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{{trope}}
[[File:fortheevulz_4881.jpg|link=The Dark Knight Saga (Film)|frame| [[Just for Pun|Funny thing is,]] [[Unhand Them, Villain!|I really did want to]] [[Exact Words|let her go]]!]]
 
{{quote|''"[[The Joker|Some]] [[Complete Monster|men]] aren't looking for anything logical [[Greed|like money]]. They can't be [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|bought]], [[Shut UP, Hannibal|bullied]], [[Kirk Summation|reasoned]] or [[Deal Withwith the Devil|negotiated with]]. Some men just [[Omnicidal Maniac|want to watch the world burn]]."''|'''Alfred''', ''[[The Dark Knight]]''}}
 
Most villains have logical motivations for (morally) reprehensible actions and intentions. [[Ambition Is Evil|Ambition]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|greed]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|zeal]], [[Dirty Coward|fear]], [[Love Makes You Evil|love]], [[Politically-Incorrect Villain|hatred]], [[Best Served Cold|revenge]], [[Dark and Troubled Past|a troubled]] [[Freudian Excuse|childhood]], [[Utopia Justifies the Means|the desire for utopia]] [[Visionary Villain|and other warped "ideals"]] can all drive people to evil in ways that you and I understand and may be personally familiar with. If a villain's motivations can just be understood, they can [[Kirk Summation|be reasoned with]] - sometimes.
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Some villains, on the other hand, cannot be reasoned with because there is ''nothing'' reasonable about their reasons for acting... well, evil. Unlike the ''amoral'' motivation we call [[It Amused Me]], which may lead to evil in the pursuit of attachment-free amusement, someone whose motivation is [[For the Evulz]] acts ''evilly'' because they enjoy it. It's not that they don't know or don't care about the morality of their actions - they know and appreciate the difference between good and evil - so much as they enjoy the ''evil'' of it all. To them, evil is not [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|a bad means]] [[Utopia Justifies the Means|to a good end]] or even a [[Omnicidal Maniac|bad means]] [[Best Served Cold|to an evil end]]; to them, evil is an end in itself. The evil of an act is all the motivation they need for doing it and their resultant amusement is (as with [[It Amused Me]]) to them a justification in itself. Generally speaking, and eschewing better and more specific adjectives, the more ''evil'' something is the more amusement they derive from it. In many cases, [[Card-Carrying Villain|they will outright pride themselves in evil]], and think that [[Good Is Boring]] [[Good Is Dumb|and dumb]].
 
A villain whose defining characteristic is this motiveless malignity is almost without fail a [[Complete Monster]], with the Complete Monster being defined by, well, being [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|completely monstrous]] - needing no justifications for evil acts and having no humanising or sympathetic elements (e.g., [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|good intent]] or [[Anti-Villain|self-doubt]]) whatsoever. Other villainous personality types which dabble with [[For the Evulz]] include the [[Generic Doomsday Villain]], the [[Psycho for Hire]] (who is very likely to be [[Ax Crazy]]), the [[Nietzsche Wannabe]], [[The Sociopath]] and the [[Chaotic Evil]]. Please note, [[Chaotic Evil]] is ''not'' the same thing; it's a likely alignment for someone with this as their motivation, but [[Chaotic Evil]] encompasses anyone else who is clearly more evil than good and more chaotic than not. This means that realistically, even if someone is Chaotic Evil, they still can and likely do have more logical motivations than For The Evulz. Furthermore, it's possible to be [[Neutral Evil]] or even [[Lawful Evil]] and be in it For The Evulz.
 
Of course, [[Tropes Are Not Good]] without fail. Poor writing of this trope can lead to [[Stupid Evil]] territory from villains do [[Evil Is Petty|petty]] things to [[Too Dumb to Live|doing things that'll kill them.]]
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[[Video Game Cruelty Potential]] is when the player of a game is allowed or even encouraged to do things [[For the Evulz]]. If a whole race has a motive like this, it's [[Always Chaotic Evil]] (but Always Chaotic Evil can have other flavours of shared evil). Compare [[It Amused Me]], for (comedically) callous or amoral seekers of amusement, [[If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten]] for the demand of evil acts as proof of evil, and [[Troll|Trolls]].
 
[[Sister Trope]] to [[Threw My Bike Onon the Roof]].
 
The [[Evil Counterpart|Good Counterpart]] is [[For Great Justice]].
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== Anime/Manga ==
* Ladd Russo for ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]]'' makes it clear that the only reason why he works as an [[Career Killer|assassin]] and goes on a murderous rampage on the train is because he FEELS LIKE IT.
* (Dis)Honorable mention goes to Eliza Reagan from ''[[Candy Candy (Manga)|Candy Candy]]'' who specifically tortures and abuses Candy a lot ''just because she can'' and she is amused at torturing her.
* The motivation, understanding and epitome of ''[[Dragon Ball (Manga)|Dragon Ball]]'' villain Majin Buu once he's stripped down to his true form. Frieza has an actual reason in doing it for power; for Cell, it was [[In the Blood]]. Super Buu ''kills every human on Earth'' to take up some time while waiting for Gotenks to fight him. This is, in hindsight, a hint as to what Kid Buu will be like.
** Broly does unspeakable acts of destruction and slaughter just because he thinks it's hilarious.
* ''[[Elfen Lied (Manga)|Elfen Lied]]'': The reason the [[Kids Are Cruel|cruel kids]] from Lucy's childhood made Lucy watch while they beat her dog to death.
* Lust in the manga of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is like this, carrying out Father's orders just because she gets to cause pain and suffering towards humans. Though she isn't as bad as...
** Envy, who also displays this trait way too much for his own good, as his sadistic tendencies introduce him to a world of hurt when he's up against smarter opponents.
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'''Kimbley:''' Nothing.<br />
'''Scar:''' 'Nothing'?! You mean to tell me you sacrificed all these people, for NOTHING?!? }}
* Ali al-Saachez from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' makes no secret that the many atrocities he's committed (including but not by any means limited to mass murder) are for his own personal enjoyment, and because [[Blood Knight|he finds peace "boring"]].
** {{spoiler|Nena Trinity}} in season 1, who {{spoiler|blows up a wedding (which Louise just happens to be attending)}} because she's bored.
* Millennium from ''[[Hellsing (Manga)|Hellsing]]'' have no motive other than causing as much chaos and destruction as they can, because they [[Blood Knight|REALLY like war]]. [[Crazy Awesome|The Major]] himself [[Lampshade|lampshades]] this when he responds to the question of Millennium's purpose with "Our purpose is a complete ''[[Chaotic Evil|absence]]'' of purpose".
** [[Death Seeker|Or, at least, that's what he wants you to think...]]
* In ''[[Houshin Engi (Manga)|Houshin Engi]]'', Dakki seems to delight in nothing more than sheer sadism to the point that her own allies find her actions incomprehensible, but what makes her truly dangerous is that she's apparently studied the [[Evil Overlord List]], thwarting her opponents at every turn -- and then she reveals that everything she's done was all part of a massive [[Gambit Roulette]].
* A strange deconstruction of this is one of the reasons why [[Complete Monster|Johan Liebert]], the titular ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'', is so horrifying. He has no reason ''at all'' for what he does. There's no evidence it's fun for him so it is not for the evulz per se and he demonstrates more than once that he can stop whenever he wants. In other words, while the Joker wants to watch the world burn, Johan just wants to set it on fire.
* Gauron, the character Ali is an [[Expy]] of, from ''[[Full Metal Panic (Light Novel)|Full Metal Panic]]''. And, like with Ali, the fandom is divided on whether this makes him horribly, horribly flat, or utterly, utterly awesome.
* Kuroudo Akabane, the transporter from ''[[Get Backers (Manga)|Get BackersGetBackers]]'', fits this to a T. He basically is a transporter for the sole purpose of being a transporter is cutting people into bloody bits -- many of whom are not as skilled as him. The goal of this endeavor is to find someone who is a challenge to fight, which he finds with Ban and Ginji. (Cue the Ho Yay.) This is his idea of "fun."
* There are two quotes from ''[[Dangaioh (Anime)|Dangaioh]]'' both uttered by Gil Berg, who spent his first few appearances getting kicked around by the heroes. He has one of the (teenage female) pilots trapped, and is torturing her. He says "You might think I'm doing this for information, or revenge, but the truth is I just like torturing little girls. I know it's sick, but everyone needs a hobby." Later, after handing the heroes their asses and destroying their mentor, the camera zooms in on his face and he says "Do you know anyone who has as much fun as I do?"
* Wiseman/Death Phantom from ''[[Sailor Moon (Manga)|Sailor Moon]]'' wants to wipe out all life in the universe with the power of his Evil Black Crystal just because he prefers silence and nothingness.
* Although Drosselmeyer in ''[[Princess Tutu (Anime)|Princess Tutu]]'' does have a few things in his back story that give him a motive, there's strong indication that his biggest motivator is he just finds tragedy... fun! As he was a writer, he may be [[Doing It for Thethe Art]] and it just so happens that he enjoys his art.
* Contrary to expectations, Ryuk from ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' is an example of [[It Amused Me]] and ''[[Averted Trope|not]]'' [[For the Evulz]]. He just wanted to see what a human would do with the absolute power of life and death and didn't care who might die as a result - he didn't enjoy the evil of it, he was just bored and amoral.
** [[Serial Killer|Beyond]] [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|Birthday]], on the other hand, totally did it [[For the Evulz]].
* Mon and Toshi of ''[[The World Is Mine]]'' are [[Mad Bomber]] [[Serial Killer|Serial Killers]] (Mon is also a serial [[Rape Asas Drama|rapist]]) who don't really have a motive, although Toshi is a [[Butt Monkey]] turned [[Manipulative Bastard]] who "wants power"; Mon is just pure id. The only demand Toshi gives, "to live in a peaceful world where everyone is equal", is to stall the police and keep them from discovering that their hostage is already dead.
** Additionally, at least a few hundred Japanese people who [[Misaimed Fandom|admire]] [[Fan Nickname|Toshimon]] and [[Viewers are Morons|misinterpreted]] the Prime Minister's words to "kill the idiots!" (give Toshimon the death penalty) and attacked [[Fight Club|random people]], [[Murder the Hypotenuse|troublesome spouses and lovers]], and [[Dead Baby Comedy|annoying infants]].
* This was a common theme in [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s later manga, such as in ''Alabaster'' and ''[[MW (Manga)|MW]]'', evil for the pleasure of evil, power and domination.
* ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'': Just about every awful thing Dio Brando does (read: everything he does) that's not motivated out of [[Greed]] or revenge is for his own amusement.
* Jail Scaglietti from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S (Anime)StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]''. While his actions are partly to take 'revenge on the TSAB [[For Science!]]', he also admits that he enjoys gathering magical artifacts, making weapons and cyborg women, and rediscovering forbidden magical arts and technology. Hard to blame the guy for that though, as based on Chapter 12 of the ''StrikerS'' [[Comic Book Adaptation|manga]], that enjoyment {{spoiler|[[Artificial Human|was molded into him by the TSAB when they created him]]}} so that they will have the best [[Mad Scientist]] ever working for them. Understandably, the [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|not so good doctor]] wasn't very pleased about that arrangement for many reasons.
