Himself.
* ''[[In the Mouth of Madness]]'': Sutter Cane, the [[Rewriting Reality|reality-rewriting author]] claims to have become god sometime after completing his latest work, and proves it by turning the world blue.
** However, his true purpose was as a servant to all manners of [[Cosmic Horror Story|Cosmic Horrors]] and [[Eldritch Abomination
* ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'' features a mortal (that's Bruce!) who is granted divine powers for as long he wants. Bruce, being a flawed and limited human, ensures that mistakes are made. The trope is deconstructed since Bruce does not use his powers for any greater jobs than teaching his dog to urinate into a human toilet and advance his reporter career by creating ''amazing'' events to report. But by doing even such pathetic things he still manages to make big problems for himself and everyone, and manages to lose his girlfriend because she prefers normal Bruce. So God must take his place back and fix everything in a snap using same powers.
* Xerxes in ''[[300]]'' claims himself to be a "[[God-Emperor|God-King]]".
* [[Sadist Teacher|Trunchbull]] in ''[[Matilda (film)|Matilda]]'' is pretty frank about this:
{{quote|
* ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'': The Green Goblin/Norman Osborn in the first movie seems to fit this bill. "There are eight million people in this city. And those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders. You, me? We're exceptional."
* From ''[[Caligula]]'': "I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and therefore I am a god."
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* ''[[Malice (film)|Malice]]'' is about an egocentric surgeon who begins to believe he is God, even saying so in a deposition. The film's star Alec Baldwin [[Actor Allusion|referenced it in character as Jack Donaghy]] on an episode of ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]''.
* The villain Benedict declares this in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' once he's beginning to fully grasp his newfound ability to cross between dimensions and defy the real-world laws of physics at will...
{{quote|
* In ''[[Almost Famous]]'', rock star Russell Hammond takes too much acid and climbs on a roof at a house party to declare "I am a golden god!" Later, when he has sobered up, he doesn't believe he said it. This is actually in reference to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin having said the same thing on a hotel balcony.
* Deacon Frost's goal in the first ''[[Blade (film)|Blade]]'' movie is to become La Magra, the vampires' Blood God. ([[Warhammer
* Inverted and/or parodied in the movie ''[[Ghostbusters]]''
{{quote|
'''Stantz''': "Um... No."
'''Gozer''': "Then die!"
(Gozer unleashes a hail of [[Shock and Awe|Force Lightning]] that almost knocks the Ghostbusters off the top of a skyscraper.)
'''Zeddmore''' (to Stantz): "Ray. If someone asks if you are a god, you say, 'yes!'" }}
* ''[[Dreamscape]]''. When Tommy Raye faces off against Alex Gardner in the President's dream, he tells Alex "In here, I'm God." And, because of his mastery and knowledge of dream warfare, he is.
* Freddy Krueger in ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]''.
{{quote|
'''Freddy:''' ''This'' (holds up claw glove)... is God! }}
** And in the remake
{{quote|
'''Freddy''': No, just me. }}
* In ''[[The Last Airbender]]'', Admiral Zhao has one when he's about to {{spoiler|kill the moon spirit}}.
{{quote|
* In the movie ''[[Superman II]]'' General Zod demands that the president of the United States [[Kneel Before Zod|kneel before him]]. He agrees to do so in order to save lives. In desperation he utters:
{{quote|
'''General Zod''': ''Zod''. }}
** Actually, Zod wasn't implying he was a god. He thought the president had gotten his name wrong.
*** However, his yellow sun powers have made him believe he has the right to rule the planet.
* In ''[[The Fourth Kind]]'', a tape recorder is accidentally left running during an [[Alien Abduction]]. While the video is reduced to static, the sound remains and the lead alien says ([[Ancient Astronauts|in Sumerian]]) "I AM ''*static*'' GOD!"
* Director Cockburn of ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' gave a speech like this.
{{quote|
** {{spoiler|Then he stepped on a land mine and ended up being judged by God.}}
* In the climax of ''[[Dark Star]]'', {{spoiler|Doolittle succeeds at convincing Bomb #20 that its external sensory data is a lie and it itself is the only thing it can be sure exists, in a desperate gambit to make the bomb disregard an order to detonate while still attached to the ship.}} Unfortunately, the character in question uses this new 'insight' to become a solipsist and eventually decides that, in the absence of anything else having any proof of existence, this means it is, in fact, God. And God said "let there be light"... And there was light...
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* While not specifically stating Godhood, Andrew in ''[[Chronicle]]'' implies himself to be an "Apex Predator", giving imagery of a lion not feeling remorse when it eats a gazelle. He then crushes a car, just the drive the point home.
* [[Judge Dredd]]'s arch-enemy Rico.
{{quote|
* Loki invokes this in ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'' (in fairness, he ''is'' a Norse god, but in the Marvelverse the Norse gods were [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]].) [[Incredible Hulk
{{quote|
* Divine from ''[[Pink Flamingos]]''. When asked if she believes in God, she replies "I ''am'' God!"
== [[Literature]] ==
* Issus in ''[[John Carter of Mars|The Gods of Mars]]''. Almost universally worshipped as a goddess by all the Martian races, {{spoiler|but actually just a manipulative old Black Martian crone with delusions of grandeur.}}
* The Authority in ''[[His Dark Materials]]'', who is actually the oldest angel.
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* [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''Homecoming'' series: The Keeper of Earth is never outright stated to be God (or even Gaia), but with the stunts She (as The Keeper is usually called) pulls off (sending an image of Nafai's face to a Digger girl 1,000 years before he was born, chasing the bulk of humanity off with a spontaneous Ice Age), She might as well be.
* [[Simon R. Green]]'s ''[[Deathstalker]]'' series, in many cases - though the most notable one involves a [[Stable Time Loop]] combined with a HUGE [[Ass Pull]] at the very end of the Owen-centric series.
** If you want a
* Frank Herbert's ''[[Dune]]'', the protagonist, Paul Atreides becomes the [[Messianic Archetype|Kwisatz Haderach]], the universe's [[Ubermensch|super being]]. His consciousness can be in many places at once and can see things before they happen. He is worshipped as a messiah and god.
** An important point that [[The Film of the Book]] apparently missed: Paul is not a god (the limitations of his power are repeatedly shown), and doesn't consider himself so. He is a man playing on superstitions to appear as a god to his followers.
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* One character's pursuit of this trope is the plot driver for the second ''[[Dragonlance]]'' trilogy. {{spoiler|Raistlin succeeds, with rather horrific results for all involved. [[Pyrrhic Villainy|Including him]]. But through a continuation of the somewhat involved time-travel storyline, Caramon warns him of this early enough on for Raistlin to upgrade his condition to [[Redemption Equals Death|sort-of-heroically sacrificed and dead]]. (Or tortured for all eternity in Hell.) Though this does not prevent him from making postmortem cameos.}}
** Don't forget the Kingpriest of Istar who went as far as demanding the gods serve him. What brought about the cataclysm was his demand that the gods make him a god himself.
** Or Fistandantilus, who came up with the whole "become a god" plan that {{spoiler|Raistlin}} hijacked. In fact, he was [[The Man Behind the Man|the man behind the Kingpriest]] as well. And from ''The Legend of Huma'' there was Galan Dracos, whose plan to steal the Dark Queen's powers wasn't as well thought out as the others, though to be fair it took place chronologically first, so they might have been able to learn from his mistakes. Really, this one crops up a lot with [[Evil Sorcerer
* Obould Many-Arrows from ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' acquires the moniker Obould-Who-Is-Gruumsh at the height of his power, Gruumsh being the chief god of the Orcs.
** Gruumsh sponsored Obould as his Chosen (divine minion given with a shred of godly power without extra strings attached) before this and vassal demigod after (upon death), so it's only a little exaggeration.
** Karsus from ancient pre-history was the only man who acquired divine status through spellcasting. Well, [[Too Much for Man to Handle|for a minute or so]], anyway. Just long enough to see [[Gotterdammerung|how much]] it [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]
* In ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' Conphas eventually convinces himself that he is a god.
** And in what has been revealed of the second trilogy, {{spoiler|Kellhus gets himself worshipped as one.}}
* In [[Michael Moorcock]]'s ''The Chronicles of [[Corum]],'' the ambitious sorcerer Shool is convinced he has already become a god and is aiming for Supreme God, enlisting Corum for the purpose. In the end it turns out he was merely a puppet of the Chaos Lords, and is left a hollow, dying shell after he has [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived his usefulness]].
* Inverted in [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' series. {{spoiler|Since the original God is too caught up in this trope's attitude to bother with Earthly affairs, another more humble individual must be manipulated into becoming God}}.
* "For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something."
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** ''[[Thief of Time]]'', {{spoiler|Lobsang/Jeremy becomes the new Time, with control over all aspects of it - although to be honest, it's more of a responsibility and a change of pace than anything having to do with powers. And despite his newfound status, he still submits to Lu-Tze in the dojo, in a brilliant denouement.}}
** Coin, from another of his novels, ''[[Sourcery]]'', actually imprisoned all the known gods in a sphere of thought just to prove that he could.
