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Ubermensch: Difference between revisions
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* Gilbert Durandal from ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]''.
** Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne as well, starting late in [[Gundam Seed]] and never quite stopping. They ignore pre-existing political institutions and act outside them, Kira fights [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|quite differently]] from even his [[Reluctant Warrior|own friends]], and possess ideals that damn near every protagonist in the franchise starts to abide by.
* Hell, half the cast of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' might fit, be it villains or heroes.
* Ovan from ''[[.hack]] Roots''.
* Arguably, Char Aznable and Paptimus Scirocco from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' and ''[[Zeta Gundam]]''.
* Dewey Novak from ''[[Eureka Seven]]''.
* Claire Stanfield of ''[[
* Lelouch, Schneizel and Emperor Charles in ''[[Code Geass]]'' are all examples, having their own ideas of how to supplant the status quo with their own ideals. The status of Lelouch as a Ubermensch could be in question due to the two of his first motivations being ressentiment and pity (two qualities Nietzsche detracted), but that doesn't mean he is the Last Man. Instead, The Last Man are the masses who are content with Britannian policies and prefer to live in slavery rather than take action. E.g. the Japanese guy who gets beaten up by an aristocrat and doesn't even think of fighting back. Or those faux-Japanese gangsters on whom Lelouch abuses his Geass in ''R2''. Perhaps the most obvious example would be from the very first episode, after Kallen's truck crashes and Britannians (!) all around just stand there, take pictures with their cellphones, and lazily ask if someone called an ambulance. And cheer passively when a single person (guess who?) actually gets down there to help the driver.
* Aion from ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' (an uberdevil).
* Light Yagami from ''[[
** The Live Action film even has him reading one of Nietzsche's books.
** Certainly Near as well. “Even if there was a god and I had his teachings in front of me I would decide for myself what is good and what is evil.”
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** Also Maxwell, as he tries to kill off an entire city, just to remove people who don't believe what he does. Several other traits of the Ubermensch show in him as well.
* Friday Monday from ''[[Madlax]]'' thinks of himself as this but is in fact too obviously (and inarticulately) crazy to even deliver a half-decent [[Hannibal Lecture]], much less [[Make a Better World]]. [[The Fettered]] Vanessa, on the other hand, is discussed as something at least vaguely resembling Nietzsche's ideal, even {{spoiler|dying in a manner of her own choosing after breaking out of her [[Brainwashed]] state}}.
* Dartz from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' and Saiou Takuma/Sartorius (Dartz's [[Expy]]) in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''.
* Johan Liebert, the ''[[Monster (
** Tenma actually becomes the ''constructive'' ubermensch that Nietzsche first postulated. Tenma is an Ubermensch who embraces what most see as 'old' values. However, by embracing them in such a manner, he reconstructs them! He takes the values people have rejected, and makes them meaningful again. Not what Nietzsche had in mind but it does make him an excellent Knight of Faith (see the Philosophy section below), albeit in a humanistic rather than a religious sense.
* Arguably, {{spoiler|Aizen Sousuke}} from ''[[Bleach]]''. His declaration that he will supplant God in heaven pretty much clinches it, although he could possibly just be an extreme egomaniac. Egomania is almost a requirement for the Ubermensch, the main difference being that the Ubermensch can back up most of his claims.
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** A recurring motif in the story is also that "great men build history" and in many ways espouses the Ubermensch theory in a historical context -- Reinhard is the example we're given during the time period the story is set in, but Rudolf Goldenbaum is also presented as an example in the backstory.
* Makoto Shishio from ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' could be seen as a [[Social Darwinist]] [[Ubermensch]].
* Naozumi Sudo, the sociopathic teenage criminal from ''[[
* [[Captain Harlock]], the [[Space Pirate]] who has sworn to fight only for what he believes in. The rest of humanity in the various versions of the franchise are somewhere between the Last Man and [[Vichy Earth]]; the original anime is ridiculously [[Anvilicious]] about the corruption of humanity.