** [[Smug Snake]] Quattro, on the other hand, is a sadistic little bitch simply because she likes seeing people she perceives as lower than her squirm.
* Sakyou, from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho (Manga)|Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', admits that he wanted to open a tunnel to the demon world -- which would allow powerful demons free reign over the human world -- for his own personal amusement. As he puts it, it would make things interesting. At one point, he mentions how he once used to work at a pet store. At first it seems like he's about to describe a [[Pet the Dog]] moment he once had, [[Nightmare Fuel|but he turns it around pretty quickly]] [[Squick|as he explains he used to enjoy seeing how long he could keep an animal alive after cutting its heart out.]]
* Yokoya from ''[[Liar Game (Manga)|Liar Game]]'' participates in the namesake game solely for a chance to control, dominate and generally screw other participants, preying on their fear and desperation - unlike other players he's rich and does not need prize money. Being a tyrant and forcing the worst in people to the surface is his hobby.
* [[Eyes Always Shut|Gin]] [[Enigmatic Minion|Ichimaru]] from ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'' seems to have this as his sole motivation for getting out of bed in the morning. Perhaps his most [[Kick the Dog|notorious demonstration]] of this was just prior to Rukia's execution. Seeing that she was prepared to die, he offered to save her, just to suddenly ''take it back'' and tear apart her resolve, leaving her a screaming wreck ''just because he could''. He managed to one-up that when he {{spoiler|sliced Hiyori in half}} for no apparent reason. He certainly didn't do it because she was attacking Aizen. He did it because he could. All this makes it pretty odd when {{spoiler|it's revealed that he joined Aizen just to get a chance at revenge against him for hurting his childhood friend Matsumoto. It fails to even explain why he went about doing it in the most jerk-like way possible. All this, of course, could point out to [[He Who Fights Monsters|Gin having become a bad guy while seeking to get back at another one]].}}
** [[Big Bad|Aizen]] has shades of this. He comes up with long, complicated plans that he could solve with simple solutions. It does definitely appear that some things he does are just because [[The Fighting Narcissist|hurting and crushing others feeds his sense of superiority]].
** Yoshi in the Bount filler arc. She admits during her fight with Ishida that she's only going along with Kariya's plan for the fun of it.
* Not that she's a bad person or anything but, this is pretty much the ''only'' reason why ''[[Kämpfer (Light Novel)|Kämpfer]]'s'' Student Council President would embarrass Natsuru.
* Orochimaru, former [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Naruto (Manga)|Naruto]]'', stated the only real motive he has for his (more noticeable) atrocities is that he finds peace too boring and wants to see what will happen when he kills the Kages. There's also [[Mad Bomber|Deidara]]. He actually [[Terrorists Without a Cause|worked for anti-government factions just because it gave him things to blow up]] and Akatsuki's leader said his reason for fighting was "a whim". [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Hidan]] decided to kill his neighbors, abandon his village, join the [[Religion of Evil|Jashin religion]] and, later, the Akatsuki. The last one he did, because he wanted to spread [[Religion of Evil|Jashinism]]. The rest, we're led to understand at first, is ''because he was bored''. There is also Itachi who at first seemed to be this (the excuse given for slaughtering his whole clan in Sasuke's flashbacks was essentially to see how powerful he was). Later subverted, when it was revealed {{spoiler|he was doing so on an order}}. What would this list be without the current [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Tobi}}? He has all but outright stated that he's only doing all the horrible things he's done because he has nothing better to do with his time. When he was still pretending to be Madara, it was about vengeance on a world that had turned against him. Now, however, we're back to knowing nothing about him and why he wants to do something with the moon to reach his goals(...the hell?), except that he apparently wants to complete an [[Assimilation Plot]] because [[Nietzsche Wannabe|there is no hope or something]], it's all very vague like a crack-pot theory.
** After a couple of chapters, it becomes implicit that [[Invoked Trope|those reasons for joining Akatsuki ("because I wanted to")]] [[Subverted Trope|were just their ways to say "Not your f*ing business" to whoever asked]]. {{spoiler|Deidara was forced to join because he lost to Itachi. [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Pain]] wanted global peace, his motivations for ''joining'' Akatsuki being to [[Used to Be Aa Sweet Kid|promote peace, protect the people and be with his friends]] and his motivations for turning Akatsuki into a ring of psychotic S-class nuclear-happy terrorists-for-hire being vengeance and world peace by nuclear threat. Konan was following Pain. Itachi was keeping tabs on them all. Sasori needed some shelter after his status in Suna was compromised due to him killing the Kazekage. Hidan wanted to spread Jashinism and learn about immortality from Kakuzu. Even Tobi had stronger reasons than just being bored(much better as he could demand a clearer motivation). Orochimaru joined because he was after Itachi's body and a great deal of his atrocities was just part of a bigger [[Gambit Roulette]], his real reasons, after some digging, turning out to be him wanting to see his parents again.}} [[Ax Crazy|Kisame]] is the only one, who looks to be there because he feels like it. Even he eventually turns out to want a world without lies.
* [[Psycho for Hire|Luciano Bradley]] from ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'', one of [[The Empire|Britannia's]] most elite knights, whose every single action and line of text indicate that he's just doing it for the joy of hurting people.
* In the very first chapter of the ''[[Berserk (Manga)|Berserk]]'' manga (as well as the very first episode of the anime) there is the Baron of Koka Castle. As soon as he hears about the arrival of the Black Swordsman (our protagonist Guts), he goes on to slaughter the town he's been tyrannizing, even though the townsfolk have nothing to do with Guts at all(and, in the manga, Guts is, at the moment, imprisoned and tortured, so the Baron may have been able to get it over with right there had he bothered to give an order to dispose of Guts).
{{quote| '''Baron:''' Gold... Prisoners... I don't care about such things. All I wish to see are humans within a fiery apocalypse, trying to escape. All I wish to hear is the sound of snapping bones crushed under the hooves of horses. I don't even need an excuse. None at all.}}
** Of course, this could also be interpreted as wanting to show Guts that resistance against the Apostles is, in his own words, pure folly.
** Later in the manga (but earlier story wise), we meet Wyald, another apostle, who considers this his personal philosophy. Even the brutish, bloodthirsty thugs from the military unit he leads are ''terrified'' of the guy.
** Let's not forget the big one of the entire series : {{spoiler|Femto's rape of Casca. The action - which was the very '''first''' action he did upon obtaining [[Reality Warper|the incredible powers]] [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|of a demon lord]] - played no role in the sacrifice during the Eclipse because both Guts and Casca were expected to die at the end of it all anyway. The only motive whatsoever that Griffith/Femto could have possibly had to doing this [[Forced to Watch|right in front of Guts]] was to spite him and (probably) punish Casca [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|for pitying him and leaving him behind]]. Even if you are one to believe that he did it [[WMG|to achieve a particular purpose later on,]] you can't say that Griffith didn't thoroughly enjoy making these two suffer in [[Cold-Blooded Torture|an excruciatingly painful way]] just for the hell of it.}}
* You'd think [[Ax Crazy|Munekata]] from ''[[Medaka Box (Manga)|Medaka Box]]'' would be this, with this little (paraphrased) speech:
{{quote| "I don't kill for no reason, I have ''reasons to kill''. I'll kill you because I don't want to fight you. I'll kill you because you're in my way. I'll kill you because the weather's nice. I'll kill you because my phone's batteries are low. I'll kill you because I had a good dream. I'll kill you because I'm in a hurry. And I'll kill you for no reason at all. (To Medaka in particular) ''I'll kill '''you''' because the chairman told me '''not to'''''."}}
** {{spoiler|--except he's [[Axe Crazy]], not ''[[Chaotic Stupid]]'': he knows killing is wrong and has both a [[Jerkass Facade]] and horrific rumors of his killing prowess to keep people away.}}
** [[Complete Monster|Kumagawa]], though, probably is a straight example. It is technically possible, that he might want [[Revenge]] against the rest of the world, but so far all of his actions were aimed towards torturing other characters, because he could (up to and including intending to return one of his most dangerous enemies to life to hurt him some more). Also, the main character of the series considers Kumagawa the main exception from her character-defining belief that no human is truly evil (rather than twisted by circumstances) and unworthy of trust.
** Chances are if you have a Minus Power in Medaka Box you are in it [[For the Evulz]], at one point the [[Battle Butler]] asks his fellow Minus' whether they would prefer to go to a Mountain or the Sea for a vacation, {{spoiler|the fact that he was referring to a Mountain of Corpses or a Sea of Blood was a ''given'' to the rest of them.}}
* This is pretty much the reason why Izaya does ''anything'' in ''[[Durarara (Literature)|Durarara]]''. It is subverted by the anime's finale in which Simon implies {{spoiler|that this is purely an excuse and he is jealous of Shizuo's influential status}} - only in the ''anime'' though. During that scene, Simon says something [[Wham! Line|''completely'' different]].
* ''[[Texhnolyze (Anime)|Texhnolyze]]'', Yoshii came down from the Class in order to instigate a massive war between the groups. He states that his goal is to awaken the people from their sleep in order to build leaders of them, or in other words, to help them realize their full potential, even if they don't want him to. This involves him murdering innocent people and starting gang wars because he finds it "interesting", all with a pleasant smile on his face. While he may have an ideological purpose behind it all, it is so obscure that it only makes him look all the more hysterical.
* ''[[School Days (Visual Novel)|School Days]]'': Otome's friends [[Girl Posse|Natsumi, Minami and Kumi]] are a bunch of unlikeable, backstabbing bitches and not only towards Kotonoha, but to their "friend" Otome and to Nanami. The first is the target of their bullying just because she's pretty and rich; the second is betrayed by them twice as they first videotape her having sex with Makoto and then they have sex with him; the third has her reputation absolutely ''smeared'' at school when they not only tape her having sex with her boyfriend, but ''they show the video to the whole school'', especially to the [[Jerkass]] sempai. '''And they do all of this shit for no reason at all'''.
* [[Creepy Twins]] Hansel and Gretel from ''[[Black Lagoon (Anime)|Black Lagoon]]''. Gretel does an [[Evil Laugh]] when Eda asks her why they're still after Balalaika even though they killed the guy who hired them and then she replies "We don't have a reason. We do it because we ''want'' to."
** Balalaika herself might as well qualify. She explains in the Japan arc that her motives are basically war and destruction.
{{quote| '''Revy:''' She's the kind who prefers war over sex.}}
* While Mukuro of ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn (Manga)|Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' does have a reason for doing what he does (Changing the ugly world into a pure and beautiful sea of blood, starting a world war, etc.) no other explanation other than he did it [[For the Evulz]] can be made for how during his fight with Tsuna he possessed his friends' bodies, knowing Tsuna wouldn't attack them, and spent some time having Tsuna's friends beat him up, stating (and laughing) all the while that Tsuna "makes a good sandbag".