** Also, in ''[[Pyramids]]'', when now-King Teppic re-enters his home country of Djelibeybi (counterpart to Ancient Egypt), after {{spoiler|it has been pushed out of reality}}, the intense belief of his subjects makes him divine.
* Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from ''[[Journey to the West]]''. After taking the Ruyi-Jingu-Bang from the palace of the Dragon King of the West, he was given a position in the Jade Emperor's court to satiate his desire for acknowledgement. However, once Wukong realized that his position was a janitorial position, he set up a plot to, and succeeded in, taking over Heaven, declaring himself "The Sage Greater than Heaven." It wasn't until the Jade Emperor asked Buddha himself to do something that Wukong was ousted.
** Ironically, after he was freed and assisted Xuangzang in his journey, he DID become worshipped as a god, and in Buddhism is proclaimed the Buddha of Courage (not a godly position entirely, but as close as someone can get to godhood in a religion which itself has no real gods).
* [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''[[The Riddle
* This is more or less the plot of Dave Duncan's ''Great Game'' series, in which {{spoiler|all gods derive their power from people worshipping them. The plot revolves around the attempt by the existing gods to stop a new god from accruing sufficient power to topple them all, and the main character's attempts to stop him by becoming a new god as well}}
* In Fiona Patton's ''Tales of the Branion Realm'' series, the royal family of a fantasy England is physically possessed by a fire god, making the sovereign something of a Christ-figure. Not only does she have divine right, she can prove it. She can set things on fire with a thought, and her family has blazing eyes. Most of the books center on the oddities of religion under such a system: What do you do when God is your mother (and is being abusive)? What do you do when God is a five-year-old child? What do you do when God converts to the worship of a different God? (The answer to the latter is that you seduce God and raise his kid up in the correct religion.)
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* ''Dead Beat'' of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' revolves around several necromancers competing to be the focus of the Darkhallow ritual to absorb enough powerful souls of the dead to attain godlike power.
* David Eddings' ''[[The Malloreon]]'' has the mad disciple Urvon declare himself a god, we then get a rather awesome scene of [[Big Bad|Child of the Dark]] Zandramas putting him down:
{{quote|
* This trope appears in another main series of [[David Eddings]] as well. {{spoiler|The main protagonist of [[The Elenium|Elenium and Tamuli]], Sir Sparhawk, is "Anakha", the man without destiny. In the end of the last book it is revealed that instead of just being able to use [[MacGuffin|Bhelliom's]] powers, he himself is in fact at least as capable as the Bhellion. It's also suggested that it was actually him all along instead of Bhelliom's powers. For comparison, Bhelliom and it's counterpart Klael (which are more or less analogous to the two Destinies appearing in ''The [[The Belgariad|Belgarion/Malloreon]]'' as the Orb and Sardion) have powers beyond any of the deities mentioned in the series.}}
* Vanjit from ''[[The Long Price Quartet]]'' after {{spoiler|binding her Andat, Clarity-of-Vision.}}
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** ''[[Mistborn]]'': The Lord Ruler, [[Evil Overlord|King and God]] of [[The Empire]], who is actually {{spoiler|just a human with a particularly powerful combination of natural abilities}}. This trope is also invoked by [[Rebel Leader|Kelsier]] who deliberately positions himself as a god to give the masses something else to believe in, so they'll rebel. {{spoiler|And in the end of the trilogy, Vin and then Sazed are mortals who become the real deal}}.
** ''[[Warbreaker]]'': The Returned are people who died in some notable fashion and then return to life; opinions as to what exactly they are varies across the world, but in Hallandred, where most of the action takes place, they are seen as gods and they (and their priests) run the secular government as well.
** ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'': The ten Heralds of the Almighty are apparently (we don't know much about their background yet) humans imbued with a portion of God's power for a specific purpose. During the time the series takes place in, they've mostly [[Shrouded in Myth|passed into legend]]; Vorinism, the planet's dominant religion, treats them more like angels or saints than gods, but there are other religions that center around the worship of one or more Heralds.
* ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'': This may be a little unfair, but Richard Rahl does maintain and encourage the tradition of everyone regularly bowing down and chanting, "Master Rahl guide us... In your light we thrive...Our lives are yours," for four hours a day. Eventually there was a point to keeping this up, but not initially.
* Subverted when ''[[Conan]]'s'' girlfriend Muriela, who specialises in impersonating gods, emerges from behind an idol of a goddess glowing purple and giving a different A God Am I speech than the one they had rehearsed. When the worshippers are all off doing her bidding Conan sneaks over and suggests that they leave, at which point she tells him not to be so presumptuous and to clear off before she remembers that he intended to con people in her name. It is strongly implied that the girl lives happily ever after in exchange for periodically renting her physical form to the goddess, who thought the girl was far more fetching than her idol.
* Jacen and Jaina Solo in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' take on personas of two Yuuzhan Vong gods. Jacen also has [[God Mode]] later, but [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]].
** The [[Big Bad]] of the [[New Jedi Order]] {{spoiler|Onimi}} believes that if he kills [[Omnicidal Maniac|everyone in the galaxy]] he'll get the power he needs to become a god. Somewhat unusually, he also believes that Jacen and Jaina (and several other Jedi) are incarnate gods, and in his mind the whole series is a conflict between the established pantheon and himself trying to usurp them, played out through the Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong. [[Ax Crazy|Yes, he's insane. However did you guess]]?
** It's hinted that the [[Big Bad]] of Star Wars: [[Fate of the Jedi]], Abeloth's main goal is to become a god.
* Occurs in [[David Weber]]'s ''[[Safehold]]'' series. The survivors of humanity are transported to a new world to escape the aliens that destroyed them and to avoid detection, must enter a [[Medieval Stasis]]. Langhorne and Bédard, the two in charge of the project, brainwash the survivors into [[God Guise|thinking they were the creations of God, with those leading the project being angels and Archangels]]. They justify this as a necessity, claiming it will avoid the complications of enforcing [[Medieval Stasis]] and prevent them from re-reaching space flight level to soon. The truth is Langhorne and Bédard are megalomaniacs who like being Archangels and may well [[Believing Their Own Lies|believe their own schtick]]. Unsurprisingly, the woman who stands up to this and rebels is labeled the [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Crystal Dragon Satan]] in the religion.
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* Aaron, in Patrick Ness's ''[[Chaos Walking|The Knife of Never Letting Go]]''. He actually believes that he is a saint, and says so in the waterfall-shrouded church right before {{spoiler|Viola stabs him through the neck}}.
* In the [[Star Shards Chronicles]], the protagonists struggle with their godlike Star Shard powers, especially Dillon, who is the most powerful. A large part of the second book of the trilogy deals with their "We are gods walking the earth and you should worship us" phase.
* Played with and subverted in E.E. Smith's "Tedric" stories. Skandos, a human-like scientist with remarkable technological powers, spends most of his time trying to convince the barbarian Tedric that he is NOT a God. He finally assumes the role when he realises it's pointless trying to talk Tedric out of his belief, and that making an appearance as Tedric's personal deity will have immense benefits to the civilisation of which Tedric is a part, but he himself knows full well that it's only an act. And while Skandos knows he's only mortal (he's murdered three incarnations of himself in parallel universes already), his technological capabilities are so far ahead of the medieval society he's interfering in as to constitute an extension of Clarke's Third Law to effective Godhood.
* ''[[Neuromancer]]'': At the end {{spoiler|the two rivaling [[A Is]] Neuromancer and Wintermute amalgamate, and in the words of the new AI it is now the matrix, "the entirety of the system, the whole show"}}. Playing the second variant straight, {{spoiler|it tells the protagonist that it has found others of its kind, for example one in Alpha Centauri - and then vanishes.}}
* In one of [[David Drake]]'s ''Lord Of The Isles'' books, Sharina inadvertently travels through time and ends up on an island with a man who claims to be related to the god of storms. His parades are accompanied by thunder created by sheets of tin under the wheels of his chariots.
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* ''[[Time Scout]]'' gives us several:
** [[Jack the Ripper]]
{{quote|
** Ianira Cassondra is called the living goddess and, thanks to her training under the high priestess at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, evinces psychic and prophetic powers.
** {{spoiler|Skeeter Jackson}} was worshiped as a living god and honorary uncle to the boy who would become Genghis Khan.
* ''[[In Death]]'' series: ''Chaos In Death'' has Eve Dallas confront Dr. Chaos, who actually declares "I'm not a man. I am a god!"
* Twisted by {{spoiler|Elof}} in Michael Scott Rohan's ''The Winter of the World'' trilogy: he '''doesn't''' become a god, he realizes at the climax, and [[God Was My Co-Pilot|reveals to his closest friends]] at the end, that {{spoiler|he '''was''' a god who put aside his divine power, [[Memory Gambit|and the memories that went with it]], in the hopes that being a mortal man (although a high-powered mage-smith) would help him understand humanity}}. It did, sort of. Then he vanishes.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Gary Mitchell in ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
** In the episode "Return to Tomorrow", [[Energy Beings|Sargon]] explains that his civilization destroyed itself when it became so advanced and arrogant that "we dared think of ourselves as gods".