* Kuze, from ''[[Stand Alone Complex]]''. {{spoiler|He intends to build a superstructure of human cognition, with plans to radically alter human social institutions to adopt a more egalitarian means of solving social issues.}}
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** Orochimaru might also qualify. He rejects all the ideals of the Leaf, and he rejects Akatsuki in favour of his own plans, ambitions and ideals. He is constantly seeking to improve himself by learning every jutsu (albeit via gruesome self-experimentation and "drowning himself in drugs"), and also spends a lot of time creating new jutsu. The one thing that might undermine him is his unusual goal to "find out the meaning of the world", as an Ubermensch would deny the existence of that kind of meaning and instead would seek to create his own- though, to the extent that that search allows, that is exactly what Oro has done.
** Naruto, in a rather big way. As soon as he is confronted by the harsh realities of the ninja system, he rejects them and the choices they offer him, and chooses to live by his own, personal ninja way. This is so prominent that a part of him that he is supposed to lead a revolution in the near-future.
* Kamina of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is a heroic example of this. He ignores all conventional morality and designs his own value set that throws aside the self-complacency of the world around him (the fact that the old values literally collapsed the moment the roof of the village did also helped). He never actually tries to lead anyone, his charisma is just so intense that he leads by example without trying. He claims his intent is to break through heaven and not just change his own destiny, but to entirely destroy the idea of "destiny." In the end, the entire universe ends up following his lead. Also, he actually is quite antisocial - he never actually tries to make friends with anyone, he's a [[Jerk
** Kamina's Last Man, by the way, is Simon.
** And later, Simon grows to be like Kamina, and the role of the Last Man goes to Rossiu ([[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|and later is snapped out of it]]) and later the Anti-Spiral ([[Nietzsche Wannabe|who didn't get snapped out of it]]).
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* Nakago from ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''
* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'' has Proxy One, a nigh invincible master manipulator as a villainous example of this. The protagonist, Vincent Law, pretty much starts out as a Last Man, being a sniveling weakling desperate to conform and be a "perfect citizen". Over time, he largely sheds this. {{spoiler|ironically, Vincent is also the titular Ergo Proxy, who is a clone or something like that of Proxy One- thus, the Ubermensch and Last Man are effectively the same guy.}}
* Griffith of ''[[Berserk]]'' is a subversion. He is charismatic and impresses nearly everyone he comes across, who are content to follow him in order to fulfill his dream of his own kingdom. Meanwhile, he is a [[Manipulative Bastard]] who easily takes care of his enemies in the [[Deadly Decadent Court]], and [[The Chessmaster]] who takes care of his enemies on the battlefield. However, when [[The Lancer]] decides to leave his team and beats him in combat, he throws a temper tantrum and in one fell swoop undoes everything he and his followers had worked for and attained up to that point, just because he can't stand the idea of someone being better than him. And eventually, {{spoiler|he sacrifices his followers to [[Ascend to
** Lampshaded in ''[[Berserk Abridged]]'', where Griffith talks to Guts about the idea of the Nietzsche Superman. Guts ends up confusing it for Necromancer.
* [[Chirin no Suzu]] has Wolf as the Ubermensch and the sheep as the Last Man. Chirin starts out as a member of the Last Man and tries to become Ubermensch under Wolf's tutelage. {{spoiler|He fails, and becomes a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] instead}}.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[
* Magneto from ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', as written by Chris Claremont. He actually describes himself as one in a supplemental story.
* ''[[Superman]]'': Lex Luthor. Superman is loaded with Nietzschean subtext, albeit in a very anti-Nietzschean way. Indeed, Luthor may have been purposefully designed to be this, though probably sometime after his creation. The original Superman story was ''Reign of the Superman'' and concerned a ''[[Lawnmower Man]]'' style plot about a dimwit who is given superintelligence and psychic powers, and used them to try and [[Take Over the World]]. The writers were very critical of Nietzsche and the story was intended as a [[Take That]] to his writings, even though it ultimately transformed into a series about a benevolent alien superhero. Upon gaining his powers the dimwit lost his hair and strongly resembled the future Luthor in appearance.
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* ''[[Rope]]'': Also based on Leopold and Loeb.