* Resident [[Ted Baxter]] Prussia of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' does almost everything he does just for this, but most notorious are the times he realizes he's all alone on Valentine's and Christmas...so naturally, it's time to start [[Ship Sinking|sinking some ships]].
* In the second Japanese ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Animeanime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' anime (the version that was dubbed), this is pretty much Dark Malik's motivation. He just wants to cause havoc because he can, really. [[Motive Decay|Not so much in the dub...]]
* Agon Kongo from ''[[Eyeshield 21 (Manga)|Eyeshield 21]]'' has this as his motivation for playing football. He doesn't particularly like the sport, he just enjoys putting people down and crushing their hopes and dreams.
** On the other hand, Hiruma [[Subverted Trope|''seems'' like he's like this, but does have his reasons. He just happens to accomplish his goals using the most sadistic tactics possible.]]
* [[Psycho Lesbian|Tsukoyomi]] from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima (Manga)|Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. While most villains in this series seem to have some kind of motive, Tsukoyomi kills people because she likes it.
* King Dedede in ''[[Kirby of the Stars (Anime)|Kirby of the Stars]]'', while not necessarily evil, is a mean old bully, who makes other people's lives as miserable as possible just because he thinks it's fun. Especially by buying Demon Beasts/monsters to help him in doing just that.
* In ''[[Holyland (Manga)|Holyland]]'' it turns out that {{spoiler|Katou beat up Shinichi just because.}}
** Averted and invoked after {{spoiler|Izawa beats the shit out of Yoshi}}, who was the main antagonist for most of the series. Most characters think everything he did was for the evulz, turns out {{spoiler|he was simply jealous of Izawa, but didn't wanted anyone to know it, so he pretended to do it for the evulz. Even when asked directly, he answered "because he's an eyesore".}}
* ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions (Anime)|Pokémon Zoroark Master of Illusions]]:'' [[Big Bad|Grings Kodai's]] [[Moral Event Horizon]] is ''electrocuting a '''BABY''' in front of its '''MOTHER''''' for no other reason but sadistic pleasure. He even ''says'' he got a kick out of it! While most everything else he does can be chalked up to [[Selfish Evil]] and being part of his plan, this is were you know he's a true [[Complete Monster]].
* From ''[[Rosario to Vampire (Manga)|Rosario to Vampire]]'', we have Kamiya Kanade, who will claims that [[But for Me It Was Tuesday|killing humans is just something he does to pass the time and clear his head]], and [[Complete Monster|envisions himself atop a mountain of corpses he personally killed]].
* Assuming one character's interpretation is correct, {{spoiler|Pariston}} of ''[[Hunter X Hunter (Manga)|Hunter X Hunter]]'' falls into this. Despite showing he can do so easily, he's making not attempt to win {{spoiler|the election for Chairman of the Hunter's Association}}. Instead, he's merely dragging the race out as long as possible so he can take advantage of his position to {{spoiler|use especially dangerous monsters in the next Hunter's Exam.}}
* [[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]: In {{spoiler|Meakashi-hen, the killer begins with a motivation - avenging the boy she was [[Ax Crazy|madly]] in [[Yandere|love with]]. However, after killing said boy's little sister (who she was meant to be protecting in his stead), she breaks down screaming, which turns into her regular, sinister laughter}}:
{{quote| "Oh, what the hell? {{spoiler|I knew it all along. The fact that this side of me has been a demon all along!}}"}}
** {{spoiler|She then goes on to dispose of the bodies, attempt to kill her twin sister's love interest (with her imprisoned sister listening from the other room), but ends up sparing him and killing her sister to escape from the police. Then she stabs her now dead sister's love interest. Just because the demon makes her.}}
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== Comics ==
* Nearly all depictions of [[Batman]]'s arch-nemesis, [[The Joker]], who might as well be the trope incarnate.
** Example: In one issue of ''Gotham Adventures'', the comic based on ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]'', Harvey Dent, the criminal [[Two-Faced|Two-Face]], has reformed and is starting a romance with his lawyer Grace Lamont. Joker hints to Harvey that Lamont is dating Harvey's friend Bruce Wayne, and is just seeing Harvey out of pity. Then he gets his assistant Harley Quinn to leak to a newspaper that Lamont is planning to marry Bruce and delivers the newspaper to Harvey. One breakdown, jailbreak, attempted murder and broken heart later, Batman asks the Joker why he caused such a horrible disaster. His response?
{{quote| '''Joker:''' ''[[But for Me It Was Tuesday|It was]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Tuesday]]. *[[Put the Laughter In Slaughter|maniacal laughter]]* ''}}
** Even when he is out for money, he only really wants it to fund his sadistic plans. One of the first things he does in Brian Azzarello's ''[[Joker]]'' is to rob a bank. While he does get a decent of amount of cash, he considers the robbery itself to be ho-hum at best, due to a lack of carnage.
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** One comic had Wolverine running into a group who videotapes themselves hunting and murdering innocent mutants; when confronted, they readily admit that they're just doing it for kicks and that they don't have a specific agenda in targeting mutants; as Logan put it, "It could have been anyone -- blacks, or gays, or Jews".
* This was the only visible motivation of Antonio Prohías' ''[[El Hombre Sinestro|Sinister Man]]'' and Sinister Woman.
* In the original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage (Comic Book)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage]]'' comics, this trope was explicitly stated to be the motivation behind Baxter Stockman's plan to blackmail the city with his mousers. He was using the Mousers to rob banks as well. When April O' Neil tries to explain that he could have made millions of dollars legally, Baxter says he just did it because "it was FUN!"
* When The Hobgoblin was asked why he framed Flash Thompson for his crimes, he answered "Why not?" That being said, this in fact turns out to be a subversion, since there was a reason the Hobgoblin decided to frame ''him''. At the time of Tom DeFalco's story where The Hobgoblin frames Flash, Ned Leeds (whom DeFalco was using at his Hobgoblin [[Red Herring]]) had discovered Flash had been sleeping with his wife. This would be a "clue" to the readers, as Leeds would be understandably pissed. Years later, Roger Stern wrote a retcon in which the ''true'' Hobgoblin was actually Roderick Kingsley (his original choice when he created the Hobgoblin). Kingsley also had a reason to single out Flash, however; Flash had been on TV calling the Hobgoblin a "creep and a coward", among other things.
* [[The Sandman (Comic Book)|Doctor Destiny's Diner of Death]]. A supervillain armed with the King of Dreams's ruby wandered into a diner full of perfectly ordinary people, and spent an entire issue just ''breaking'' them. When he briefly freed his victims from his control, one of them demanded to know why he was tormenting them this way. His answer? [[Complete Monster|"Because I can."]]
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* [[Empowered (Comic Book)|Willy Pete]]. What else is there to say about a [[I'm a Humanitarian|cannibal]] who doesn't even need to eat at all, but just happens to like the taste? (Plenty, actually, but I'll spare you the [[Squick]].)
* Sid Fernwilter [[Piranha Club]] (formerly known as ''Ernie''), who is vicious just because he can. Purely on principle, he refuses to spend money on anything useful or necessary. He would rather sit in the darkness and freeze than to pay the electricity bill - [[Stupid Evil|And he has]].
* Also, Mr. Mxyzptlk in [[Whatever Happened to Thethe Man of Tomorrow?]]? He explained that since [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|immortality is boring]], he tries out different things to break the monotony. He spent 2,000 years not moving at all, another 2,000 years being purely good, and then the last 2,000 years being a mischievous prankster. Now he's going to be evil. Things gets ugly, ''fast''.
* The "Reaver-Cleaver" killer from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' confesses to one of the protagonists that he only does what he does because it's fun, being amused at having gotten away clean with killing a man in a drunken hit-and-run and just kept on killing to see how far he could push his luck.
* Cletus from [[The Authority]]
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== Film ==
* Pictured above, [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga (Film)|The Dark Knight]]''. The Joker actually seems more Nietzchean than sado-hedonistically Evil-for-evils-sake. He does not care about lost lives or pain - including his own! He lives without rules and enjoys showing others how stupid living by the rules is. We cannot reason with him - only make a different choice. Which is really the point and why it is so important for Batman to save him in the end. And why his real victory is bringing Dent down. If evil-for-the-sake-of-evil was the motivation, he would have blown up more hospitals and subverted less [[D As]].
** Other than the obvious mention of [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', there was also the Burmese Bandit that Alfred Pennyworth mentioned in the movie, who frequently stole gems that were intended to be given by the SAS to various tribes to bribe them, and then scattered them around, strongly implying that he only stole them simply because he could and that such antics greatly amused him.
* The main character's former partner in ''[[End of Days (Film)|End of Days]]'' suggests they cast their lot with [[Satan]] under the reasoning that their long careers as mercenaries meant they had no chance of "going upstairs" anyway, so they might as well have fun while alive.
* The evil scientist from ''[[The Human Centipede]]'' [[Squick|wants to join together three peoples' digestive systems]]. Why? Well, why the hell not?
* Castor Troy from ''[[Face Off|Face/Off]]'' ought to qualify.
{{quote| '''Troy:''' You're not having any fun, are you, Sean? Why don't you come with us? Try terrorism for hire, we'll blow some shit up. It's more fun!}}
* Kathryn's reason for destroying her [[Ladykiller in Love]] stepbrother's relationship in [[Cruel Intentions]].
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** Specifically, Mr. Blonde: "Listen kid, I'm not gonna bullshit you, all right? I don't give a good fuck what you know, or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It's amusing, to me, to torture a cop. You can say anything you want cause I've heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain't gonna get."
*** "It's so hard to keep this smile from my face, Losin' control, yea I'm all over the place!"
* ''[[Schindler's List (Film)|Schindler's List]]'': Amon Goeth. Oh so very much. The man sniped at his prisoners, severely beat and enslaved a woman who, in a different reality, he might have called a wife, blew the brains out of an argumentative engineer because 'we're not going to have arguments with these people,' shot a fourteen year old boy for failing to completely clean his bathtub, and when asked, during an 'Aktion' (pre-deportation sorting of prisoners) 'what was going on,' thought the question was about his semi-annual medical physical. "He does this," Schindler explains to Helen Hirsch, "because they [his other victims] mean ''nothing'' to him." (The actor who portrayed him -- Ralph Fiennes, who also plays Voldemort--nails his portrayal so effectively that the Other Wiki states that "When Mila Pfefferberg, a surviving Schindler Jew, was introduced to Fiennes while on the set of the film, she began to shake uncontrollably in terror, as Fiennes -- while in full SS-Hauptsturmführer uniform -- reminded her of the real Göth.")
* Hannibal Lecter, the quintessential psychopathic [[Serial Killer]], at least in ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'', ''Manhunter'', and ''[[Red Dragon]]''.
* The three killers from ''[[The Strangers]]''.
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"Because you were home." }}
* Lola from ''[[The Transporter]] 2'' is outright [[Ax Crazy]]. When the hero asks her why she slaughters people nearly at will she says, "Because it's fun".
