I'm not sure this is the place to ask, but I'm hopeful you can at least give me a starting point for my research.
I recently became interested in what I call the "become the villain so others can save the world" trope. This is when a character purposely commits heinous acts, planning on being defeated, so that the heroism of others can prevent an even worse atrocity. To mention a couple of works that contain this trope (a recent movie, a recent manga, an older comic, a comic based movie, and a relatively older book from a major franchise is the best way I have to give some hint as to what will be spoiled), Dune, Attack on Titan (which has several layers of this trope), kind of but not quite Watchmen (Ozymandius does not set himself up to be hated like the others in the trope), and Star Wars Legacy of the Force from Legends (which arguably is a retconned interpretation based on the Fate of the Jedi series). The Dark Knight plays on the same themes, but not in the same way..
I'm looking for more instances of this trope, especially any earlier instances.
It fascinates me for both positive and negative reasons. On the negative side, there is absolutely an element of justifying horrific acts, but on the positive side the idea of sacrificing everything, including one's morality and reputation, that one is for a goal they believe in is still compelling.
Instances of the trope that I have seen have all required the "villain" to be able to see the future, as it is a necessary part of the trope that they are correct about the justification of their atrocities, but if there are any instances anyone can point to lacking this element, that would also be very interesting to me.
I'd also appreciate just hearing anyone else's thoughts on the trope in general.
by ThrawnCaedusL