** Generally, anything based off of Leopold and Loeb will have this angle play into it. Even [[So Bad It's Good|Murder By Numbers]] does... a bit.
* If one follows the Nietzschean line of interpretation (which is backed up as a legitimate strand by [[Word of God]] ) to understand the meaning of [[
* [[The Dark Knight]]: Both Batman and the Joker follow ideals completely separate from the laws that govern the city of Gotham and the codes of the criminal underworld, with Batman following his own ideas of justice and order, and the Joker completely adhering to the destruction and anarchy of chaos. At one point, the Joker mentions the dynamic between them as an "Unstoppable force meeting an immovable object".
* Anton Chigurh of ''[[No Country for Old Men]]''. From what little we can tell about his moral code, a person needs to earn the right to live and he sees himself as the perfect person to carry out that test.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[The Bible]]'': [[Alternative Character Interpretation|Alternative Character Interpretations]] of Satan also include the Ubermensch archetype. One such Satan is the Satan from ''[[Paradise Lost]]''. After all, tis better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. Probably.
* Raskolnikov from [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]'s ''[[
** Which would make this an [[Unbuilt Trope]], deconstructed before Nietzsche made it.
** This actually makes sense; Nietzsche had a profound respect for Dostoevsky (see the first quote on Dostoevsky's page), and Dostoevsky's influence on Nietzsche's thought is actually pretty clear to anyone who's read both.
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* Salvor Hardin from Isaac Asimov's ''[[Foundation]]'' claims that "one should never let morality prevent one from doing what is right".
* Judge Holden from [[Cormac McCarthy]]'s ''[[Blood Meridian]]'' is a deconstruction of the concept, showing just how frightening an Ubermensch can be if acting as the antagonist of a story.
* In John Gardener's ''[[Grendel (
* ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'': Holmes could fit here according to [[Alternative Character Interpretation|Some]] mostly due to his [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right]] attitude, that has driven him to break the law in several occasions and seeing it as a viable way too solve a case. Watson used to object to this behaviour but later he encouraged it and demanded to go along.
* In ''[[Everworld]]'', {{spoiler|Senna Wales}} has some definite traits of this, notably including strong loner/antisocial tendencies and a reliance on her own code, rather than other's notions of morality. Oh, and she wants to [[Take Over the World|overthrow all the powers of Everworld and turn it into her own personal universe]] to rule over as a [[Dimension Lord]].
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{{quote| Echo: "We're not gods!"<br />
Alpha: "Fine, Ubermensch. Nietzsche predicted our rise. Perfected, objective, something new."<br />
Echo: "Right, new superior people, with a little [[Nazi Germany|German]] thrown in. [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong
* [[Wild Mass Guessing|A fun way to look at Adam Savage]]: [[Myth Busters|I reject your reality, and substitute my own]]! Granted, it would be a far more family friendly variation, but it would be expected in a show where the main motivation is [[For Science!]]!
* ''[[Smallville]]'' may have referenced the idea with regards to Hawkman and Clark, but the true example is Lionel Luthor, the [[Trope Codifier]] for [[Magnificent Bastard]]. His [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart, Earth-2 Lionel may be an even better example, having more or less taken over the world and imposed his view of how things should be.
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== Music ==
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in [[Marilyn Manson]]'s [[Concept Album]] ''Antichrist Superstar''. The story is told from the perspective of Wormboy, part of the servant caste of a world ruled over by morally and physically superior beings - the [[Ubermensch|Ubermenschian]] [[Beautiful Elite]]. He sets out to overthrow their stifling plutocracy and exercise his will to power (in the classic Nietzschean sense), but becomes increasingly disenfranchised with the mindless, adoring masses, who merely transfer their adoration from them to him, instead. Passing the [[Despair Event Horizon]], he [[Above Good and Evil|sheds his outdated morality]] but does not replace it with a new moral framework, evolving into the titular [[Title Drop|Antichrist Superstar]] - also known as [[Omnicidal Maniac|The Disintegrator]]. Concluding that people do not deserve to be liberated, he spirals into nihilism, using his newfound power to usher in [[The End of the World
{{quote| Pray now, baby, pray your life was just a dream<br />
The world is in my hands<br />
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* [[Warhammer 40000|The Emperor of Mankind]]. And he's the [[Messianic Archetype]] of the setting.