* ''[[The Warriors (Filmfilm)|The Warriors]]''.
{{quote| '''Swan''': Why'd you do it? Why'd you waste Cyrus?<br />
{{spoiler|'''Luther'''}}: No reason. I just ''like'' doing things like that. }}
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Filmfilm)|The Wizard of Oz]]'': The Wicked Witch of the West. Hey, bitch stole her shoes - that shit don't fly in the merry old land of Oz.
* Michael Myers from the ''[[Halloween (Filmfilm)|Halloween]]'' films is never given a concrete motivation (they're always retconned) and Dr. Loomis, his psychiatrist, is convinced that Myers [[Made of Evil|is pure evil]], plain and simple. Moreover, he isn't even shown to enjoy his actions. Apparently, he murders people for literally ''no reason'', which makes him all the more frightening.
{{quote| '''Doctor Loomis''': I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six year old child with his blank, pale, emotionless face... the blackest eyes, the Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply evil.}}
* Despite the (former) picture above, [[The Matrix|Agent Smith]] is an [[Averted Trope|aversion]]. He may do a huge amount of evil things, but he does them for a simple reason:
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'''[[Only Sane Man|Sgt. Howie]]''': 'Poor old thing'? Then why in God's name do you do it, girl? }}
* The truck-driver in ''[[Duel (Film)|Duel]]''.
* Played straight rather well with [[Our Angels Are Different|Gabriel]] in ''[[The Prophecy (Filmfilm)|The Prophecy]]''.
{{quote| '''Gabriel:''' I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why.}}
* Chad in ''[[In the Company of Men]]''. When asked why he manipulated a deaf woman into a love triangle, he says "Because I could."
* Alex from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (Filmfilm)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' has no other motive for his rape and ultraviolence than that he enjoys it. This actually brings him into conflict with the rest of his gang when they start to insist that their crimes yield a more substantial payout.
* A deleted scene in ''[[Dogma]]'' revealed that the triplets from Hell died, when they were being carted to Juvenile Hall for bashing in a baby's head to see what it would look like.
* ''[[Josie and Thethe PussycatsPussy Cats]],'' of all places. As soon as the band and Wyatt meet he is nothing but rude and dismissive of Valerie, to the point of leaving her by the side of the road when their car starts (He thought she was "already in") and delivering only two party invitations instead of three (Well, she could still come anyway). Towards the end of the film she [[He Knows Too Much|learns too much]], so then he begins to deliberately try to push her out of the picture for the sake of the evil plan, but for the first hour there is absolutely no goal or plan, he seems to be doing it just to watch her squirm.
* The villain in ''[[The Vanishing]]'' is an emotional blank slate. The greatest high of his life was when he saved his daughter from drowning. Now he wants to see if he can get a similar high from doing something really evil.
* In ''[[The Crow]]'', Top Dollar gives a speech about how profiting from Devil's Night has grown boring to him, and the criminals of the city should sow mayhem purely for the evil of it.
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* ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'': Katie's demon. Honestly, it slams the door shut then bangs on the other side of it just to fuck with them. Indeed, Katie even acknowledges this trope when she asks "Do you think it would have left footprints if it didn't want to? Do you think it would do ANYTHING if it didn't want to?" In the 2007 ending, {{spoiler|the demon fucks with them one last time. Just before the police discover Katie, a light down the hall is turned on and then turned off. The police end up shooting Katie because they were startled by the sound of someone slamming a door behind them.}}
* Orin Scrivello from ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]'' amputates a girl's jaw just so he can give her a hideous prosthesis.
* This is discussed in ''[[Scream (Filmfilm)|Scream]]'', which was big on lampshading various horror film Tropes. Randy points out how about halfway through the film that in most horror movies "Motives are incidental." The eventual killer does have one (rather flimsy) motive for the carnage he unleashes, but does lampshade this fact.
{{quote| ''' {{spoiler|Billy:}}''' I don't really believe in a motive, Sid. I mean, did Norman Bates have a motive? Did we ever find out why Hannibal Lector liked to eat people? Don't think so! [[Lampshade Hanging|See, it's much scarier if there's no motive.]]}}
** Also, {{spoiler|Stu (the second killer) has the following exchange with [[Final Girl|Sidney]]}}:
{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Sidney'''}}: (over phone) So {{spoiler|Stu}}, what's your motive- I mean {{spoiler|Billy}}'s got one, the police are on the way. What're you gonna tell them?<br />
{{spoiler|'''Stu:'''}} Peer pressure, I'm far too sensitive. }}
* Several of the villains in ''[[Eight MM|8mm]]''. The rich old man who commissioned the snuff film? According to his lawyer, "He did it because he could." Machine, the man who actually committed the murder, sums it up horrifically:
{{quote| '''Machine''': Mommy didn't beat me. Daddy didn't rape me. I'm this way because I am. There's no mystery. Things I do, I do them because I like them! Because I want to!}}
* Played with in both the novel and film ''[[No Country for Old Men]]''. [[Complete Monster|Anton Chigurh]], to any of his victims would definitely appear to this and even to the viewer at first sight. However, it's stated that he has morals and values that make sense only to him. This is part of what makes him so frightening.
** How about unlike most other examples in this page, the Anton rarely even enjoys what he's doing. Just utter indifference most of the time, the rest of the examples at least get a kick out of it for their atrocities.
* Arguably, [[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|Count Rugen]]. Sometimes it's out of curiousity but mostly not.
* [[Serial Killer|Scorpio]] from the [[Dirty Harry]] series starts out asking for ransom money, but as time goes on is implied to be more so motivated by the "fun" of committing his crimes.
{{quote| '''Scorpio''': {{spoiler|I've changed my mind. I'm going to let her die! I just wanted you to know that. You hear me? I just wanted you to know that before I killed you!}}}}
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* Terry Silver in ''[[Karate Kid]] III'' is an unintentional example. He's supposed to be helping avenge his war buddy John Kreese and restore the dignity of the Cobra Kai, but in practice he's far too into it given that it's not his disgrace, seems to be aware that his buddy Kreese is the one who stepped over the line and is neglecting his multi-million dollar business to get vengeance on a teenager and his elderly mentor. Also, the vengeance is all his idea and is planned and executed by him with Kreese only getting to jump out from behind a cardboard cut out to scare Daniel in one scene.
* The Martians from [[Mars Attacks (Film)]] are the [[Played for Laughs]] version of this trope. They even make us think they can be negotiated with just to laugh at us when we try right before they kill us anyway, because they enjoy the killing so much.
* Freddy Krueger from the [[A Nightmare Onon Elm Street]] franchise can be viewed as an example born of deconstruction of [[Freudian Excuse]]. His mother was viciously raped by hundred of mental patients. He was bullied by his classmates. Growing up he killed animals and cut himself. He got beaten by his foster father, whom he later killed. Last of all, he was burnt alive. Obviously there is no excuse for killing children. Nonetheless, one can see how his past has molded him into a twisted person he is today, undoubtedly with deep mental issues. '''Except''', it's not like he minds himself being as monstrous as he is. He is quite content in being that way. Even before he turns into a [[A God Am I|King Of Nightmares]], he takes sadistic glee in raping and murdering children, as shown in the scene in the sixth movie where he's admiring a scrapbook of all the newspaper clippings of missing children. It is thus conclusive that he is the kind of person, who wouldn't even ''need'' an excuse. It is a fact that he takes all too much joy in hurting people.
* A relatively mild example occurs in the comedy ''[[Airplane! (Film)|Airplane!]]'' when airport-employee Johnny thinks it's funny to briefly unplug the runway lights just as the plane is making its emergency landing.
** In the sequel, Simon Kurtz covers up flaws in the shuttle and leaves everyone on it to die for no apparent reason.
* The gang member at the beginning of ''[[Assault On Precinct 13 (Film)|Assault Onon Precinct 13]]'', who {{spoiler|shoots and kills a little girl while they're robbing an ice cream truck just because she's there}}.
 
 
== Literature ==
* Carcer from the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Night Watch|Night Watch]]''. "The sort that joins up for the looting, and that you end up hanging as an example to the men". Possessed of a pair of shoulder demons, in competition with each other.
* In ''[[Under the Dome]]'' by ''[[Stephen King]]'' those responsible for the Dome.
* While Nyarlathotep from [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]] often works to fulfill the wishes of the Outer Gods or release the [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|Great Old Ones]], a lot of the times he seems to be messing with mankind for no other reason than his own amusement. In ''Nyarlathotep'', he seems to be destroying the world without any actual motive. In ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', his goal is apparently to snatch off the earthly gods from their scented revels in the glorious sunset city purely to screw with them. Also, in spite of apparently sending Carter off to achieve this goal, he betrays Carter for no apparent reason other than, again, to be a real dick. The ways of the Outer Gods are essentially beyond human comprehension. In ''The Dreams in the Witch-House'', he appears as a black-skinned [[Expy]] of [[Satan]]. He's even worse in other authors' appropriations of the character.
** While Nyarlathotep may have had a reason to return the Gods of Earth to Kadath (that's where they're supposed to live), him sending Carter to accomplish the task for him and subsequently betraying him serves no point other than being a dick. Especially since in the end it's revealed he's powerful enough to return the Gods to Kadath with no effort at all.
* In [[Hells Children|Hell's Children]] by Andrew Boland an entire race of aliens travel light years to wipe out all life on earth. Their motivation for this, they were bored. I’m serious.
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* ''[[Fantomas]]'': the valuables he steals is just an added bonus, what he really enjoys is to [[Complete Monster|spread fear]].
* Pretty much the guiding philosophy of Acheron Hades from the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series, and probably the rest of his family as well. He even says as much in one of the quotes from his book "Degeneracy for Pleasure and Profit"; despite the title he feels that crime-for-money is rather crass and much prefers evil for evils sake.
* Inverted in ''[[The Acts of Caine (Literature)|The Acts of Caine]]''. The bad guys always act out of self-interest, ideology, or pure hedonistic lust. The ''protagonist'' is the one who, for shits and giggles, escalates conflicts almost compulsively. So far this includes "escalating" a verbal argument into a lethal fight, a skirmish with an [[Our Orcs Are Different|ogrillo]] tribe into ethnic cleansing, and a minor political conflict into ''a civil war''. (And the bad guys ''are still worse''.)
* Edgler Vess from [[Dean Koontz]]' ''Intensity'' is a self-proclaimed homicidal adventurer, who loves to kill just for the sheer intensity of it. Vassago from another [[Dean Koontz]] novel ''Hideaway'' kills people so he could be reincarnated as one of the demon princes in Hell(it's not clarified what it would benefit him). As a matter of fact, simply every villain in every [[Dean Koontz]] book ever written ever.
* In [[CSC. LewisS. (Creator)Lewis|CS Lewis]]' ''[[Space Trilogy|Perelandra]]'', Satan himself is this. While he has real (and [[Complete Monster|deeply]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|malicious]]) ambitions, when he can't move directly toward them he's just as happy torturing small animals or tearing up the turf, so long as he can hurt something.