* The [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] Q plays with this in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. In "Tapestry", Picard dies and enters the "afterlife", where he finds Q awaiting him, who informs him that he's dead and that Q himself is God. Picard rejects this, because he doesn't think that "the Universe is so badly designed". Q just snarks that Picard is lucky Q doesn't smite him for his blasphemy.
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** Willow becomes this trope several times through the series, in a good way in season 5, in a bad way in season 6, and good again in the final episode of season 7
** The First Evil, posing as Warren, convinces Andrew that they will all live as gods ([[Crowning Moment of Funny|complete with]] Andrew dreaming of them all dancing about in a field of flowers, wearing togas, and playing a lyre, while singing "We are as gods!") All Andrew has to do to bring this about is kill his only friend, Jonathan.
* The Goa'uld of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' not only fit this trope not only perfectly, but are also ''really'' extreme cases. Although they are just [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|highly advanced aliens]], they do ''pose'' as god in front of their primitive slaves.
** The Ori take this far enough that it becomes ridiculous when people insist that they're ''not'' gods, since, well, everything a god can do the Ori can do. (Including Virgin Birth) If that's not a god, one has to wonder what people would accept as a god. Teal'c later suggests that acts, rather than power, make gods. Or at least, that being a god is not the same as being worthy of worship.
*** They couldn't {{spoiler|stop the team from killing them}}.
*** Also, Adria explicitly states in ''The Ark of Truth'' that the Ark can only make people believe what is true, which is why she can't use it. Since the Ark makes the Priors believe that the Ori are not gods, clearly the Ori are actually not gods. Although she fully believes she could use it if it weren't for the existance of ancients undermining her by being just as high up in the grand scheme.
* ''[[The Outer Limits]]'', "The Sixth Finger," combines both versions. An illiterate miner is put through a process that quickly [[Evolution Power-Up|evolves him]], resulting in increased intelligence and psychokinetic power, which he unleashes on the pathetic lesser beings around him; but then he evolves even further and rises above such petty emotions, realizing the true nobility of existence.
* ''[[I, Claudius]]'' has a variant [[Truth in Television|mirroring real life]] when [[The Caligula|Caligula]] declares himself to be a god; however, in Caligula's case there were no [[Green Rocks]] or [[Touched by Vorlons|Vorlons]]
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': A number of characters, most emphatically {{spoiler|Adam Monroe}}. Meanwhile Peter Petrelli, who has a claim to godlike powers since he absorbs the powers of everyone he encounters, has yet to fall victim to this.
** If we can assume that {{spoiler|Maury Parkman's illusion of Linderman}} accurately portrays the actual character's personality, then we can infer that {{spoiler|Linderman}} thought of himself as either a god or very close to one. In one season 3 episode, he implied that he spoke the word of God.
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* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': In the new series, the Dalek Emperor had a pretty high opinion of itself. So much so that insulting it would trigger the now-famous line, "those words are blasphemy!" and a chorus of "Do not blaspheme! Do not blaspheme!" from his subordinate Daleks.
** Also, in the same episode, Rose Tyler absorbs the heart of the TARDIS and is turned into a godlike hybrid called ''Bad Wolf'', who disproves the Dalek Emperor's "I am God" hypothesis by disintegrating him.
{{quote|
'''Rose:''' But I can. }}
** Played with in the original series serial "The Armageddon Factor", when the Doctor, possessing the full power of the Key To Time, starts making an A God Am I speech, much to Romana's alarm. {{spoiler|He's just kidding/making a point about how dangerous the power is, in anyone's hands.}}
** In "Genesis of the Daleks," [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Davros is asked, if he had in his possession a virus that would wipe out all life, would he release it? His response:
{{quote|
** The 1982 story 'Four to Doomsday' focuses an alien who not only believes himself to be a god but, in fact, destroyed his home planet in an attempt to travel back in time to the creation of the universe to see how he had created it.
** There's a curious heroic version of this trope in the final [[Doctor Who Magazine|Eighth Doctor comic strip]]; the Doctor merges with the space-time vortex in order to defeat the Cybermen, becoming a being of practically godlike omnipotence in the process. Although he remains benevolent, his omnipotence distracts him; he's so enthused about how he can see everything and feel everything that he doesn't notice that his companion remains on the Cybermen's rapidly decaying space ship and is about to fall to her death. Then, as the Doctor's about to say goodbye to her forever, he notices her about to fall to her death... and instantly gives up godhood without a second thought so that he can catch her before she falls.
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* Callisto in ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' consumes ambrosia, the food of the gods, to become a god during a battle with a vengeful Amazon that had ''also'' consumed ambrosia solely [[Disproportionate Retribution|so that she could kill Gabrielle]]. Uniquely, in later episodes she regrets her godhood and tries to find ways of undoing it, culminating in her begging Xena to find a way to kill her. {{spoiler|She changes her mind after witnessing Gabrielle make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] - unfortunately for her, Xena had already found a way to kill her, and didn't particularly appreciate her gloating about this.}}
* In the Season 1 finale of ''[[Dollhouse]]'', Alpha proclaims that he has "ascended" {{spoiler|because he contains multiple personalities and gives this "gift" to Echo who rejects it.}}
*
* ''[[Caprica]]'': {{spoiler|Given her godlike powers in V-World, Zoe proclaims herself God when confronting Clarice Willow in the Apotheosis simulation in the series finale}}.
* In one episode of the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'', a pair of space-farers found themselves stranded on an apparently desolate planet. One of these men found a civilization of microscopic people, and quickly set himself up as their god. Though his fellow tried to talk him out of it, the newly deified pilot decided to stay as the god of these tiny people. This being the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'', [[It Got Worse|things went south quickly for him]].
** Craig's boast, "'''I'M THE GOD! I'M THE GOD!'''" became a catchphrase on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.
* There was an episode of ''[[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The
* ''[[Boss]]'': The villain in episode 2.
* In the ''[[Coupling]]'' episode "Faithless", Jane learns that James, who she's attracted to, hosts a religion program. In the course of [[Digging Herself Deeper]], she comes out with:
{{quote|
'''James''': Okay.
'''Jane''': Only without the omnipotence and the [[Superman|X-ray vision]].
'''James''' I... don't think God's the one with the X-ray vision. }}
* Parodied on ''[[Bottom]]''; Richard Richard is every so often given to convincing himself that he's the Second Coming (or on one notable occasion [[It Makes Sense in Context|the Mother of God]], which in his tiny mind amounted to the same thing), citing his own virginity as the reason that he's been kept 'pure', because he's 'better than everyone else in the world'. The more likely explanation behind said virginity is that he's merely a repugnant, violent, pathetic, sweaty pervert with ludicrously pretentious delusions of grandeur, among them his tendency to convince himself he's the Son of God.
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* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''
** {{spoiler|Castiel}} as of the season 6 finale, wherein {{spoiler|he absorbs all the souls of Purgatory into himself. He proceeds to do to Raphael ''exactly'' [[Ludicrous Gibs|what Lucifer once did to him]], shrug off a [[Back Stab]] with an angel-killing dagger, and declare himself the new Lord}}.
{{quote|
** When the brothers first meet Chuck, and prove to him that they are indeed the characters he has been writing about, his immediate reaction is this trope. The brothers didn't believe him ... {{spoiler|It later turns out the he was telling the truth. Chuck was God.}}
{{quote|
'''Sam''': You're not a god.
'''Chuck''': How else do you explain it? I write things and then they come to life? Yeah, no, I'm deinitely a god. A cruel, cruel, capricious god. The things I've put you through ... }}
*** YMMV on Chuck being God since it was never flatly stated and everything really just pointed to him being a prophet.
* Parodied in ''[[Community]]''; the '[[Clip Show]]' "Paradigms of Human Memory" reveals that Pierce at one point apparently thought he'd ascend to Godhood by... taking more than one flu shot.
* George Marks from ''[[Cold Case]]'', who justifies his string of murders by claiming to be God. When Lilly tears his claim to shreds by saying he's nothing more than a scared little boy, he flat out loses it.
* The [[Villain of the Week]] for the ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' episode "Little Tin God" was Gavriel Larca, an Immortal who likes to [[God Guise|fool people into worshiping him as a deity]]. The episode makes it clear that he's crazy, egotistical, and believes his own hype, in utter disbelief when Duncan defeats him.
* Randy Slade, the school shooter from the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Painless" had a serious god complex. He burst into the school cafeteria with a gun and a bomb and challenged his fellow students to "look God in the eye" and shot them if they didn't make eye contact with him.
