Inferiority Superiority Complex: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

* Asuka Langley Soryu from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. She's a haughty [[Jerkass]], but towards the end it becomes obvious she acts like that to cover up major self-esteem issues.

** Many other characters have mental problems, and some of them fit this trope, notably Gendo, who, it is implied, isolated himself because he believed that no one except for Yui would love him.

* Sasuke Uchiha from ''[[Naruto]]''. It's pretty clear that Sasuke's need to defeat Itachi was driven almost as much by his need to finally prove himself better than his brother as for revenge. Being born the [[Always Second Best]] to a genius older brother and the [["Well Done, Son" Guy]] of a distant father were bad enough. Then, said brother killed his entire family and told him to hate and grow strong to be worthy to face him. [[It Got Worse]] when Itachi showed up again years later, looking for Sasuke's dead last teammate, and dismissed Sasuke's growth. It didn't help that Naruto was finally growing strong enough to challenge and maybe surpass Sasuke, the top student of their class. All this was a recipe for a tragic [[Face Heel Turn]]. {{spoiler|Made more ironic when you realize how Itachi ''played'' that complex, why he did so, and how it all went wrong.}}

** He also shows some behavior of this type towards Naruto himself, though much of this ties in to his issues with Itachi. To Sasuke's mind, if Naruto can advance faster than him/become his equal, then he isn't advancing fast enough himself, and has no chance of catching up with Itachi.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', this is pretty much the reason the homunculi sadistically torment humans. This is most explicitly brought up in the case of [[Green-Eyed Monster|Envy]].

* Tieria Erdes from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Gundam 00]]'' acts all high-and-mighty but as soon as his super-computer fails him it's revealed that he's too insecure to do anything on his own without it.

* [[Inuyasha|Inuyasha's]] brother Sesshomaru always feared that he was his late father's [[The Unfavorite|less favored son]]. Fears which he hid from everyone, including himself, by insulting and mocking Inuyasha's half-breed status while touting his own pure demon status. It ends up coming out into the open in [[Awful Truth|the worst possible way]].

* Ayaka Machida from ''[[Stellvia of the Universe]]'' has a psychological need to be [[The Ace]] and will go to criminal lengths to ensure that. In the [[Rousseau Was Right|entire show]], she is pretty much the only character who would willing hurt another, as she does to {{spoiler|Yayoi and Shima (almost), who were both better than her in piloting. When she fails to eliminate Shima and the truth comes out, she is pretty much crushed. Ironically, she is redeemed by Yayoi herself, who [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|loves her too much]] to ''not'' forgive her.}} This helps Ayaka to acknowledge that there are pilots better than her and simply enjoy flying with them (particularly Yayoi) instead of competing.

* [[Digimon Adventure 02|Ken Ichijouji]] during his stint as the Digimon Kaiser/Emperor. While he claimed to be the "only perfect human being", and frequently called other people derogatory epithets like "maggots" and "insects", he was actually crippled by a sense of worthlessness and guilt. The "superiority" part falls away completely {{spoiler|once he pulls his [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.

* Prussia, America and England of ''Axis Powers Hetalia'' all have shades of this.

 

 

== Films ==

* [[Megamind]]. A hammy villain who prides himself on [[Evil Is Stylish|presentation]], but only became that way because he couldn't fit in at school. The mini sequel has him first trying to be a hero Metroman's way instead of his own.

{{quote| '''[[Tom Hiddleston]]:''' The villains of human history, you know, all the people in the history of time who’ve tried to subjugate people, to get everyone else to [[Kneel Before Zod|bow down and kneel at their feet]]; if you do any kind of amateur psychology on these guys, or not even amateur, you know, books and books and books that have been written on the fact that at rock bottom, they hate themselves. They don’t have any self-worth, they don’t have any self-approval, so the only way they can get power or status is to get everybody else to physically be beneath them.}}

 

 

== Literature ==

 

 

'''Charlie''' Maybe it's insecure. }}

* A variation: As noted in a DVD [[Word of God|commentary]], [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] has a superiority complex in that she's the Slayer and believes herself better than those she protects (pretty much everyone), but this makes her feel bad so she has a inferiority complex about having the superiority complex. This was also pointed out in-universe by a vampire psychology student who opted to put Buffy on the couch while she was trying to kill him. It actually worked for a while.

{{quote| '''Liz''': Jack is hiring a new cast member.<br />

'''Jenna''': IF IT IS A BLONDE WOMAN, I WILL KILL MYSELF! }}

* The loud, proud [[Boisterous Bruiser]] Donna Noble of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' seems to have a touch of this: she's been described by the Doctor as "shouting at the world 'cause no one's listening."

* [[Badass Biker|Shintaro Gotou]] of ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'' began as this in relation to the eponymous Rider, [[The Hero|Eiji Hino]], who he saw as an irresponsible fool. After getting [[Break the Haughty|thoroughly humbled]] and re-training himself as a sidekick to [[Second Rider|Kamen Rider Birth]], he [[Character Development|becomes a person more genuinely worthy of being called a hero]] {{spoiler|and eventually takes over as Birth.}}

* [[Frasier]] Crane, despite being openly arrogant, vain, self-absorbed, and in possession of an absurdly inflated opinion of himself, is cripplingly insecure and needy, with much of his self-aggrandizing behavior rooted in his desperation to be liked and admired, and his extreme bossiness towards his little brother Niles and best friend Roz, whose opinions he constantly runs roughshod over and whose lives he is always trying to interfere with, is heavily hinted to be rooted in paranoia that they'll stop hanging around him if they stop needing him.