* Averted in [[The Screwtape Letters]]. The preface to later editions notes avoidance of "the absurd fancy that devils are engaged in the disinterested pursuit of something called Evil (the capital is essential). Mine have no use for any such turnip ghost. Bad angels, like bad men, are entirely practical. They have two motives. The first is fear of punishment.... Their second motive is a kind of hunger."
* In James Beauseigneur's ''[[Christ Clone Trilogy]]'' when Decker, the viewpoint character, asks [[The Antichrist]] ( {{spoiler|Christopher Goodman}}) why he does what he does when he knows he's going to lose, the reply is "Because it feels so good to twist the nose of God!" The same Antichrist later muses how an eternity in [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Hell]] will be tolerable in the knowledge that he tricked millions of people to join him there so he can listen to their screams forever, {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|including his own parents]]}}. [[Complete Monster]] doesn't begin to describe this guy.
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* Jack Mort, a minor villain from [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Dark Tower]]'' series likes to hurt people and has ruined the lives of two major characters just for his own sadistic joy.
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' -- The series has some minor villains, who seem to be along just for their own sick pleasures. The worst ones would be the huge rapist knight Ser Gregor Clegane (among countless other atrocities sickening in nature), the inhumanly cruel outcasts in the Brave Companions, aka the Bloody Mummers, sadistic Ramsey Snow and the heartless boy-king Joffrey Baratheon, who practically revels in his power and prefers to make people fear him ({{spoiler|not to forget what he did to Ned Stark}}).
* Alex from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (Literaturenovel)|A Clockwork Orange]]''. This guy likes to kill, beat up and rape people for his own enjoyment and [[Alternate Character Interpretation|one could say]] he certainly deserves the treatment he gets after being brainwashed.
* Organizations with essentially the same motives as ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'''s The Party are a recurring element in the satirical horror novels of [[Bentley Little]]. e.g. ''The Store'' is about a Walmart-esque retail chain that goes far out of its way to be as oppressive and cause as much unnecessary suffering as it can; ''The Association'' is about a homeowner's association that does the same; ''The Policy'' is about an insurance company that does the same.
* ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'': Okay, so we know that Sol wants to {{spoiler|1=use the Three's powers to gain control over all cats living around the lake and eliminate belief in StarClan,}} but {{spoiler|his manipulation of the Twolegplace cats}} doesn't have ''anything'' to with his plans, and was seemingly done for the hell of it. Plus, he doesn't seem that committed to his goal, doesn't approach it with much urgency, and seems to get ''way'' too much enjoyment from messing with the main characters' minds.
* Dr. Mabuse, who was inspired by Fantomas (see above). In addition to spreading fear, however, Mabuse wants to destroy the world... and laugh maniacally over the rubble.
* Bellatrix Lestrange from the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series always seems to have way too much fun killing people, breaking their stuff and {{spoiler|torturing innocent people into insanity}}.
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* Speculated as being one of the motives of the mutineers in the first ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'' book for meddling with human civilization.
* The protagonist in [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''The Black Cat'' starts hurting people and animals around him [[For the Evulz]] or, as he himself puts it: in the "spirit of [[Bold Inflation|PERVERSENESS]]". Poe's perverseness is an odd supposed psychological motive (but perhaps related to negative suggestion) that goes a step further than [[For the Evulz]], inspiring not just morally wrong acts harmful to others, but any kind of irrational and wrong acts even just harmful to oneself; inspires one to do anything they shouldn't just because they know they shouldn't.
* Melisande Shahrizai, of the [[KushielsKushiel's Legacy]] series. When asked why she started a civil war and tried to ''conquer her own country'' she responds with, "Because I could."
* The Vardii Collective Military in [[Earth 2350 (Literature)Surrealverse|Earth 2350]] killed '''all life on a planet''' because, hey, if you have a crust-melting superweapon on hand, why not use it on someone you don't like?
* An awful lot of misbehavior in the [[Nightside]] series, from heinous torture of innocents to the merely rude, is attributed to the "just because he/she/it/they could" motive.
* The Order of the Blackened Denarius from ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' are explicitly stated as being out to inflict as much chaos, death, and destruction as possible, and are responsible for inciting numerous plagues, wars, and other disasters.
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== Live Action TV ==
* Q in ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', half the time. The other half he's playing a [[Trickster Mentor|mentor]]...
** Arguably, Gul Madred, the Cardassian interrogator from "Chains of Command". Eventually, he lays off of the torture and drugs when he realizes that Picard really doesn't know what he wants to hear... and then picks up where he left off and keeps going ''for the sole purpose of breaking Picard's brain''.
*** Considering that [[Hey, It's That Guy!|Gul Madred]] is also [[Tron|the MCP]], this isn't too far fetched.
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** In the 2010 episode "Flesh and Stone", the Weeping Angels {{spoiler|tell the Doctor they are forcing Amy to count down to her death "for fun, sir."}}
** "Everything you say, Waterfield, is true. If we cannot find Jamie, the Daleks will take pleasure in killing everyone in sight, and their greatest pleasure will be in killing me." - the Doctor, ''The Evil of the Daleks''.
* Similarly, a villain in the ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' episode "Countrycide", when asked the reason for his actions, simply responds "Because it made me happy."
** And there's this quote from a charming recurring villain in "Exit Wounds":
{{quote| '''Captain John Hart:''' Do I mean fun or carnage? I always get those two mixed up.}}
* Dr. Mikoto Nakadai in ''[[Super Sentai|Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger]]'' is an [[Evil Genius]] who is utterly bored with life... until he discovers that tormenting the heroes and plotting widespread death and destruction is just the kick he's been missing.
* Similarly, in the ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The Benders", Sam gets captured by a family of cannibal hillbillies, and Dean allies himself with a female county cop (whose brother was captured by the same hillbillies) to get him back. At the end, the female cop asks the hillbilly patriarch why they killed her brother, and he answers, "Because it was FUN." She shoots him off-screen.
* Subtly subverted in the ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me". Four demons cause death and destruction behind the scenes apparently just because it's fun for them. Except at the end, it's revealed (by Frank Black himself) that the demons are very lonely, simply doing evil not because they like it, but because it's what they've been doing forever and they don't know what else to do.
* About the only reason why Arthur Petrelli of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' does anything. Mr. Linderman of Season One wanted to blow up NYC to heal the world and Adam Monroe of Season Two wanted to release a deadly virus to give his people a second chance, but Arthur didn't even bother with idealistic pretense. He just spouted the usual [[Card-Carrying Villain|villainous cliches]], and even then in a half-hearted fashion, as if he could barely be bothered to even offer a modicum of justification for his douchery.
** The only justification for anything Sylar has ever done aside from wanting more abilities is simply because he can.
* {{spoiler|Angelus}} during season 2 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', who nearly destroyed the world just for the giggles. Somebody earlier mentioned what could be more evil than leering at nuns? How about killing an entire convent just to drive one girl insane? Yeah, he did that because he ''could''. And then he made her a vampire.
** Most demons and vampires are like this, by their very nature. Two villains, however, get special mention: Spike and Ethan Rayne. Spike at least has an excuse, he's a vampire, and therefore is [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. Ethan doesn't even have this excuse; he's just an ordinary human who worships pain and chaos. Literally; his powers come from his worship of Janus.
*** Angel and Spike have a conversation in ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' concerning how they committed atrocities [[For the Evulz]] -- but in different ways. Spike loved killing for the sake of it and didn't bother to give his victims another glance. Angelus couldn't look away from his victims and relished their suffering.
*** Spike could also be considered a subversion. While he enjoys killing humans as individuals, he actually likes human society in general (with [[Sex Pistols]] being his favorite rock band) and doesn't want to see it destroyed.
{{quote| '''Spike''': "The thing is, I ''like'' this world. You've got Manchester United, dogracing, and ''people''. Millions of people, all walking around, like Happy Meals on legs."}}
** One episode of Angel had a twist on this; the demon possessing a small boy did all his crimes [[For the Evulz]], but the boy was a complete psychopath who trapped the demon in his mind and resisted control attempts, then burned things and killed people anyway (even after a successful exorcism) because he didn't see any reason not to. The demon was absolutely ''terrified'' by this, since demons see doing things out of a belief in evil as a valid reason but the boy lacked even that.
** Hauser, a former employee of Wolfram and Hart, believes in evil.
* ''[[Jonathan Creek (TV)|Jonathan Creek]]'', given that it focuses on [[Locked Room Mystery|Locked Room Mysteries]] and other planned murders, usually has very rational and logical villains with complex motives. Thus this trope came as something of a surprise when it was played in season four - after the media suggests that a series of murders are inspired by the fact that all the women killed were named after flowers (as an attempt to "deflower women") and the real killer is caught, Jonathan notes that no-one had considered the idea that a young woman would kill other young women "simply because she likes to". The floral connection of the names was just a coincidence.
* ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]'': A trio of killers graduate from vandalism to murder, and one of them is caught editing footage from their latest killing (to The Dead Weather of all things). When asked why they did it {{spoiler|especially in light of the fact that unlike the profile they had steady jobs in a bad economy}}, the lone survivor can only say "Because it's fun."
** Also the (unrelated) rioters in the same episode.
** This seems to be the case for the Reaper {{spoiler|George Foyet}} as well. The core of his character is that he gets off (maybe literally, it's hard to tell) on manipulating and having power over people.
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** It's a TV show about FBI profilers who hunt down (mostly) serial killers. At least half the episodes fall into this trope. The other half, however, [[Subverted Trope|subverts it to hell and back]].
** Subverted in the ''episode'' ''"To Hell And Back"''. The team profile someone who is abducting random drug users and homeless people as someone who is killing For The Evulz - but it is actually an [[Adult Child]] who is carrying out orders of his crippled [[Manipulative Bastard]] brother, who says he was using the victims to perform horrible human experiments in the hope of finding a cure for his condition. Then [[Double Subverted]] when Rossi calls bullshit on that and says he's just a sadist, who enjoys forcing his brother to torture and kill people while he watches, since none of the equipment he has on hand is remotely suited to advanced medical research.
* Rico in ''[[Hannah Montana (TV)|Hannah Montana]]'' explains the fact that he is always trying to make people (his so called friends no less) miserable as "I'm rich and bored, [[It's What I Do]]."
* On an episode of ''[[Law and& Order: Special Victims Unit (TV)|Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'', a serial rapist and murderer who is also a [[Phony Psychic]] keeps butting into a case in which he is actually the killer. After he's captured, a detective asks him why he did it, since he'd probably have gotten away with it if he hadn't. His response? "I just had to see what I had set in motion. The expressions on your faces were priceless. This place was like a big beehive that I poked with a stick."
* ''[[CSI (TV)|CSI]]'' episode "Fannysmackin'", where local teens beat tourists to death. The point made at the end is that these kids were bored and were stupid enough to pick this to break the boredom.
* Every villain in the 1960's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV show. Has even ''one'' of them ever tried to commit a subtle and/or profitable crime?