{{quote|
* One episode of '70s show ''Search'' had a millionaire with a grudge kidnap that episode's main character Nick Bianco to an island he'd set up as a [[Death Course]]. While the bad guy is explaining how [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game|he's going to take his time about killing Bianco]], and there's no escape because he's modified Nick's [[Comm Links|communications implant]] so he can use it to monitor Bianco anywhere he goes, Nick says sarcastically, "Oh, I get it. You're God!" The millionaire smiles calmly and replies, "On this island, I am."
== [[Music]] ==
* In the [[Queen]] song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1j-6vRykFs "The Seven Seas of Rhye"], the lyrics are essentially Freddie Mercury stating this.
** "Princes of the Universe" too:
{{quote|
''I have inside me blood of kings!
''I have no rival
''No man can be my equal!
*** "Princes of the Universe" was written specifically for the ''[[Highlander]]'' movie, so it's fitting.
* Jay-Z's nickname Hova/Hov comes from Jehovah, a name for God in the Hebrew Scriptures.
** Rakim was calling himself (and being called by others) God long before him. Canibus also claimed that the fact that he wasn't worshiped seemed absurd to him.
* In [[The Who]]'s ''[[Tommy]]'', the title character doesn't so much believe he's God as believe that he's the Messiah, and the trope is subverted in that {{spoiler|his followers ultimately reject him}}, but "Sensation" contains the following lyrics:
{{quote|
''Mesmerized by just the sight,
''The few I touched now are disciples
''Love as One
''I am the Light
* ''[http://brazilian-songs-blog.blogspot.com/2008/05/raul-seixas-gita.html Gita]'' by Brazilian rock star Raul Seixas:
{{quote|
''The mother, the father and the grandfather
''The son who's yet to come
''The beginning, the end and the middle
''I am the beginning, the end and the middle
* "Experiments in Mass Appeal" by Frost*:
{{quote|
''Endeavor, a god I'll be
''Remember reality
''Forever, immortally }}
* Glinda and Elphaba call ''each other'' out in this in "Defying Gravity":
{{quote|
''Grovel in submission
''To feed your own ambition
'''GLINDA:''' ''Can't I make you understand?
''You're having delusions of grandeur }}
* A couple of songs by Innerpartysysten invoke this trope;
** ''Don't Stop'':
{{quote|
''To glorify my platinum soul
''I am the closest thing to God
''So worship me and never stop }}
** ''American Trash'':
{{quote|
''You know I'll waste it if I can }}
== [[New Media]] ==
* ''[[Blackthorn Corporation]]'': {{spoiler|General Alan Jericho and Jean-Baptiste, respectively the messiah and a high priest of a demonic cult.}}
* ''[[Shadowside]]'': Whenever someone says this, suffice it to say there's trouble.
* What happens to Darkseid and {{spoiler|Superman}} in [[
* ''[[Modern Day Alchemist]]'':
** [[Magnificent Bastard|Aurelius Schwarz]], through and through. When he isn't fulfilling his [[Xanatos Gambit|master]] [[All According to Plan|plan]], he's... Well, his master plan is always in motion.
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** [[Xanatos Gambit|Xan.]]
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* In a Low German folktale collected by [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|The Brothers Grimm]], "The Fisherman and His Wife", the eponymous lady, having been made successively King, Emperor, and Pope by a magic flounder, demands to be made equal to God. The couple end up as they began, living "in piety" (a phrase used to mean "in poverty" at the time of the writing).
** The equivalent Russian tale, as recorded and remade as a poem by [[Alexander Pushkin]], doesn't have the wife want to be the big-G God. Here she wants merely to be "the lady of the seas", something like a small-g goddess. The fish nevertheless gets pissed off, probably because that's what is the fish herself.
* Justified in the ''[[The Bible]]'' (New Testament): [[Jesus]] actually ''is'' [[God]], and well knows it. Played straight with Lucifer in pop culture (the following never actually occurs in the Bible). Created as one of the greatest of the angels, [[Blasphemous Boast|he declared himself "above the Most High"]] and [[Face Heel Turn|attempted to make himself the ruler of all creation]]. Needless to say, that [[Fallen Angel|did not turn out well]].
** Speaking of the Bible, the [[Trope Namer]] comes from the Book of Ezekiel.
* Several mortal characters in [[Greek Mythology]] became gods or otherwise immortal, including Apollo's son Asclepius, who became the god of healing and medicine; Ino, who raised Dionysius for Zeus and became a minor goddess of the sea, who helped Odysseus return home; the Diomedes who appeared in ''[[The Iliad]]'', raised to godhood by Athena; and most famously Hercules, AKA Herakles, who in return for saving the gods of Olympus from the Giants and for his many heroic deeds, became a god after his death. On the other hand, a mortal man fixed pots and pans to his chariot, [[Tempting Fate|claimed to be "Zeus the Thunderbearer"]], and got his fool self struck with lightning for the effort. Yeah. Zeus has a temper.
* Subverted in The Apocolocyntosis (Pumpkin-ification) of the Divine Claudius, written by Seneca. The gods decide not to deify Claudius, but instead is sent to Hades to work for Caligula.
* The Nation of Gods and Earths, also known as the Five Percenters believe that the Original Asiatic Blackman is God, and that each black woman is the Earth. They vehemently deny the existence of any supernatural "mystery God" and break the word Allah down as Arm Leg Leg Arm Head, meaning humanity. The possibility of women being God is controversial, and many Gods (and Earths) disagree as to who has the right to call themselves God. Some even see the potential for white Five Percenters to prove themselves to be God, despite Caucasians traditionally being seen as "devils by nature".
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* Parodied somewhat when [[John Bradshaw Layfield]] would occasionally taunt his opponents that he's a "Wrestling God" (even if he's a whiny cowardly Heel).
* Also played straight when [[Vince McMahon]] briefly declared himself a god in 2006. Also sometime in the nineties he stated he was above us all before some wrestler beat sense back into him
** "There is but one supreme being in this world. Vincent Kennedy McMahon!"
* [[Ric Flair]] on ''[[TNA]] Impact'', broadcast June
* ''[[WCW]] Monday Nitro'', 11/10/1997. The night the [[New World Order]] were finally able to beat the crap out of [[
{{quote|
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The accurate assessment version of the trope appears in ''[[Nobilis]]'', where everyone of significance is equivalent in power to what a human would call a god. A great deal of the game's drama comes from dealing with this fact.
* The [[God-Emperor]] of the Imperium of Man for ''[[Warhammer
** Which effectively makes him one, due to how the Immaterium works. Not counting the one thousand Psykers sacrificed daily to keep the Astronomican lit/the Emperor alive, he is slowly gaining more and more power as people believe in him and die in his name - hence, his position as the up-and-coming Fifth God of Chaos, the "God of Mankind". Then again, seeing as how he stopped a great fleet during the Age of Apostasy by creating a Warp Storm which is still raging five millennia later...
** The Chaos worshippers who win the Gods' favours and turn into Daemon Princes, which are, according to the fluff, pretty damn powerful in and of themselves.
* In certain ''[[Dungeons
** In the fourth edition of the game, this is one of the possible epic destinies awaiting characters that reach 30th level.
** Cyric, from ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', goes this one step further. After becoming a deity, he creates a book, called the Cyrinishad, which will make anyone who reads it believe that Cyric is the most important being in the universe. He then [[What an Idiot!|reads it himself]]. He now believes that he is the most important being in the universe, and (for example) that if someone thwarts his plans, he is simply letting them do so.
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* In ''[[Scion]]'' a player character ascends to godhood when they reach Legend 9
* A common ailment in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', mainly for Planeswalkers and Yawgmoth. (Since Yawgmoth's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], Gix, had his own priests, it's likely he had a bad case of this too, possibly hybridised with [[The Caligula|Caligula Syndrome]].)
* ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' features an Eldritch Entitlement (a very powerful, very old [[Prestige Class|noble order]]) known as the Lost Pantheon, whose members believe that the ministrations of [[The Fair Folk]] have turned them into something more powerful and more primal, an aspect of forgotten divinity. One of their Entitlement benefits is the ability to draw [[Mana|Glamour]] from worship by mortals. Most notably, one of the qualifications for the Entitlement is that the changeling's [[Sanity Meter|Clarity]] must be 6 ''or less'' - meaning they're out of touch with reality and close to thinking like a True Fae.
* Likewise, this is why the present of ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' is so crap. Mages, considering themselves gods above men, build the Celestial Ladder to climb to the Supernal Realms. The first ones up, the Exarchs, then proceeded to kick the Ladder out from under them, making magic much harder for people on Earth and causing the Abyss to come into existence. They still consider themselves gods and stewards of reality, and believe that only their worshippers should get the sweet, sweet candy that is magic.
* Some humans in ''[[Kult]]''. {{spoiler|They're actually ''right'', but it's far from easy to walk that way.}}
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series starts several years after Bhaal, the god murder, was killed. The entire series is all about people fighting about a claim on his divine power.
** In ''Baldur's Gate'', the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Sarevok}} orchestrates for himself becoming the leader of the Iron Throne trade company and one of the lords of the City of Baldur's Gate and at the same time creates a heated conflict between Baldur's Gate and the nation of Amn. The entire point of his plan is to create a war as brutal and violent as possible, as a sacrifice for a ritual that makes him the new God of Murder.