* In [[Magic:
* ''[[
* ''[[Exalted]]'' dances around this archetype in several of its heroes. The most obvious example are the Solar Exalted, who begin to play the trope straighter and straighter as they reach into their personal toolkit of transhumanism. Conversely, the Green Sun Princes turn their backs on this trope as they advance; their natures lead them to abandon humanity rather than perfect it.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Yggdrasil from ''[[
* ''[[Metal Gear]]'''s Big Boss didn't start out this way, according to the prequel, but he became one in the first and second games to the point of wanting to start an eternal world war.
** To a certain extent this would make {{spoiler|Zero}} the Last Man. Where as betrayal and disappointment made Big Boss's ideals stronger and more radical {{spoiler|Zero}} abandoned his own, fell into despair and gave his legacy to a set of emotionless AIs out of the belief that humanity would be happier under their solid, predicable guidance.
** His predecessor, The Boss, is another example. Her will and the effect she had on those around her pretty much kicked the entire series off.
* Hikawa from ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne]]'' wants to destroy the world and then rebuild it into a silent paradise of order and harmony. {{spoiler|He succeeds at the first part within the first few scenes of the game, so it's up to you to stop the second part... or not. Your choice.}}
** For that matter, all three Reasons are representative of the trope: the Reason of Shijima (presented by Hikawa) is just the most [[Nietzsche Wannabe|nihilistic one]] (naturally; the organization sponsoring it is [[Exactly What It Says
** On the other hand, {{spoiler|Yuko Takao}} might very well be the Last Man to all three Reasons; not only did {{spoiler|she}} fail to come up with {{spoiler|her}} own Reason due to lack of personal conviction, {{spoiler|she}} congratulates the Demifiend in the True Neutral ending, where the world is restored to the same state prior to the [[Endofthe World As We Know It|Conception]] (bringing a quite literal meaning to [[Status Quo Is God]].)
* Kreia in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'' {{spoiler|is Nietzsche's counterpart in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]]. Her ultimate goal is the death of the Force (or at least its influence over the lives of sentients), and she admires the Jedi Exile because of the Exile's status as an Ubermensch who forsook the Force to escape death. Her Last Man is both the Jedi order ''and'' the Sith because of their dependence on the force and their dogmatic traditions.}}
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* The Jackal in ''[[Far Cry]] 2''.
* Alice in ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]'' is one of these, sort of. Before your last fight with her, she casually mentions that she's an Ubermensch. It never gets mentioned again or even built up to before this point, however.
* Lucian in ''[[
* ''[[Condemned]]'''s SKX starts out like this, his whole [[Serial Killer Killer]] spree inspired by his own uniquely twisted morality. {{spoiler|That is until this is completely subverted in Condemned 2, which introduces "The Oro" a whole [[Ancient Conspiracy]] of Ubermensch, who exist with their basic goal being to "influence human evolution". The [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] comes into play, and SKX abandons his quest to "become justice" having gained new purpose in worshiping the Oro who have "such power" as to leave him in total religious awe. At the end he becomes a twisted version of the [[Ascended Fanboy]], being inducted into the Oro himself.}}
* {{spoiler|Dimentio}} from ''Super [[Paper Mario (
* Takaya of ''[[Persona 3]]'', like {{spoiler|Dimentio}} above. In that case the Main Character would count as his Last Man. Or, in the case of [[Updated Rerelease|Persona 3 Portable]], Last [[Distaff Counterpart|Woman]].
** Debatable, as Takaya don't want to make a better world {{spoiler|as much as bring the whole world together with him in his death}}.
* Wilhelm from ''[[
* Alexei from ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' can count, as witnessed before his {{spoiler|[[Villainous Breakdown]], he mentions that his goal was to [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|free humanity from the grip of the Entelexia]] and [[Visionary Villain|build the world anew,]] though he crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]] one too many times in the pursuit of his goal, crossing the line into [[Complete Monster|complete monstrosity]]}}.