* In the ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" {{spoiler|Saffron}} implies she might be this, {{spoiler|after Mal questions her about why she needed such a convoluted plan.}}
{{quote| '''{{spoiler|Saffron}}''': "You're assuming the payoff is the point."}}
* [[Professional Wrestling]]: [[WWE|The Big Bossman]] practically sprinted past the [[Moral Event Horizon]] and dove into [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsterdom]] for no reason whatsoever, other than that he enjoyed it.
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'' The [[Big Bad]] was quite different from other final bosses of [[Kamen Rider]], no speech about his desire to win the game, all he wants to do is fight Yosuke and even as he died fighting him. He didn't whine about how a mortal beaten him, just smiling as he watches Yuusuke being so violent.
* A rather light example in ''[[The Goodies (TV)|The Goodies]]'': Bill's just signed up to do a row of extremely violent shows for the BBC. Graeme and Tim, bewildered, simply ask why he'd join up for such 'immoral, gratuitous violence'.
{{quote| '''Bill:''' Oh, don't worry, I have a perfectly good reason.<br />
'''Graeme:''' Oh really? What's that?<br />
'''Bill:''' ''I like violence! (jumps Graeme, beginning to strangle him)'' }}
* {{spoiler|Jim Moriarty}} from ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]'': he threatens to blow up a series of bombs in London just because he was bored and to get Sherlock's attention.
** Also Inverted with Sherlock Holmes himself, the only reason he solves crimes instead of commits them is because he gets to brag about it afterwards.
* ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' - The motivation for most of Damon Salvatore's actions.
* On ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', Peter likes Manny, but Emma likes Peter. Manny gets drunk, and Peter films Manny stripping and uses it for blackmail. Emma then puts Peter [[Draco in Leather Pants|in leather pants]] and blames Manny, but starts dating the guy who filmed her best friend stripping. Strike that. That whole plot was [[For the Evulz]]. Peter's motives are more clear in season 6. (Sean likes Emma, Peter's dating Emma, Peter frames Sean for "possession".) And he actually gets a random [[Face Heel Turn]] in season 7.
* This is Sue Sylvester's primary motivation in ''[[Glee (TV)|Glee]]''.
* The motivation of Joey Heric, the resident [[Magnificent Bastard]] on ''[[The Practice]]''. As his psychiatrist points out, he is clearly smart enough to commit murder in such a way that he would never be suspected, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as letting everyone know he is guilty and then getting away with it anyway.
* The killer in the ''[[Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (TV)|Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior]]'' episode "Jane" outright claims he had no reason to torture and kill women, he just did it. According to [[The Profiler|Coop]], he's telling the truth; to the killer, people and even most things are just indistinguishable blurs, and he is incapable of anything even resembling emotion, especially (and even sadistic) joy or happiness, even while torture-murdering.
* Francis from ''[[Malcolm in The Middle (TV)|Malcolm in Thethe Middle]]'', during his youth, and even currently, was implied to have pretty much done things such as steal a neighbor's car, crash it onto a tree, as well as drink, smoke, gain multiple piercings, break curfew, slept around, as well as torture his brothers, lock them in a closet, steal their toys, and presumably scar Reese with a Bayonet because of this trope, almost certainly the prior stuff was simply to spite his mother.
* In [[Sentai]] series, a general rule is that the villain's only ideology is evil.
* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'': Selto Durka, Peacekeeper Captain, enthusiastic torturer, and all around bastard. He's so horrible that when Rygel -- one of his former victims -- {{spoiler|finally kills him, Rygel spends the next several days carrying his head around on a stick. It's '''really''' hard to blame Rygel for being so happy.}}
* Thomas and O'Brien from ''[[Downton Abbey]]'', who have attracted criticism that the mostly realistic series suffers from having these cartoon villains with no identifiable motivation. And ironically, the one thing O'Brien at least thought she had a motivation for ({{spoiler|planting a bar of soap so Cora would have a miscarriage, and wouldn't fire her}}) is the only one she actually shows regret for.
* One episode of ''[[The Pretender]]'' has Jared try to get into the mind of a serial killer to try and find his latest victim. He almost [[Logic Bomb|Logic-Bombs]] himself because he can't understand the reasoning behind the killer's actions. The killer helpfully informs him that there is no reason; he kills because he wants to.
* When {{spoiler|Methos}} from the [[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander tv series]] finally tells Duncan about his days as an evil marauder back in the depths of time, he sums up his motives as a combination of this and [[Evil Feels Good]].
{{quote| Killing was all I knew. Is that what you want to hear? I killed. But I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed TEN thousand! And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it.}}
 
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** Though they are pretty goal-oriented whenever they are put up against someone of equal or superior skill (and considering the strength of the average skaven, that isn't too hard).
* Tends to happen rather spectacularly every time PCs are permitted to be actually ''evil'' rather than just [[Designated Hero|designated]]. The ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' take on this gave us the [[Sarcasm Mode|cleverly innocent name of]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Dark Lord Evisceratrix O'Kittensquisher]]. This is ''not'' much of an exaggeration.
* Depending on what Haunt you trigger in ''[[Betrayal Atat House Onon the Hill]]'', the Traitor's motivation can range from [[Tragic Monster]] to [[More Than Mind Control]] to this. The poor preacher might randomly turn into a werewolf, or the geeky [[Tagalong Kid]] may just decide the [[Giant Spider|Giant Spiders]] are just ''too cool'' to fight.
* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' has the Crassus family. It's a horrible, horrible example to retype here, so just check it out on their section on the Requiem article.
* Fiends in [[Dungeons and Dragons]]. As the Witch-queen Iggwilv explains in the ''Demonomicon'':
{{quote| "To understand a [[Chaotic Evil|demon]] is to know what drives it. All demons crave carnage and absolute ruin, but to what end? Unlike [[Lawful Evil|devils]], demons do not commit acts of violence from a philosophical desire to foment evil for its own sake. The desires of a demon are less existential. More instinctual."}}
* In the [[Magic: theThe Gathering]] set ''Ravnica'', the Rakdos Cult is populated entirely by [[Always Chaotic Evil]] demons and supplicants, whose entire reason for doing their actions is [[For the Evulz]]. Interestingly, in the magically-enforced government of Ravnica, there ''needs to be'' that sort of group as part of the government... even if it spends most of its time trying to destroy said government.
* Most agents of the Wyrm in ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse (Tabletop Game)|Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' don't have a whole lot of motive for what they do. A fair amount of the Pentex book is scary not because of the malevolence on display, but because most of it seems to have no motive at all beyond "yay Wyrm".
 
 
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** Don John from ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', actually mentions early in the play that since people have pegged him as a bastard already, he might as well get into it and enjoy himself.
** ''[[Richard III]]'': He tells us in the very first speech of the play that he's going to be a villain because he has nothing else with which to occupy himself.
** Aaron of ''[[Titus Andronicus (Theatretheatre)|Titus Andronicus]]'' does everything he does over the course of the play because he simply likes being evil.
{{quote| Ah, why should wrath be mute and fury dumb?<br />
I am no baby, I, that with base prayers<br />
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* From ''[[Bionicle]]'', we have the Piraka, six (formerly seven) former [[Bounty Hunter|Dark Hunters]] out for the [[MacGuffin|Mask of Life]].
** Even [[Big Bad|Makuta Teridax]] himself strayed into this territory at times, like when he ''became'' the Matoran Universe itself, and so gained control over the natural forces of the universe.
* The ''[[Purr Tenders|Purr-Tenders]]'' had to deal with Ed-grr, the grumpy pet dog of the owner of Pick-A-Dilly Pet Shop. While they'd all gotten adopted thanks to their [[Paper-Thin Disguise|disguises]], meaning his owner didn't have to care for them anymore and they were out of his hair, Ed-grr wanted to capture and drag them back to the shop ''just'' so they'd be unhappy and he could laugh at their misery.
 
 
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'''Undercity Champion''': Nah, not really. I just wanted to see the look on your face. [[Evil Laugh|(laughs)]] }}
* [[Monster Clown|Kefka]] from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is the result of crossing this trope with [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]. Thanks to the Magitek experiments he's undergone, his mind has rotted to the point that destruction and death are the only things that bring meaning to his life, so he destroys and kills everything and everyone he can because it's the only thing that puts a smile on his face. [[Complete Monster|And boy does it ever.]] Towards the end, it's possible that the only reason he stops playing this trope straight is because he's so ridiculously powerful that it just isn't fun anymore. Without the Evulz to drive him, he no longer has any use for either the world or even his own existence.
* Saleh, one of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] in ''[[Tales of Rebirth (Video Game)|Tales of Rebirth]]'' is an extreme case that he is very much repulsed with anything good and strives to do evil and it just delights him to see people suffer.
* {{spoiler|Kirei Kotomine}}, the [[Big Bad]] of the Fate route in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Night (Visual Novel)night|Fate Stay Night]]'', was going to {{spoiler|empty the contents of the Holy Grail, an [[Artifact of Doom]] containing a tangible form of all of man's evil}} upon the world, causing untold amounts of death and destruction. When [[The Hero]] asks him why he's doing it, he replies with a speech that can be summed up as: "Just as some people find music or art entertaining, I can only find amusement in watching other people suffer".
** The Heaven's Feel scenario {{spoiler|turns this into a [[Deconstructed Trope]] by giving us Kotomine's backstory and showing just what sort of twisted and tormented person he is: Kotomine is perfectly capable of understanding the nuances of right and wrong and has, in fact, on several occasions tried to live a good life -- by for instance becoming a priest specializing in healing and trying to have a family -- while at the same time being utterly unable to get any pleasure from life unless he's causing (or simply observing - he's not picky) someone pain and suffering. He is fully aware of just how deviant this makes him and he considers his birth to be a 'mistake'. This in fact turns his motives into a subversion. What he is truly aiming for is something close to a [[Rage Against the Heavens]].}}
* [[Psycho for Hire|Yuber]] and [[The Caligula|Luca]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|Blight]] from the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series.
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* Both [[Psycho for Hire]] [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Grims]] and [[Super Robot Wars Gaiden|Lubikka Hakinnen]] from ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''. Archibald forced Elzam von Branstein to make the [[Sadistic Choice]] between killing his wife or having his whole colony gassed, as well as bombing an excavation site all for the lulz. His predecessor Lubikka is also said to have done a lot of atrocities for the lulz, and takes extra lulz if he is torturing [[Super Robot Wars Gaiden|Tytti Noorbuck]] mentally.
** Archibald actually does have a grudge against the Branstein family, but when not torturing them, he just really likes killing people. His hobbies include joining rebellions that he couldn't give a damn about, "accidentally" firing on civilians in an occupied country, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|drinking red tea because it looks like blood]].
* The eponymous mask from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: MajorasMajora's Mask (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask]]''. This is emphasized by the fact that the person it chooses to possess is a (skull) kid, and during one of its [[One-Winged Angel|three boss fights]], it dances around giggling like a [[Giggling Villain|child.]] It doesn't seem to have a clear reason for all of the horrible things it does, part of what makes it scary as fuck.