** In ''Baldur's Gate II'', Jon Irenicus tries to make use of {{spoiler|the main characters}} divine nature to help him become a god himself, so {{spoiler|he can get his revenge on the elves that exiled him}}.
** In ''Throne of Bhaal'', all the remaining children of Bhaal gather their armies in Calimshan for a [[Final Battle]] to resolve [[There Can Be Only One|which will become the God of Murder]]. The final claim is made by {{spoiler|Bhaal's priestess Amelissan}}, who [[Batman Gambit|played all the other Bhaalspawn against each other]] to get rid of any other contestants. However, it didn't work out as planned.
{{quote|
'''Solar:''' You wield great power, and play with energies that make you immortal. That does not make you a god. }}
*** At the end of Throne of Bhaal, the player character has the option to become a god.
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** In [[Dragon Age II|the sequel]], the Chantry's explanation for the Blight's existence {{spoiler|is confirmed. The [[Big Bad]] of the DLC ''Legacy'' is one of the original magisters who tried to claim the power of the Golden City and became one of the first Darkspawn instead. Though he claims the Golden City was ''already'' corrupted when he visited it.}}
* The God Machine in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis]]'' does this to you. [[Body Horror|Unfortunately]] [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|it comes with]] [[One-Winged Angel|undesirable side effects]]... [[Bad Ending|Poor Indy. He's now a god.]]
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'':
** Hilariously played with when you encounter a delusional volus who believes he is ''a biotic god.'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgGV0pfbcxg He is a great wind, who shall sweep all before Him like a...a great wind! A great, biotic wind!]
** Less humorously, there's [[Our Vampires Are Different|Ardat]]-[[Death by Sex|Yakshi]] [[Complete Monster|Morinth]], who in her backstory once brainwashed a village into worshipping her as a goddess, including demanding daughters as sacrifices. When [[Knight Templar|Samara]] came to track her down, Morinth proceeded to [[Moral Event Horizon|sic the village on her, forcing Samara to kill all of them.]] When finally confronted by Samara in her loyalty mission, Morinth declares herself the "Genetic Destiny" of the Asari.
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*** Besides, he {{spoiler|reappears in Skyrim as Sheogorath, with the old appearance of the previous one, but chunks of the hero of kvatch's presonality still very much intact, like trying to help poor crazy Pelagius the Mad}}. It just took some time, presumably he got to live out the rest of his mortal life before having to deal with his position, and then he goes on decades long vacations!!
** In the total conversion mod [[Nehrim]] the [[Light Is Not Good|light-born]] have this going on.
** In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', Alduin is already a god, being the firstborn son of Akatosh and an aspect of Akatosh at the same time. Being just a god isn't enough for Alduin though, he's trying to destroy the world so he can assume the mantle of his father Akatosh.
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' likes this trope, its the default mode for villains that aren't [[Eldritch Abomination
** The Emperor in ''[[
** Kefka from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' became this after absorbing the power of the Goddess Statues and becoming the [[The Magic Goes Away|source of all Magic]]. It's also hinted that intended to become a god from the start presumably motivated by nothing more than his [[Ax Crazy|insanity]] (when bragging about how much power he has gotten from extracting magic from the Espers in the Magitek Research Facility, one of the first things Kefka says is that he is a god.)
** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'s'' Sephiroth, who wished to [[Omnicidal Maniac|destroy the Planet]] absorb its energies to become a god, although he never actually made it there. However, he himself had [[Eldritch Abomination]] lineage that would have done the same exact thing, so it might just be justification for something else.
** ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' has Ultimecia. Though her motivations are a bit vague, her ultimate goal is to absorb all time and space to create her vision of a perfect world.
** ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' features a particular bit of dialogue atop the Pharos at Ridorana...
{{quote|
"On whose shoulders better to stand than those of the would-be gods?" }}
** The tendency for ''Final Fantasy'' villains to fit this trope is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', when Kefka declares Sephiroth as "just another sadist with a god complex, like ''that's'' something special!"
* Emperor Sun, of the titular [[Jade Empire]], announces himself as "God-Emperor Sun!" before you fight him.
* Kane from the ''[[Command
{{quote|
'''Kane:''' No, I'm not God... but I'm a close second. }}
** And stated way earlier by his right-hand man, Seth:
{{quote|
* Master Albert of ''[[Mega Man ZX]] Advent'' deludes himself into thinking that he's god and attempts a [[Batman Gambit]] spanning centuries in order to confirm it.
** And he even tries to re-enforce the idea right before the final boss battle.
{{quote|
** But to be fair, as insane the man was, he was a [[Magnificent Bastard]] with an obvious background in genetics, a mechanical genius, and when he gets Ouroboros up and running, very, very powerful. It's no surprise that he thinks of himself as a deity who will reset the world.
* Essentially Bowser's plan in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]''; after stealing all of the stars from Rosalina's ship, he attempts to use them to ''create his own galaxy to rule over''.
** Don't forget that he plans to make it into a base and proceed to conquer the entire universe.
** While we're on the Mario series, {{spoiler|this is also Dimentio's plan}} in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]''. {{spoiler|It is also heavily implied that what is driving his pursuit to become a god and remake the universe in his image is his own [[Ax Crazy|insanity]], if not a thirst for power.}}
** And Sir Grodus in ''[[Paper Mario:
* An example of the latter (benevolent) god transformation comes in the Nightfall campaign of the MMORPG ''[[Guild Wars]]'' when {{spoiler|the leader of the Sunspears, Kormir, ascends to godhood.}}
* In ''[[
** There's also the fact that he wakes the player cerebrate with a magnificently biblical: "Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind; the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me." For being a [[Hive Mind]] unable of god complexes, he does it pretty well.
*** That's because the Overmind is NOT a [[Hive Mind]]. A [[Hive Mind]] is a decentralised intelligence, such as ants coordinating to find food. The Overmind, on the other hand, is a centralised intelligence (as the name obviously implies). Being a nigh-omnipotent intelligent entity that controls the Swarm, the Overmind IS virtually the God of the Zerg.
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* Kratos from ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'', who actually becomes a god at the end of the first game.
** Kratos is an odd case. He never had any delusions of control or being far beyond mere mortals- if anything, in his stint as a god, he was A General Am I.
*** Or a [[Jerkass Gods]] am I, since he spent all his time leading the Spartan Army into ruining all of Greece and parts of Persia. Par for the course in Greek Mythology, but even the Jerkiest of Gods in Greece Myth wouldn't want to destroy all of their own known world. Not including [[Eldritch Abomination
* In ''[[Perfect Dark]] Zero'', after defeating the [[Big Bad]], he decides to escape by ascending into godhood. Why he didn't do that before you beat up on him, nobody knows.
* The Gravemind of ''[[Halo]]'' apparently actually believes it is a divine entity and the Flood are the pinnacle of all existence - going so far as to accuse anyone fighting against it as being a "sinner" for standing in its way.
** Before the High Prophet of Truth's death by the Arbiter (who, ironically, was picked by the former), one of his last sentences was "My feet tread the path; I shall become a god!", which Gravemind retorts, "You will be food - nothing more!".
** During the High Charity level near the end of ''[[Halo 3]]'', Gravemind's speech turns highly biblical.
{{quote|
"Do not be afraid. I am peace; I am salvation."
"I have beaten fleets of thousands! Consumed a galaxy of flesh and mind and bone!"
"Do I take life or give it? Who is victim, and who is foe?" }}
** While Truth doing it was a sign of how crazy he has become, the Gravemind arguably ''is'' a God.
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** That one's a bit more justified, since he's 1) a pillar of creation and 2) it takes 10-25 epic characters ''and'' another [[Physical God]] to take him down.
** In Zul'Drak, some of the Drakkari trolls have killed and eaten their Loa, the animal spirits they worship as gods, to absorb their powers. Gal'darah, who killed Akali and gained the ability to [[One-Winged Angel|transform into a rhinoceros]] says the page quote when killing a player. One of the other troll bosses who consumed his god, Moorabi, admits while dying that "If our gods can die... den so can we...", indicating that he doesn't think that he's invincible, or at least has come to realize that he is not.
* Spoofed in ''[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]]'', wherein {{spoiler|Vulcanus's}} plans to become God are met with bored remarks along the lines of, "That's it?" and [[Genre Savvy|"See? I told you it'd be selfish and unoriginal."]]
* In ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', {{spoiler|Joshua is Shibuya's Composer and not only runs The Game, but could erase the entire city if he so chose.}}
** He has been it for a long time though, and he doesn't act overly egoistic about it (no more than normal, really.). And he's not deluded about godhood - he is a god (of Shibuya's dead at least), and to reiterate, has been one for who knows how long but still probably pretty long.
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* {{spoiler|Pul Wat Aa}} in the Tower Defense game ''[[Immortal Defense]]''.