* Emperor Mateus Palamecia in ''[[Final Fantasy II]]''. He is utterly convinced of his right to rule over all around him, and, being a [[Sorcerous Overlord]], has the power to back it up. The heroes ''killing him'' merely results in [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]], {{spoiler|and the remake shows that the "light" half of his soul tried to overthrow the game's version of Heaven.}} In the crossover game ''Dissidia: Final Fantasy'', he plans to overthrow the Gods and is insulted when Garland compares him to [[Final Fantasy VI|Kefka]], who he dismisses as a "[[Nietzsche Wannabe|gibbering nihilist]]".
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* {{spoiler|The Fal'Cie}} from ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''. They believe the current state of the world is an absolute mess and are perfectly willing to {{spoiler|sacrifice all of humanity and themselves}} to bring back their creator in the hopes that it can fix everything. The player characters are The Last Men trying to preserve the status quo {{spoiler|by protecting Cocoon}}. In the end, {{spoiler|neither of them get everything they want. The Fal'Cie do succeed in destroying Cocoon and themselves, but Vanille and Fang's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] saves the human population and prevents the Maker's return.}}
* Zurvan from [[Prince of Persia]]: The Two Thrones. Before reaching his goal {{spoiler|of transforming into a "god" with the sands' power,}} he first restorts to treason {{spoiler|to take over India by killing the Maharaja and using his army to take over a Persia, using the power of the sands to transform everything in their path.}} Then in the final battle, {{spoiler|He starts using the "such is the price paid for progress" kind of lines when questioned by the Prince about the murder of the King, the guard and the hundreds of [[Innocent Bystander|InnocentBystanders]].}}
* Link, specifically in [[
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|N]] of ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' wants to change the very nature of the Pokémon world's society, and possesses a superhuman will and drive. The main character is the Last Man/Woman and {{spoiler|defeats N in their final battle, where N rejects his ideology in favor of the protagonist...only for [[Big Bad|N's father Ghetsis]] to reveal that he ''deliberately manufactured'' N to be an Ubermensch since birth and manipulated him the whole time. This may indicate that Ghetsis is the true Ubermensch.}}
* ''[[Gothic]]'' has the "necromancer" Xardas, a former priest of Innos, who spends most of the three games in a plan to kill the thee gods of the realm (Innos, Adanos and Beliar), so people may be free of their influence. {{spoiler|He succeeds by the end of the third game}}. Interestingly, [[Dark Is Not Evil|he and the protagonist are on the same side]].
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* Phaeton in ''[[Exo Squad]]'', before he [[Villainous Breakdown|loses the last bits of his dignity]] later in the second season.
* Huey Freeman from ''[[The Boondocks]]'': Deconstructed. Initially, Huey is the picture perfect example or was one in progress. However, as the series progresses, he has his faith challenged that force him to accept that there are forces he can't understand and sometimes he can't make a difference. As the series progresses, Huey starts become more hopeless to eventually giving up on society and accepting that his Blue and Orange Morality is not enough.
* David Xanatos in ''[[
** Of course, while Xanatos is too smart to hold grudges, it takes Fox for him to develop any motivation besides his own profit or amusement, whereas the gargoyles risk their lives to protect others with no thought of personal gain. The fact that Xanatos's accomplishments won't stop him from growing old and dying like everyone else seriously scares him, and his attempts to gain immortality only get him a lecture from the older, wiser Hudson.
** Fox could be an Ubermensch as well. She proves to be a match for Xanatos in terms of coming up with schemes - as well as beating him in chess games. In one episode, she is reading a book on philosophy (Sartre, for those of you without instant-pause reflexes) and she is asked why she reads that stuff. Her response is this: "Because Nietzsche's too butch, and Kafka reminds me of your little friends over there!" (The person she's talking to is [[Genius Bonus|shooting cockroaches with a rubber-band slingshot]]) She clearly knows some things about philosophy.
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