** Doubly so in the questionably canon manga adaptation, where the Mask is revealed to have hexed Kafei into a child for the hell of it when he refused to play with the possessed Skull Kid, and once discarding the Skull Kid, comments that Link "looks like a fun fellow" and tosses off a few [[Nightmare Fuel|inexplicably creepy]] lines about how he wants to play with Link now, eventually settling on "tag". Majora further has a [[Villainous Breakdown]] as he and Oni Link fight, calling Oni Link a "meanie" when he hits him the first time and giggling madly before repeating his actions from the video game of running around tittering with excitement. In the final form, he bawls out Link for ruining his "game", screaming that humans had always "played" willingly with him before. We're given a pretty good view that Majora threw the entire world into chaos and tried to destroy it purely because it was fun.
** Not Majora himself, but they establish a [[Freudian Excuse]] for the Skull Kid, who was being influenced by him at one point in the game. A long time ago, the Skull Kid and the Giants were friends (his ONLY friends), but the giants left to sleep in the four compass directions leaving the Skull Kid all alone and feeling he had been abandoned. This caused him to become bitter and antagonistic toward people, which got turned [[Up to Eleven]] when Majora possessed him.
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* This is what {{spoiler|The Adel Bernal's}} motivation boils down to essentially in ''[[Super Robot Wars|Super Robot Wars Z]]''.
* Meria, of ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'', ''loves'' to run around blowing shit up. She will actually take it {{spoiler|all the way to [[Rage Against the Heavens|Asgard]]}} if you let her.
* [[Spell My Name Withwith an "S"|Pokey/Porky]] Minch from the ''[[Earthbound (Video Game)|Earthbound]]'' series seems to fit this trope perfectly in ''[[Earthbound (Video Game)|Mother 2]]'' {{spoiler|and ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]''}}. He pretty much states that being the hero doesn't sound like fun to him. In ''[[Earthbound (Video Game)|Mother 2]]'' he seemed more like a harmless example who usually appeared to taunt or hinder Ness. {{spoiler|[[Nightmare Fuel|Mother 3 however...]] his actions shifted more towards [[Complete Monster]] territory, transforming a peaceful island's plants and animals into violent chimeras, then gathered all the inhabitants on the island to his flying "utopia" so they could all watch as he awakened a dragon to destroy all of existence. All this because he was bored and needed a quick laugh.}}
* Rosso from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: [[Dirge of Cerberus]]''. Her motivation boils down to "why not?". The rest of the Tsviets say similar things, to the tune of "We were made as killing machines, so why not do what we do best?"
* Most characters in ''[[Touhou]]'' have a reason for what they do, if not a good one. Except for Tenshi, who causes a lot of chaos and some earthquakes because she was bored. Utsuho would also qualify, but she got beaten down before she actually did anything.
* More than half of the Acts of Infamy in ''[[Evil Genius (Videovideo Gamegame)|Evil Genius]]'' are done solely to make sure ''you're'' the most evil genius trying to [[Take Over the World]].
* [[Spyro the Dragon|Malefor]] is a [[Complete Monster]], no matter [[Draco in Leather Pants|what fans try to portray him as]]. We're talking about a villain who kidnaps a baby dragon only too [[Freud Was Right|have some company]] after exposing her to darkness - no doubt putting her through terrible misery and suffering in the process. Then he launches an army of [[Maniac Monkeys|crazed apes]] (whom he eventually condemns to a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] simply because they do not seem totally loyal) to kill anybody who tries to stop him, so that he can [[Earthshattering Kaboom|destroy the entire world with a deadly blast]]. His motive is apparently [[Because Destiny Says So]], but seriously - what would his actions accomplish?
** Not to mention when the heroes show up to stop him, he gets a kick out of using [[Mind Control]] to turn one against the other, and is visibly miffed when she breaks free, ruining his game. Then as the planet starts to disintegrate during the final battle, he gets an even ''bigger'' kick out of taunting them for being too late: "Welcome to the end of the world!"
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** Again, that above statement about "for the glory of our Dread Father Sithis"? That gets even worse when you consider that canonically, Sithis ''isn't even sentient'', it's the term for the void, basically nonexistence. The Dark Brotherhood take up many of their missions to kill people in order to appease ''an abstract concept'' that ''wouldn't even care''. Talk about [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]].
* The Dark Star in ''[[Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story|Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]] is this. He's already a [[Made of Evil]] [[Eldritch Abomination]], and as a result, has no motivations other than destruction. His 'plan' is to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom or world, and he doesn't even consider that he happens to be 'living' there at the time. Then again, he's [[Made of Evil]] itself, I don't think he'd understand the concept of having motivations or reasons.
* By the time Travis Touchdown reaches her, Bad Girl in ''[[No More Heroes]]'' is so utterly burned out by her career as an assassin that she slaughters countless gimp clones just for the fun of it. She openly admits that she has no reason to kill anyone, she does it to keep herself entertained. Travis, who is only slightly less of a [[Villain Protagonist]] than [[God of War (Video Gameseries)|Kratos]], finds himself disgusted.
* Most of the villains in the first [[Sly Cooper]] game have some sort of [[Freudian Excuse]] or another behind their criminal careers. Sir Raleigh, however, is simply a bored aristocrat who commits crimes and sinks ships to entertain himself.
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', Majd Addin is the only one of Altair's targets not to try and justify his actions by claiming they were [[Utopia Justifies the Means|for the greater good.]] When asked why he executed innocent people (to the point of performing the executions ''himself''), he replies that he simply enjoyed the feeling of holding someone else's life in his hands.
* In ''[[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prototype]]'', you (as Alex Mercer) can run around murdering absolutely anyone you care to using a multitude of techniques and abilities. True, they drop some health for you, but then why not absorb them instead of, say, throwing the smoldering remains of a helicopter at some random grouping?
** Blackwatch is implied to be heavy believers of this trope. One of the consumed memories are about [[Knight Templar|Black]][[Psycho for Hire|watch]] troopers [[Complete Monster|shooting civilians just for the hell of it, laughing the whole time]].
* The Blood Roses from ''[[All Points Bulletin]]'' are bored rich kids who commit crimes for fun. Their leader, Jeung, started with killing a hobo just because he felt like it.
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** He actually put it best himself when explaining his motives to [[Badass|Hakumen]]:
{{quote| '''Hazama/Terumi''': Seriously, I can't believe you just asked me that! OK, all right, fine! How about this reason? Seems as good as any. I do all the wonderful things I do because I want to see the miserable look on the faces of people like YOU when you're wallowing in despair, dismay, grief, frustration, misery... [[Faux Affably Evil|all sorts of other unpleasant nouns]]... I guess you could say I'm bored. [[Complete Monster|At least misery is interesting]].}}
* Seems to be almost the entire motivation for the witches in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Nini]]'' {{spoiler|especially the Voyager witches Bernkastel and Lambdadelta.}} [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|But when you live for a thousand years, your sources of entertainment eventually start to run out.]]
* My own personal theory on how any why [[Kaizo Mario World]] was born. If so, it worked.
* [[Golden Sun Dark Dawn]] brings us Blados, a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who just plain loves his job. Whether it's kidnapping a child, [[Lost Forever|blowing up and collapsing a cavern so the heroes can never go back to that area]], [[Blood Knight|taunting characters for being "too weak for a good fight"]], forcing the heroes to {{spoiler|[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|activate a forbidden Alchemy Machine]] and plunge most of the continent into a [[Total Eclipse of the Plot]]}}, or {{spoiler|[[The Starscream|turning a giant laser superweapon against his own country]]}}, it looks like he's only doing it for laughs.
* Gary from ''[[Bully (Videovideo Gamegame)|Bully]]'' personifies this trope, what with his justification for {{spoiler|putting Jimmy into power as the King of the School, then sabotaging him completely and getting him expelled, then plunging the school into complete chaos}} being because he could...
* In the second ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' game, it's never explained why {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Darkrai]]}} wanted to {{spoiler|cover the world in darkness aside from destroying both space and time in order for his evil plan to work.}}
* {{spoiler|Iris Sepperin}} of [[Rosenkreuzstilette]] states that {{spoiler|she made the organization of RKS fight against the Holy Empire just for her own amusement. She also [[Complete Monster|amuses herself with other people's suffering]], such as Zorne's when she killed her father whom she was desperately trying to get to accept her as his real daughter, and Grolla's when she had arranged for her long-dead grandfather to be brought back by her father as [[The Grim Reaper]]}}.
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** Actually, no. Dysley's two irreconcilable Focuses were to Protect Cocoon and to Destroy Cocoon; to that end it was important that the main characters were not killed before they could help him carry out the 2nd Focus. Had they fought Jihl it's possible that they would've been unable to, in their weakened state, protect themselves against Dysley himself when he had been forced to fight the party in order to further his 1st Focus. Or, in other words: Jihl even being given the chance to fail him wasn't in his best interests.
* The Nightmare Court in [[Guild Wars 2]] manages to have an actual plan that requires its followers to kill and torment [[For the Evulz]]: By creating terrible memories for themselves and their victims, they try to make sure that their pseudo-[[Hive Mind]], the Pale Tree, gets darker too, and will cause newly born Sylvari to be less acceptive of the [[Lawfull Good]] teachings from Ventari's tablet, which the Nightmare Court considers [[Stupid Good]] as opposed to their own [[Knight Templar]] approach.
* It isn't made very clear why Tuber kidnapped the fruits in ''[[The Caverns of Hammerfest (Video Game)|The Caverns of Hammerfest]]''.
** [[Fridge Logic|He was going to make one heck of a fruit salad!]]
* Solomon in ''[[Battlefield 3 (Video Game)|Battlefield 3]]'' was heavily implied to be this.
* [[Ax Crazy|Munenori]] from [[Onimusha]]: Dawn of Dreams is a crazy piece of work. His motivation in this is cemented {{spoiler|when he learns that his eye from his mother was not forced upon him to make him strong but given by his mother willingly to save his life.}} He begins to break down....and then ''starts [[Evil Laugh|cackling]] and explaining that it's irrelevant to why he does anything.''
 
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* Jeff of ''[[RPG World]]'', Eikre's {{spoiler|former best friend}}, essentially {{spoiler|killed Eikre's mother, neighbor, and burned down part his village simply to show everyone what true evil was and because he enjoyed it. He has now ascended to [[The Dragon|Dragon]] status.}}
* One Stolen Pixels strip has [[Jerkass|Fran]][[Left 4 Dead|cis]] trick Bill into thinking a pushbroom is the best weapon.
* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'':
** The lich Xykon, the [[Big Bad]], is simply out to be as evil as possible, and often goes out of his way to commit atrocities just 'cause it's fun. The result is the bizarre twist of an <s>[[Affably Evil]]</s> [[Faux Affably Evil]] [[Complete Monster]].
{{quote| '''Xykon:''' ...sure, I could've just blasted you all from above with fire and lightning and such... But I've always felt that when it's really important, it's worth to go that extra mile. Don't you agree?<br />
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* This is the only discernible reason why [[Designated Hero|Christian Weston Chandler]]'s enemies continually try to ruin his Love Quests in [[Sonichu]].