* ''[[Smallville]]'''s Lionel Luthor is a grandiose [[Magnificent Bastard]] and [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] who is still running away from his past as an abused child. [[Lex Luthor]] is his son, and bases his need to [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|be a hero]] in his own feelings of worthlessness.

 

* Laharl of the [[Disgaea]] series suffers from this. He acts all high and mighty for being the Overlord, but deep down is really somewhat lonely, especially once you learn of his backstory. However, the fact that he acts like a complete [[Jerkass]] to most people isn't exactly earning him any brownie points, either.

* This is ''the'' [[Fatal Flaw]] of [[Blaz Blue|Lotte Carmine]]. As a researcher, he harbored some ambition that he'd surpass his superior Kokonoe in scientific breakthrough, but for some reason, Kokonoe dismissed him that badly and even refused to support him in a particular research about seithr. Not knowing to give up and even dismissing the support of his partner Litchi, he went on through the research and {{spoiler|ended up as Arakune. And even as Arakune, what remains of him was his hatred for Kokonoe's superiority and his desire to become supreme scientist.}}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** Her father Ozai himself may be a near identical case. He was [[The Unfavourite]] to his [[Evil Overlord]] and emotionally distant father Azulon (who possibly was [[Abusive Parents|an abusive father]] [[Generation Xerox|with him]]) compared to his older brother, the talented and powerful "Dragon of the West" [[Big Good|General Iroh]]. Its less clear than with Azula what Ozai felt about this relationship, but its not difficult to see the similarities in their cases, their personalities, and their tempermants. He is so bitter about not receiving as much respect as his brother that he demands perfection from his own children and punishes perceived weakness or insubordination in his eldest son with extraordinary brutality; when he promotes himself from Fire Lord to Pheonix King and plans to {{spoiler|exterminate the Earth Kingdom}} he essentially acts like a [[Psychopathic Manchild]] revelling in childish fantasies of power and greatness, but he was so obsessed with the two mostly because of his insecurities.

** [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|The Great and Powerful Trixie]] may be one as well. It would explain her compusive boasting and how she STILL puts down Twilight after being outdone by her.

** Twilight Sparkle can be rather condescending and arrogant about her intelligence over the others at times, however it's revealed she has brought herself up with [[Super OCD|very high standards]] to upkeep and is absolutely terrified of disappointing peers or friends (especially Princess Celestia). She had a ''complete mental breakdown'' when she was out of schedule for even one single task.

** While not egotistical in general, Applejack can get very prideful and stubborn concerning her work overzeal, however, only because she hates being incapable of committing to a task. She is also famed for her reliability in Ponyville and hates letting anyone down in the slightest (even if they are far more understanding about it). She almost worked herself to death, blowing off requests for help, after she promised to harvest all her orchards apples by herself.

* Ickis of ''[[Aaahh Real Monsters]]'' plays with this. While his insecurity and other issues are very obvious, he [[Mood Swinger|swings into]] high-and-mighty mode whenever [[Acquired Situational Narcissism|given the chance]]. "Rookie Monsters" revealed he acted this way upon first arriving at the Academy, only to go through [[Pride Before a Fall|a major tumble]] once his peers realized being the son of [[The Ace|Slickis]] didn't automatically make him awesome incarnate. Thus, in the series proper, we basically see the neurotic mess most of the time, and only see the Superiority Complex whenever he's given the chance to exercise it.

* This was indicated to be the case for [[Futurama|Zapp Brannigan]] in his first appearance, but in later appearances he really does seem to think that highly of himself. One possible explanation supported by the episode is that it was an act to get Leela into bed.

* Peggy Hill from ''[[King of the Hill]]'' suffers from this. She's smug, self-satisfied, and convinced she's the smartest woman in the world when she's really a [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]]. But that's all to cover up the fact that as a little girl in Montana, she grew up with an overly-critical mother who threw out all of her opinions and told her she was outright useless at their ranch. When she moved away she convinced herself she was brilliant since it was the only way to forget her mother's abuse. She still has plenty of moments when it's revealed she's not as clever as she thinks she is (or is just reminded of her abnormally large feet), and falls into a depression because of it.

 

== Webcomics ==

* Arguably the case of Galatea in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]''. While she has a massive conceit about her intellect, she's also a raving paranoid who was starved for affection from birth, and has a very difficult time believing anyone can really love her.

** Even more so, ''Vriska''. She's always bragging [[Large Ham|melodramatically]], trying to [[Glory Hound|hog the spotlight]], and being a [[Smug Snake]], but once she ''stops'' bragging it rapidly turns into railing against herself for not living up to what she thinks she should be.

** And Dave does his best to act like the most cool, [[Badass]] [[Deadpan Snarker]] possible because he feels inferior to [[Parental Substitute|his Bro]].

 

== Web Originals ==

** [[Web Video The Nostalgia Chick]] counts too. She abuses the hell out of Nella to boost her damaged self-esteem and to make herself feel better.

* Solange of the [[Whateley Universe]]. She's rich, she's beautiful, she has superpowers... But she grew up a fat, ugly, picked-on kid, and so now she abuses the people around her to make her feel better about herself.