* SHODAN of ''[[System Shock]]'' fame referred to herself that way (see Quotes page). And has sort of recognition for her efforts:
{{quote|
* Durandal, the resident [[Magnificent Bastard]] AI from ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' frequently claims that "Escape will make me God," and has many a [[Gambit Roulette]] in place to escape from the humans, and later the ''entire physical universe,'' just in time to watch it collapse 15 billion years later, no doubt. {{spoiler|He (probably) failed. But he understood the entire universe before it ceased to exist.}} Oh, and he even comes back to life for seemingly no reason at least once in the series (though there are a couple other instances that would probably count as well). Hey, [[Faux Symbolism]]...and yes, that would seem to make Tycho the devil.
** While we are at it, pick a media with a smart AI in it. Seems that [[
* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' plays with this trope and the aforementioned AI variant. Bob Page plans to become the {{spoiler|[[Physical God]] of the entire world}} by {{spoiler|merging his own mind with the AI Helios (who coincidentally is the [[Everything Is Online|Internet and other assorted global communications networks]], a [[
* Both ''[[Summoner]]'' and its sequel apply. In the first, {{spoiler|Joseph, the Summoner, must become Urath Reborn,}} and the second takes it a step further when Maya, named in the blurb as the Goddess Laharah, is {{spoiler|revealed as Aosi, creation itself, far beyond any mere god.}}
* Albert Wesker of the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series certainly falls into this trope in ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'', in the form of an [[Evilutionary Biologist]]. His vaguely Darwinist plot involves wiping out ''almost'' the entire human race by dumping his specially created virus out of a plane, and the survivors are the ones his virus has supposedly "chosen."
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** '''''[[Large Ham|THE HUMAN RACE REQUIRES JUDGEMENT!!!]]'''''
*** And you're going to judge them? Do you get all your ideas from comic book villains?
**** Mocked and parodied in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vkma81nL3M&feature=related this video] when [[Doctor Strange|The Dread Dormammu]], an ''actual'' comic book villain, and an [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Dimension Lord]] who wields ''actual'' godlike, nigh-omnipotent power, makes fun of Wesker for thinking that injecting himself with viruses or any of his other plans makes him anything like an actual god.
** His sister Alex - the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Resident Evil Revelations]]'' - was just as evil as he was and she had the same mad ambitions to obtain godhood and immortality.
* In ''[[Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy]]'', the insane psychic agent Nicholas Wrightson styles himself as the "True God of the Ether." Even though his real and decidedly emaciated body is hooked up to a life support machine, his mind roams freely across the world, [[Body Surf|taking over different bodies according to his needs.]] This, coupled with his ability to tame [[Eldritch Abomination|Creatures from Beyond]] was all the evidence he needed. Interestingly enough, after you defeat him, he appears to [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]].
** The formerly powerless [[Big Bad]] of the story achieves something close to godhood in the final level, though he's more of a [[Physical God]] than Wrightson- and just to prove his point, he spends the boss battle [[Playing with Fire|hurling fireballs at you]], [[Mind Over Matter|levitating car-sized chunks of debris in your direction]], and [[Power Floats|hovering far above you just to rub his apparent omnipotence in your face.]] Unlike Wrightson, though, he doesn't have the luxury of ascending once he's defeated.
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* ''[[The King of Fighters]]'': Rugal and Igniz are picture perfect examples of this trope (Igniz provided some [[A God Am I/Quotes|quotes]]). Rugal dares you to repeat to him that you won't attack a god again in 98, and Igniz has a gigantic god complex in 2001. When he gets beaten, Lovable Igniz goes nuts and decides to forgo the god thing, [[Colony Drop|deciding to be a demon instead]]. His win quote says it all.
** Is it a coincidence that in the Japanese edition of ''[[Capcom vs. SNK Millennium Fight 2000|Capcom vs SNK 2]]'', Rugal's uber form is called GOD Rugal?
* Hector from ''[[Dept. Heaven]]'' series is already a god-like being, sitting at the top of [[Celestial Bureaucracy|the celestial bureaucracy]] that is Asgard. However, unsatisfied with his power, he plans throughout the THREE games, [[The Chessmaster|manipulating events in those games to become the true creator.]] To that end, he commits various atrocities, some of which paint him as a [[Complete Monster]].
* {{spoiler|Lezard}} in ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' series spends most of his time hatching up an elaborate [[Batman Gambit]] to set himself up for this in the first game and succeeds in the second, complete with his own world to govern over. He's pretty damned megalomanical and egoistic even before his grand scheme succeeds, and by the time he actually succeeds in the second game, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z50feD9SPi0 well]...
* In ''[[Ni GHTS]]: Journey of Dreams'', now that he actually has dialogue, Wizeman is revealed to have a case of the Evil/Hubris one. Given that he created a world and race of beings from nothing more than unpleasant thoughts and stolen dreams, [[Physical God|he may have a point, though.]]
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* ''[[Touhou]]'' has plenty enough [[Physical God|virtual gods, if not actual gods]], already, but Utsuho (AKA [[Fan Nickname|"Nuke-tan"]]), after having the powers of a God of the Sun implanted in her, decided to [[The End of the World as We Know It|blow up and/or conquer the world with her newfound powers]], all while offering prayers to the sun-god Yatagarasu, whose corpse she devoured and whose powers she assumed. Too bad for her half the cast also won the [[Superpower Lottery]], and [[Physical God|Yukari]] had other plans.
** Sanae Kochiya fits well; informing people that she is, in fact, a living god is her [[Catch Phrase]]. Granted, she's arguably ''right'', what with having the divine power to create miracles and being the direct descendent of the goddess {{spoiler|Suwako Moriya}}, and all.
* In ''[[Fable II]]'', it's strongly implied that this is
** In ''[[Fable III]]'' Traitor's Keep DLC {{spoiler|Milton says something of being a god after transforming to an Evil Twin of The Hero}}
* In ''[[Overlord II]]'', this is revealed to be the goal of Emperor Solarius, ruler of [[The Empire|The Glorious Empire]], AKA {{spoiler|Florian Greenheart, an Elf born without magic who caused the Cataclysm that wiped out the lands of the first game when he tried to steal [[Artifact of Doom|The Tower Heart]]. He uses all the magic he's gathered at the end of the game to become an [[Eldritch Abomination]] that only his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] fanatically praises as a god, from that point it's your responsibility to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|take him down.]]}}
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* The main antagonist of ''[[The Reconstruction]]'', {{spoiler|Havan}}, acts like this at the end. There's also {{spoiler|Tezkhra}}, although he acts more like "[[Shrouded in Myth|Wait, I'm a god]]? Uh...sure, I'll go with that."
* This was the Emperor's goal through all of ''[[Thousand Arms]]''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KduwLu5QQp4 He eventually gets it].
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* At the end of the first ''[[Soul Reaver]]'' game, Kain uses this as part of a [[Not So Different]] speech to Raziel.
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* A midgame boss in ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'', Jack Lupino, is so hopped up on [[Psycho Serum|Valkyr]], a drug he was trafficking, he begins to believe himself to be a god. Ingame, he's only marginally tougher than the [[Elite Mook]] squad he has surrounding him.
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' has one. {{spoiler|Mythos the Hero}} is {{spoiler|Lord Yggdrasill}}, complete with a Host of Angels. He also {{spoiler|made his sister a Goddess.}} Considering that he {{spoiler|made the worlds as we know it, he's pretty justified in his delusions of grandeur.}}
** In ''Tales Of Destiny 2'', Elraine casts Indignation Judgment with: "A mortal cannot defeat a god. I shall show you the difference between our power. ''Indignation Judgment!''"
*** Hilariously, though, Elraine {{spoiler|is most certainly ''not'' a god. As for Fortuna, well... [[Base Breaker|it's debatable]]. [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] is really all that needs to be said.}}
* ''[[Advent Rising]]'': It is [[A God I Am Not|averted]] with the main character, Gideon, but {{spoiler|his brother or his girlfriend ([[Sophie's Choice|whichever you let "die" first]])}} plays it straight.
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* ''[[Phantom Brave]] [[Video Game Remake|We Meet Again]]'' has God Eryngi, a mustachioed Funguy. No one but Marona takes his claims seriously, which causes him to spout ineffectual threats. {{spoiler|He's really the Merchant of Death, and his claims are mostly an attempt to get people to collect [[Artifact of Doom|'weapons']] for him.}}
* Several storylines in ''[[Escape Velocity]] Nova'' lead to the player taking on the role of "Ory'Hara", a prophesied messiah that will reunite humanity and also referred to as "the spirit behind the creation of the universe", and ultimately [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|merging with the universe]] at the end of the game.
* ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]'' features {{spoiler|Iris, who not only had RKS fight against the Holy Empire for her own amusement; she also did so because she decided to become a god herself after realizing that she was born with ''absolute power and unparalleled brains'', all thanks to being reincarnated from Rosenkreuz himself.}}
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{{spoiler|'''Spiritia''': I may not know how great of a man Rosenkreuz was, but I know you're no god. If you don't have a heart pure enough to control your power, that power will end up controlling you!}} }}
** {{spoiler|Iris also says her claims that she is a child of God himself when Grolla confronts her in the final stage of the game in her alternate mode.}}
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* [[.hack GU Games|.hack//GU]]: Sakaki declares himself this after fusing with AIDA.
