The World Needs a Hero is the ninth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on May 15, 2001, by Sanctuary Records. After the critical and commercial failure of the previous album Risk (1999), The World Needs a Hero represented a change back to a heavier musical direction. Subsequently, the album charted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 upon release.

After parting with former label Capitol Records, the album was the first of two Megadeth studio albums to be released by Sanctuary. It was the last of two studio albums to feature drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, the last to feature bassist David Ellefson until Thirteen (2011), the only one to feature guitarist Al Pitrelli, and the last one before Megadeth's brief disbandment in 2002. It is also the first album to feature the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead on the cover since Rust in Peace (1990), and the first to utilize Megadeth's classic logo since Youthanasia (1994).

At 57 minutes and 49 seconds, The World Needs a Hero was Megadeth's longest album until The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! (2022). It also contains Megadeth's longest song, "When", clocking in at 9 minutes and 14 seconds.