10 Sci-Fi Movies Where Evil Won
5. Watchmen
Watchmen is an especially interesting example of this trope because it's not so much about an evil force doing an evil thing for a selfish or destructive reason, but a more ambiguous character doing an undeniably evil act for the apparent "greater good."
We're talking of course about Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), who in order to prevent a probable nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, frames Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) for a series of energy reactor explosions worldwide.
These explosions kill millions, but also unite the U.S. and Soviet Union against Manhattan, in turn preventing a nuclear war and theoretically "saving" billions of lives.
And in order to further secure the secret of Veidt's deception and prevent World War III from taking place, an infuriated Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) is subsequently destroyed by Manhattan.
It's a brilliant and provocative dilemma, of Veidt executing a "necessary" evil for the greater good, as disgusting as it might seem to conventional morality.
Even if Rorschach's tell-all journal does indeed get published and reveal the truth as the film's ending hints at, it's clear either way that evil prevails, whether it's Veidt's plan or warmongers annihilating each other with nukes.