* ''[[Return to Krondor]]'': {{spoiler|Bear is certainly aiming for this. He already wears an amulet that makes him invulnerable to magic, physical damage, and almost everything else. He is trying to get the Tear of the Gods, which will allow him to communicate with the gods. He did not even get the Tear of the Gods, but when a character asks what if the gods are displeased, Bear responds "Like who? Heh, heh. The lesser gods? With the Tear and this amulet, I'm invincible! Who will rival me? Sung the Pure? Kahooli? Hia Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaaa!"}}
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* Taking a few cues from [[Final Fantasy VII|Sephiroth]], LeChuck's plan in ''[[Tales of Monkey Island|Tales]] of [[Monkey Island]]'' is to use a voodoo artifact to absorb power from what is essentially the afterlife to become a pirate god. {{spoiler|Through manipulation of Guybrush, he succeeds}}.
* Albedo from ''[[Xenosaga]]'', after he makes contact with U-DO:
{{quote|
** Dmitri Yuriev, who {{spoiler|believes (incorrectly) that U-DO will be responsible for the annihilation of the multiverse, and so tries to kill it with SCIENCE! making himself the most powerful being in existence, since he is functionally immortal}}
* ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' has Zeus Academy. As the name suggests, the students there are made into thinking they're super-powered incarnations of gods and goddesses from [[Classical Mythology]] destined [[Serious Business|to dominate the soccer society.]] {{spoiler|All they do are taking drugs, though.}} Despite the strength and infinite TP they have, [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|it's ''possible'' to beat the before the team find out their secret and lower their power.]]
* ''[[Oracle of Tao]]'' has an ''inversion'' of this. Rather than starting out as a human, and usurping the role of God somehow (usually this trope is also accompanied by megalomania or other character flaws, when that happens), {{spoiler|it turns out she was always God, and just tricked herself into believing she was human. She shortly thereafter rewrites the [[Crap Saccharine World]] in which other people don't really exist, by giving birth to the universe.}}
* This is what {{spoiler|Alex}} tries to achieve in the ''[[Golden Sun]]'' series. By the end of The Lost Age, he ALMOST reaches godhood, but doesn't quite get the power he desired. This is due to {{spoiler|the actions of the Wise One from the first game where he had Isaac take the Mars Star and put it back. When Isaac did this, the Wise One imbued some of the power from the item to Isaac, effectively robbing Alex at his dreams of becoming a god when the Golden Sun shined on Mt. Aleph.}}
* In ''[[Xenoblade]]'' {{spoiler|Zanza is already a God but after getting the Monado of Meyneth his pride and arrogance becomes even worst. According to him, the only thing that matters is himself and all other beings must be his food.}}
* In ''[[Solatorobo]]'', {{spoiler|Baion}} believes himself to be a god compared to everyone else, as they are all imperfect and he is was [[Creating Life|created with perfection in mind]].
* This is {{spoiler|Colonel Redips'}} plan in ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]''.
* The reward for completing Melbourne House's ''Starion'' is ([[Captain Obvious|in-universe]]) Godhood: The plot involves repairing temporal paradoxes while on a one-way trip backwards in time. Once they're all fixed, Starion arrives at a point before the beginning of the universe and, as the only thing that exists, must "by default" assume the title of Creator of all that follows. [[Fridge|Which definitely won't create any more paradoxes, now will it?]]
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'': Deconstructed with {{spoiler|Petey}}.
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'''{{spoiler|Petey}}''': I'm just trying to do what I think a god would do if he were in my position. }}
* Damien, [[Big Bad]] of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'s'' ''Painted Black'' arc, created in a lab but believing himself to be the fulfillment of a prophecy.
** When he realises {{spoiler|that he may in fact ''not'' be god [[Heel Realization|it occurs to him]] that all the evil things he has done were, well...evil. Instead of a [[Heel Face Turn]] he decides that life as a mortal is not worth living, and that he will [[Taking You with Me|take Grace with him]].}}
* ''[[Umlaut House]] 2'': [
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'''Dr Pegasus:''' Not really. At some point, we definitely stopped playing. }}
* Heat Man from ''[[In Wily's Defense]]'', who gets so full of himself that Sphere, [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|the ''actual'' God]], has him dragged to Paradise to have the Angel of Destruction, Magdelena, [[Cold-Blooded Torture|tortured]] just to get him to shut up about it. It didn't work.
* Sarda of ''[[8-Bit Theater
** "[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/01/27/episode-1087-exalted-feat/ Wizards do parlor tricks, I throttle the heavens.]"
** "I am Sarda. My will be done."
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* ''[[VG Cats]]''' Aeris seems to [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=284 have this problem].
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'':
** Vaarsuvius, {{spoiler|after hir [[Deal with the Devil]]}}, has a borderline case of this. S/He ends up trying to {{spoiler|destroy [[Big Bad|Xykon]] singlehandedly and actually does a lot of damage to him, but mostly just pisses him off.}} [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|(like most everything in the comic)]] by the Three
** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0301.html "We have become like unto tiny refreshing GODS!"]
* ''[[Xkcd]]'' parodies this [http://xkcd.com/676/ here].
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** Then come [[Big Friendly Dog|Becquerel]]'s [[Reality Warper]] powers, that several people have acquired through various means. {{spoiler|Dream Jade}} notably is said to have "ascended to doghood". And now {{spoiler|to [[Little Bit Beastly|dog]]-tier}}.
* ''[[Fans]]'': Subverted in Book 2, with General Maximiliana.
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* In ''[[Fafnir the Dragon]]'', [[Twilight (novel)|Edward Catheter]] invokes this trope after drinking the blood of the titular dragon. However, {{spoiler|since he was supposed to ''bathe'' in it, not ''drink'' it, the firey blood of Fafnir helped to kill him.}}
* In ''[[Zodiac (webcomic)|Zodiac]]'', Nightmare considers herself and other superpowered whasnames to be gods because of their powers.
* In ''[[The Beast Legion]]'', Dragos proclaims himself as a God the will purge the light at the end of Issue 2.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Mitadake High]]''
** This will happen in if Kira can create a cult of Kira-worshippers. Which is creepy.
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* Happens in an odd manner in ''[[Dorf Quest]]'': {{spoiler|Beardbeard becomes the God of Strength, but is pretty mellow about it. The fans (who, incidentally, dictate and decide Beardbeard's actions via consensus,) are very power hungry and motion for various crazy stunts.}}
* ''[[Broken Saints]]'' features a send-up of this:
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'''Raimi''': "Great. [[A God Is You|You're God.]] I'm God. I can't wait to turn water into wine..." }}
* [[Omnicidal Maniac|The Blood Red King]] from the [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]] thought himself above "mere mortals", and considered such vague figures as "The Devil" to be "amateur hour" when it came to evil.
* Parodied in [[The Nostalgia Chick]]'s review of ''[[Teen Witch (film)|Teen Witch]]'', where the [[Bratty Teenage Daughter]] gains witch powers and the Chick views her as being able to do whatever she wants.
* The Mysterious Somebody from the ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'' was a badfic clone of {{spoiler|[[The Thrawn Trilogy|Joruus C'baoth]]}}, and inherited the canon character's God complex. His [[Famous Last Words|last words]] were even [[Shock and Awe|"let there be light"]]. Being a [[Star Wars|Force-user]], he was [[Physical God|correct in that regard]].
* Implied in the way that the site [[Acts of Gord]] is
* Inverted (subverted? averted?) in [[
* ''[[Paw Dugan]]'': Reviewing his favorite video game music, Paw shouts "I'm the god!" when reviewing ''[[
* ''[[Comic Fury Werewolf]]'': Attempted in Game 13 by the host of the game.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'': Mecha Sonic tends toward this mindset, especially when he gets his hands on four of the Chaos Emeralds.
* Invoked in the "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGw5ip2EokY Puzzle of the Lambs]" episode of [[EPICMEALTIME]], where they play God and make a "[[Biological Mashup|culinary abomination]]".
* The [[Mary Sue
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the ''[[Justice League]]'' episode "Tabula Rasa", after beating all the members of the League and gaining their powers, the antagonist android AMAZO decides there's no challenge left for him on Earth and simply leaves to travel the universe. He eventually returns to Earth in ''Justice League Unlimited'' and helps the League on several occasions.
** Amazo's godlike nature was also directly referenced by the other characters. [[Lex Luthor]] is openly dismissive of the idea, but Superman notes that if Amazo comes back, Luthor will be "doing a lot of praying".
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** There was an episode of BTAS that had Scarecrow scream out "WORSHIP ME, YOU FOOLS! WORSHIP ME!"
