Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine The Villainy Thread

I just saw "The Shape of Things" on HBO, about a woman who manipulates a Paul Rudd into becoming what she wants him to be for an art project. It's a good movie, but what makes it stand out for me was how they made Evelyn (the manipulator, played by Rachel Weisz) such a despicable villainess. I disliked her after first seeing her, and totally wanted her to die by the end of it, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. She is totally one of my favorite villains ever.

So, anyway, this is the thread about villains. Your favorites, your least favorite, the types of villains, the villains you'd have sex with, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Favorite Villains:

David Xanatos (Gargoyles):He's James Bond and Lex Luthor mixed together, the charming, sexy businessman, who you want to be and who you totally want to win. He's just cool.

Evelyn: Hate with the passion of a thousand burning nuns, but that's what makes her effective. She's just unredeemable.

The Joker (Mark Hamill variety): Do I really need to say anything?

I saw the Shape of Things as well and hated Evelyn and even found her unattractive. That's weird, because I think Rachel Weisz is one of the most beautiful women in film today. To me, that shows that an ungly character can affect perception of beauty.

The nastiest villains for me are usually the self righteous ones, e.g.:

Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter"
The main character in "Stepfather"
Patrick Bergin in "Sleeping with the Enemy"

and then of course, the just-plain-out-and-out-weirdo-sickies, like:

Kevin Spacey in "Seven"

Kevin Spacey had a good villain year in "Se7en" and "The Usual Suspects"

other great villains:
- Darth Vader
- The Joker
- Robert DeNiro in "Cape Fear"
- Grendel (Hunter Rose)
- Darkseid
- Doc Doom
- The Devil
- Gargamel
- Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest"
- O.J.

Ra's al Ghul is probably my favourite comic book villain. I loved his nihilistic vision in his first appearance, way back in the '70s (I think).

Cruella DeVille - the first villain I remember as a kid and she still strikes me as particularly vicious.

Hitler - the iconic villain, pretty much the universal bad guy.

The scariest villains for me are the ones who don't appear evil on the surface - Dunway in Mommie Dearest fulfills that role to some degree, although her children knew her nasty side all along. If I were going to design a villain, I'd take somebody urbane, educated, sociable and absolutely evil. Ted Bundy would fit that, but I'd go for a character with bigger plans than murdering women.

Robert Mitchum in the original cape fear is pretty horrifying. That moves still has a more eerie feel than many contemporary ones, especially since it seems like such an edgy subject matter for back then.

I've seen bits and pieces of "Shape of Things" too recently, and got that vibe immediately about Evelyn. Now I might have to rent the movie to catch the whole thing...

Comic book villians: Dr. Doom is the greatest ever invented IMO. He is *the* comic book villian. For Cosmic-Villians, Kirby's two other greats, Darkseid and Galactus, seem to work the best, although Galactus is not quite that 'villianous', while Darkseid most definatley is. The best DC villian, cosmic or not, will always be the Anti-Monitor to me, since he seems to be untoppable on every scale, just the ultimate bad guy for a whole universe.

Batman villians: my favorites are Ra's al Ghul and Two-Face. While the Joker is the most dispicable, Two-Face has the tragedy of once being a great man, and Ra's has such a grand vision, that he can truly act as Batman's most terrifying foe.

Other great villians of cinema:

-Michael Myers, who used to scare the hell out of me for years and who I can't get enough of these days. Bad movies or not, I see him as thee "Horror Sequel Bad Guy".

-The Nurse from "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest". Could there be anyone more cruel or who you hate more?

-Commodus from Gladiator and others like him. A different kind of villian, in that they are weak and spineless, and you hate them oh so much more for it. By no means as terrifying as the rest, which is why you almost can't wait to see them bite the dust.

He was pretty scary up until the point he had to take his shirt off and he was obviously sucking in his gut. A little less intimidating after that ...

Not a character I like or would term as "favourite" anything, except maybe punching bag, but a villain who's evil is only amplified by its insidious nature and the fact that, in the end, she wins, and she even diverts the title hero, and leaves her greatest victim - her own brother - trapped forever.

Anthy Himemiya, from Revolutionary Girl Utena.