** In fairness, Chris is a Jerkass at best, so it's probably the same reason why many people troll him in [[Real Life]]-[[Asshole Victim|they think he deserves to be trolled.]]
* The hat guy in ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' enjoys [http://xkcd.com/954/ inventive ways of being cruel], and only sometimes as payback for someone being stupid.
* Aram of ''[[Men in Hats]]''. His two entertainments are television and the physical and psychological torment of his housemates.
 
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* Don Sebastiano of the [[Whateley Universe]]. His idea of 'romance' is seducing a classmate, having sex with her until she's in love, then humiliating her in front of the whole school. And that's the least damaging side of him.
* Entire basis of [[Evil FTW]], but not NEARLY so extreme.
* [[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog|Dr Horrible's]] sole motivation for trying to take over the world is so that he can qualify as a supervillain and get into the Evil League of Evil.
** Actually, Dr. Horrible is a subversion; it's made a clear on a couple of occasions that he feels the world is corrupted, and the only way to "save" it is to take control himself; most obviously in his opening spiel and during the song "My Eyes". Indeed, when it comes time to kill the "hero" of the piece, {{spoiler|he can't bring himself to do it until he's lost his chance.}}
* Dr. Heiter in [[Human Centipede the Musical (Web Video)|Human Centipede the Musical]], even more so than his film counterpart.
* [[That Guy With theThe Glasses]] did a sketch about the Joker from ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' trying to come up with an origin story. After several rather ridiculous attempts, he decides to forsake the attempt altogether.
{{quote| '''Joker''': "Argh, that will never work! You know what? I'll just say I'm an asshole!"}}
* In [[Dragon Ball Abridged|Dragon Ball Z Abridged]], it seems that this is part of Vegeta's motivation for his presence on (and subsequent attempt at destroying) Earth.
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** Vicky also counts. Her very purpose in life is either to swindle cash or torture those under her care, even her own little sister. When Timmy (who needs his tonsils removed) demands why she is working in the hospital, she replies with this obvious answer: "I like volunteering in places where there's pain."
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'': In the [[DVD Commentary]], [[Word of God|Genndy Tartakovsky]] mentioned the idea that [[Big Bad|Aku]] set up the [[Jackass Genie]] well in Episode VII as well as several other obstacles Jack encounters throughout his travels. He notes this isn't to capture Jack, but so Aku could just mess with the people he's already enslaved.
* One memorable episode of ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' featured the season's [[Big Bad]] trying to create a giant tidal wave to drown the city - for no discernable reason at all. Admittedly, the one-shot villains often fell into this too, though were usually just following whatever their gimmick happened to be (except for [[Jerk Jock|Adonis]], who just seemed to wreck things because it helped boost his ego).
** Also the Brotherhood of Evil, at least in their first appearance. There is no logic reason, other than being a massive dick (quite an accomplishment for a [[Brain In Aa Jar]]), that the Brain would use a black hole machine to destroy the Titans' home city. They weren't even there at the time, and he knew it. Even their later plan to capture and freeze every hero only seems to be so they can be evil without interruption.
*** On the other hand, there's really quite a lot that the head of an international crime ring ''could'' do with a black hole machine, even if it's not spelled out. Can you say "extortion", anyone?
** Even ''Slade'' flirted with this -- see "Forces of Nature", where Robin wonders why Slade wanted to destroy the city, and never gets an answer. For that matter, Thunder and Lightning from the same episode would fit under this label, although they have a more believable "motive" of causing trouble for the fun of it because they're immature jerks. (Being forced to consider the victims of their actions gives Thunder pause.)
*** Slade in that episode could be [[Fan Wank|Fan Wanked]] into setting the whole thing up to see what the Titans would do to stop it (thereby helping pick an apprentice - and it's only ''after'' that episode he decides to focus on Robin alone). Or it could just be [[Characterization Marches On]], as they hadn't quite decided what they wanted to do with him yet.
** Trigon, being the [[God of Evil]], kinda has to fit this trope.
* ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' has Maleficent. She tries to murder the titular character. And when that fails, she captures her [[Prince Charming]] so she can send him back when he's old and grey. Why? 'Cuz she's "[[Large Ham|the mistress of all evil]]!"
** That and she didn't like the fact [[Disproportionate Retribution|she wasn't invited to the little baby princess's birthday party.]]
* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Lucius is pretty much evil for the sake of being evil. The sole focus of his [[Mega Corp]] is to make people miserable.
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* There is no doubt that this is the cause of [[Re Boot|Megabyte]]'s actions later in the series. Shapeshifting as Bob and almost marrying Dot was done for no other reason than to amuse him.
** Hexadecimal is so chaotic that she sometimes falls into this trope, for example creating the Medusa Bug and overriding the system Paint command. She even fires The Hardware at the Principal Office, despite Megabyte's warning that doing so will destroy the entire system and everyone in it, including herself, simply because it is "screaming out to be destroyed".
* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' cartoons, King Koopa and his kids are [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] that are always doing evil for the sake of doing evil. Occasionally they would have plans that involved financial gain, but evil always took top priority and financial gain was a bonus.
* Arguably, Swiper from [[Dora the Explorer]] might count. As a villain, Swiper's only motivation seems to be to steal Macguffins for the purpose of inconveniencing the protagonists and then throwing them away (similar to the jewel thief mentioned in [[The Dark Knight]]).
* Lamilton from ''[[The Boondocks]]''. "It's fun to do bad things" is basically his catch phrase throughout the episode.
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* In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', though Lex Luthor ''does'' have a legitimate master plan, he explains this as his motive for the part where he tricks the League into thinking they were destined to become like their [[Knight Templar]] [[Alternate Universe]] selves.
{{quote| '''Luthor:''' That's right, conspiracy buff, I spent seventy-five million dollars on a fake presidential campaign ''just to tick Superman off.''}}
* Skeletor in the original ''[[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe]]'' certainly qualifies. His motive was simply that he enjoyed being evil. He waxed rhapsodic about how much he loved evil. He found joy in any act of nastiness, no matter how petty or arbitrary, and was repulsed by anything good or nice. (Of course, being an '80s cartoon character, he never did anything ''really'' evil like, say, trying to kill anyone. But given how much fulfillment he found in even the smallest acts of evil, maybe he didn't feel the need to.)
* Eris from ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]''. Even though her actions are justified since she is the goddess of chaos after all, she seems to enjoy way too much what she does, and the worst part is that most of the time her goals are just petty or meaningless, like ruining a kung-fu tournament or tormenting the main characters while they aren't even bothering her.
* Mr. Black in episode 401 of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', "Kamp Krusty", as demonstrated by his toast to the three juvenile delinquints he is employing as camp counselors:
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* [[The Itchy and Scratchy Show|Itchy]] kills his Best friend Scratchy for this. A good example is a cartoon where Itchy [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit|pretends to commit suicide by jumping in a well]] so he can shoot Scratchy when he comes down to save him.
* Gnorga, the Queen of Trolls in ''[[A Troll in Central Park]]'', who likes to watch babies cry just for fun and even goes so far as to sing [[Villain Song|a song about]] this being her motivation.
* Madam Mim in the Disney film ''[[The Sword in The Stone (Disney)|The Sword In Thethe Stone]]'' despises anything pleasant (such as flowers and sunshine) and tries to murder Arthur just because Merlin sees something good in him.
* The villains from [[Freddie As FROas F.R.O.7]], Freddie's aunt Messina and El Supremo, plan to take over the world by hypnotizing people for reasons completely unclear. However, El Supremo seems to be really into it, with evil laugh and everything, not to mention Messina, who boasts about her evil power in her song Evilmania.
* One episode of [[Johnny Bravo]] had the devil's nephew, IIRC, possess Johnny in order to turn off the filter to the city's water supply, giving the water a metallic taste. When Pops asks why the demon couldn't have done it himself, the demon says that he could, but it wouldn't be as interesting as forcing someone else to do it.
* While many of the other ghostly villains from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' did what they did for money, power, revenge, or just because it was their job, [[Future Me Scares Me|Dark Danny]] clearly caused chaos and destruction throughout the Earth and the Ghost Zone mainly for this trope. Unlike most Western Animation examples, which are hammy, Anvilicous or just an excuse motif, Dark Danny [[Ax Crazy|plays]] [[Fallen Hero|this]] [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|for]] [[Complete Monster|pure]] [[Nightmare Fuel|terror.]]
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{{quote| '''Ender:''' My name is Ender. I end things. People, planets, galaxies.}}
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Azula may have her eyes set on the crown and other external motivations, but a lot of times she seems to just enjoy being an evil bastard.
* [[Complete Monster|The Coachman]] from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'', who actually kidnaps naughty young boys, brings them all to Pleasure Island, turns them all into donkeys, and locks them all up in crates headed either for the salt mines or the circus just for the fun of it! And to make matters worse, he's actually a [[Karma Houdini]]!
** Even worse, he's actually ''[[Stupid Evil|losing money]]'' [[Stupid Evil|by doing this]], since fellow villains who persuade wayward boys to go with the Coachman typically demand payment in the form of gold coins.
* [[Meaningful Name|Discord]] from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' loves causing chaos with his [[Reality Warper|reality warping]] powers simply because he wants to. He shows pretty quickly that he possesses godlike power and could likely win with a fingersnap, but instead locks everyone in a rigged game where he can [[Mind Rape]] them at his leisure. Any possibility that his motivation might be more [[It Amused Me]] is put to rest when Fluttershy wins his game by being too mentally stable to fall for [[More Than Mind Control]], when he promptly loses his temper and cheats at his own game by breaking her through more brute force methods -- which incidentally makes her embrace this trope as well while under his influence, as she's brainwashed to be cruel and does things solely from that motivation.
* In ''[[G.I. Joe: Resolute]]'', Zartan says this about why he does what he does: "But I like the idea of living in a world where I can kill anyone I like, anytime I like. I don't need the money; I just need the killing."
* In the [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]] series, Mirage is a cat goddess who's labeled as "Evil Incarnate" and whose primary motivation is to destroy good and spread misery. She developed into wanting revenge on Aladdin, but started out trying to hurt Agrabah because there was too much good in it.
** Seing how the city is choke full of beggars and thieves, [[Fridge Horror|does this mean]] that the [[Crapsack World|rest of the world is even worse]]?
** Of note is the being literally named [[Reality Warper|Chaos]]. Aladdin and Co. ''think'' he's following this trope, but it's really more because [[It Amused Me]]. They eventually find out he's not ACTUALLY evil, just making things "interesting" for them because of the "rut" that Aladdin is in, always being the hero and whatnot. When he accidentally lets slip that Mirage sent him there? They proceed to let him known that Aladdin's life is already pretty damn chaotic, but Mirage? ALWAYS the same thing, nothing but evil, evil, ''evil''. He decides to go make HER existence a little more... Varied. {{spoiler|It's even revealed that screwing with Mirage for trying to manipulate him was his ''real'' plan all along.}}
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