* An episode of ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron]]'' had his [[Cloudcuckoolander]] friend Sheen get zapped with an [[Devolution Device|Evolution Ray]] [[Goal-Oriented Evolution|evolved brain]], giving him [[Psychic Powers]] and [[Super-Powered Evil Side|power madness]]. Naturally, it [[Status Quo Is God|was only temporary]].
* Beast-Era Megatron, starting in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Beast Wars]]''. After discovering his G1 namesake's old flagship, the Nemesis, he starts raining fire on the landscape while quoting the Covenant of Primus, which is the closest thing we've seen to a [[Robot Religion|Cybertronian Bible]]. He clearly considered himself to be god-''like'' throughout ''[[Beast Machines]]''. In the last couple of episodes, he started raving about actually becoming one - [[
** In ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'', Megatron sought the series' [[Plot Coupon
* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Admiral Zhao]] launches into a particularly [[Large Ham|hammy]] example of this in the first season finale:
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** Let's not forget about [[Evil Overlord|Fire Lord Ozai's]] abdication of the Fire Nation throne to become the self-styled "Phoenix King":
{{quote|
* Willow, a villain in one episode of ''[[Wakfu]]'', invokes this after stealing a magic hammer.
* In ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' at the end of Fatherklok, Skwisgaar declares himself a god, though it's unclear as to whether he's a god, the son of a god, or just being his usual egomaniac self.
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* ''[[Kim Possible]]''
** A villain becomes this when he dons a talisman which grants him the form and powers of Anubis, the Egyptian deity of the dead. He even said in his own words "I AM ALL POWERFUL!". At least until he [[You're Nothing Without Your Phlebotinum|lost his talisman]].
** Interestingly, Ron Stoppable might've reached a level close to this in the [[Grand Finale]] when he called upon the mystical energies he's had in him ever since the third episode of the series to take down the aliens that not even Kim and Shego could stop.
* In the Cartoon Wars episodes of ''[[South Park]]'', Cartman thinks he's managed to pull ''[[Family Guy]]'' off the air:
{{quote|
** He also proclaims "I am God of the sea people" but is later told that ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' already did it and that was a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.
* ''[[Futurama]]'': Bender becomes a god to the Shrimpkins he picks up while floating through space. It didn't last long or end well.
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* In ''[[Generator Rex]]'', all of the problems in the series related to Nanites can be traced back to the Consortium's desire to play God with a bunch of special Nanites that grant control over the fundamental forces of the universe and the desperate measures the scientists in charge of the Nanite project took to keep that power away from them. {{spoiler|Namely, ''triggering the Nanite event''}}.
** {{spoiler|1=Rex becomes one in the final episode, but deactivates it after curing all EVOs.}}
* ''[[Prince of Egypt]]'' never says this exactly, but [[Anti-Villain|Ramsees]] repeatedly refers to himself as "the morning and the evening star," pointing to the fact that as Pharaoh, he is supposed to be a god incarnate. A major theme is [[Prodigal Hero|Moses]] trying to make him realize that there is, in fact, [[God|a force]] more powerful than his own decrees.
* One episode in ''[[Family Guy]]'' has Peter proclaiming that he has divine healing powers that cured Chris of his cancer (the two of them are in cahoots). This causes the townspeople to believe Peter to be a god and Peter then starts acting like he is God until the real God starts to punish the family until Peter stops with his shenanigans.
== [[Other Media]] ==
* According to the immense [[wikipedia:The Apotheosis of Washington|fresco]] on the ceiling of the [[The United States|United States]] Capitol Building, [[George Washington]] became a god. No doubt if he was alive, he would have had something very negative to say.
* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', the Barraki's goal when they dwelled on land was to conquer all the universe and overthrow the Great Spirit Mata Nui. While they failed, Makuta was inspired by it and began formulating a [[Gambit Roulette]] to do it himself on an even grander scale. {{spoiler|''And he succeeds,'' committing [[Grand Theft Me]] against a [[Physical God]] and banishing Mata Nui's spirit into space in a [[Soul Jar]].}}
** On a smaller scale, [[The Starscream|Hakann and Thok]] pull off the "get superpowers and subsequently have delusions of godhood" deal after they steal Brutaka's power via improvised [[Power Copying]]. Despite razing half of Voya Nui and [[Curb Stomp Battle|effortlessly flattening the rest of the]] [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Piraka]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|and the Toa Inika]] ''[[Curb Stomp Battle|twice]]'', it doesn't last.
== [[Real Life]] ==
Examples of ''rulers'' who were considered deities either on their own initiative or by that of their subjects (which has been very common throughout history) should be placed over at [[God-Emperor]]. For other examples, see below.
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* Linus Torvalds, introducing himself at the 1998 Linux Expo, Durham, NC: ''"[[Large Ham|My name is Linus Torvalds, and I am your God.]]"''
* Basketball player Josh Childress said that during his experience for playing with Greece (more specifically, the Olympiakos), he ended up being treated as a God towards the country. When Josh decided to leave Greece to return to the Americas (as a member for the Phoenix Suns), some citizens got a little bit hot-blooded.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150922000803/http://thechurchofgoogle.org/ Google] seems to be invoking this trope.
* Quote of Cleverbot:
{{quote|
** Another quote of Cleverbot (when asked "Is there a God?")
{{quote|
* The Whole Earth Catalog in [[The Sixties]] famously began its purpose statement with "We are as gods and [[Badass Creed|might as well get good at it]]."
* During their bout at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, Muhammad Ali repeatedly taunted Joe Frazier by asking "Don't you know I'm God?" Frazier replied, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|accurately, in the event]], [[Shut UP, Hannibal|"Well, God, you gonna get whupped tonight!"]]
* Some people with mental illness may develop and believe in allusions that they are a biblical figure or a god/deity reincarnated. A few examples include:
** Jim Jones, founder of The Peoples' Temple which essentially became a cult with him as the ringleader. He claimed to be the reincarnation of [[Jesus]], [[Buddha]], Akhenatan, [[Vladimir Lenin]], and Father Divine. He organized a mass suicide at Jonestown in Guyana by forcing his followers to drink Flavor-Aid laced with cyanide; it claimed the lives of 918 people.
** David Koresh, leader of a Branch Davidians sect believed to be the final prophet AKA Jesus himself. A raid on his ranch in Waco, Texas in 1993 eventually started a fire. The aftermath left 52
** Charles Manson, mastermind behind the Tate-Bianca murders claimed to be [[Jesus]]. He also claimed to be [[Satan]].
** Filipino pastor-turned-wanted fugitive [[wikipedia:Apollo Quiboloy|Apollo Quiboloy]], who later gained notoriety for his alleged sexual abuse and human trafficking offences. To quote: "Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy is the Appointed '''Son of God''' in this last days." Since the Son of God ([[Jesus Christ]]) is God the Son, this cult leader essentially considers himself God. As to whether he would be able to invoke his supposed divinity or not now that he went into hiding for his alleged crimes is anyone's guess.
*** The above four could all just be cases of narcissistic and / or anti-social personality disorders, ie. [[The Sociopath]], meaning that they were all just [[Manipulative Bastard]]s who ''told'' people that for money, power and [[For the Evulz]]. Jim Jones for instance used to be a con-man who reportedly once told a fellow criminal of a scheme to swindle people with a new religion, while Charles Manson has also claimed he was simply "nobody", and isn't considered insane by the state of California since he was simply locked up in prison for the rest of his life. In the case of Quiboloy, he used to be part of a United Pentecostal sect until he was kicked out of the congregation he was in, supposedly because his peers found him to be too arrogant. He since founded his own church called the "Kingdom of Jesus Christ" (KoJC) where he made bombastic claims about being the "owner of the universe" and the now-memetic claim that he was able to stop natural calamities under his command, and as with the previous examples, there have been allegations that he fleeced the hell out of his congregation–most of whom were made up of impoverished folk in and around Mindanao–under the promise of salvation; practically all of the proceeds from those whom he roped in to solicit funds for the KOJC allegedly was used to fund Quiboloy's lavish lifestyle.
** As mentioned before, some people with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia become convinced that they are the Second Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, or God himself.
* [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/hollywood-craziest-lawsuits-court-cases-267628#12 Christopher Roller] sued David Copperfield and David Blaine in 2005 on the rather ludicrous grounds that they were infringing on God's powers, and that Roller himself is God.
* It should come as no surprise that [[Adolph Hitler]] allegedly wanted to do this, in one of his craziest schemes. According to (not entirely trustworthy) secondary sources, he planned to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_plot_to_kidnap_Pope_Pius_XII kidnap Pope Pius XII], outlaw Christianity, and replace it with a new religion that named himself as the Messiah. The reason this mad plan isn't well-known is because it didn't get far past the planning stages, mostly because one of Hitler's own underlings – [[wikipedia:Karl Wolff|General Karl Wolff]] – wanted no part of it, and warned Vatican officials of the plot; Wolff would later testify for the prosecution at Nuremberg as part of a plea bargain.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
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[[Category:Ego Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Power]]
[[Category:God Tropes]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:God Am I, A}}
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