Nihilists

“	Why create, when it will only be destroyed? Why cling to life, knowing that you have to die?	„
	~ Kefka Palazzo

“	Count Bleck does not care about any world! They are all meaningless. Better that I destroy them! Better yet, I shall make it as if they never existed at all!	„
	~ Count Bleck

“	Every decision we make is meaningless. Because somewhere, on a parallel Earth, we have already made the opposite choice. We're nothing. Less than nothing.	„
	~ Owlman (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths)

Nihilists, also known as Existentialists, are characters who believe that the existence of life has no purposes, values or meanings, their own included. Nihilists do not believe in moralities and all rules and/or codes they follow are superficial or for practical reasons. They usually do not have specific long–term goals, will sink to all levels of depravity to further their arbitrary objectives and are often Sociopaths and/or Suicidal. They can overlap with Social Darwinists and Harbingers for Rebirth as well through shared beliefs in bringing about the "end times" and leaving others or themselves to pick up pieces left behind by the messes they have created.

Most Nihilists wish to destroy everything in existence or at least whatever is possible for them to destroy. What makes them some of the most dangerous and unpredictable Villains is that they have nothing to lose, not even their very lives. At the highest point they are Cataclysms due to a desire of literally erasing everything as they see fit. Like many powerful and far-reaching Villains they might just be able to make their twisted dreams into reality.

In many cases, they can qualify as Pure Evil largely because they do not see any worth in morals and go out of their way to prove this and decency among other things absolutely meaningless through extreme actions. However, they can also be Tragic due to traumatic experiences that made them view everything as meaningless and shaped their habits of not following the guidelines others may have set up beforehand.

Examples are Kefka Palazzo, Norman Stansfield, Rex Dangervest, Seymour Guado, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, Owlman, Count Bleck, Scarlet King, Mephiles the Dark, Johan Liebert, Tyler Durden, Vincent and Joker.

Note: If villains seem nihilistic, but at the same time value their own existences (e.g. Bill Cipher, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, Kaecilius, Henry Evans, Dimentio, Cigarette-Smoking Man and Flowey) they do not qualify.
Note 2: If a villain only shows gleefulness during their death and/or are defiant to the end(e.g: Badger) they do not qualify, a villain is only nihilistic if he expresses a point of view or shows by his actions that he does not value humanity in general AND themself.

Also Note: even though by definition all nihilists are atheists, not all atheists are nihilists if they don't discard all meaning immediately and/or find meaning through another source that isn't religion. For example Brian Griffin

Villains Wiki

Nihilists

See also