Favorite Villains

ThatWeirdGuy · Jun 1, 2017

I've always liked asking people random questions about their favorite things, it helps me get a handle on their personalities.
Now, seeing as I'm new to the forum (I introduced myself on the new members page and read the newbie's guide just yesterday), I thought I'd use two of my favorite questions to get a feel for the type of people that hang out here: Who or what is your favorite villain, and what type of villains do you usually like?

Personally, my favorite villain is an old one from my childhood: Makuta, from the 2001 to 2008 Bionicle books. (Although I may be a little nostalgia blind.) There was just something about how manipulative and confident he was, something that gave you this unnerving feeling that every victory the heroes scored was just another part of his plans.
As for the type of villain that I like, I'm a big fan of the genuinely intimidating ones. The kind that make you really question if the heroes will be okay. I also like goofy fun loving villains. There are a few rare cases where a creator manages to combine the two aforementioned traits, and that, that I love.

Beanie5 · Jun 1, 2017

i like those you are not sure if they are a hero or a villian, Foolkiller is one of those, or even those so far above it it is not a concern, Galactus.
Dr jekyll and frankenstein are also in the mix .

MadAlice · Jun 1, 2017

I like villains that are just so absolutely evil and enjoy it (Pennywise, manifestation of IT, comes to mind). Or the ones that are just as evil but genuinely think they're justified in it. My mind is blanking on an example right now, though.

PyriteFool · Jun 1, 2017

You know, I'm finding it really easy to come up with favorite villains from visual media (Darth Vader is probably my favorite of all time, but shout outs to Dr. Doom, Nox from Wakfu, others that I'll think of about 15 minutes from now) but it's harder for me to think of book villains. Cersei Lannister is the one that most easily comes to mind, but that's kind of cheating because there's a visual representation of her thanks to HBO and Lena Heady's superb acting. I wonder if that's a personal thing? Like maybe presence/visual design is important for me in a villain. Or maybe it's that in a lot of visual media it's easier to spend time with out villains. In books you often are tied to the heroes so it is literally harder to see your villains. Not that that's a problem, just a quirk of the medium.

The Dresden Files has great villains. Nicodemus definitely my favorite of that lot. There, found one that is in a book that hasn't also be adapted to a screen.

noirdood · Jun 20, 2017

Mr. Toad in The Wind in The Willows. Some may say he's not a villain, just a crazy mixed up kid. But from childhood I always believed, after reading this novel, that toxic greed is on of the top things that tear societies apart. To wit: Mr. Toad now inhabits the Oval Office.

RaiscaraAvalon · Jun 20, 2017

Darken Rahl from The Sword of Truth series...though I may reread that book series and find out he wasn't that great! But he's always been one of my favorite villains of all time - I even liked how he was represented in the TV series the Seeker...and that show was all kinds of messed up!

Cindyt · Jun 20, 2017

MadAlice said:
I like villains that are just so absolutely evil and enjoy it (Pennywise, manifestation of IT, comes to mind). Or the ones that are just as evil but genuinely think they're justified in it. My mind is blanking on an example right now, though.

I was going to say Pennywise. And Cujo, because the dog can't help it.

AnthonyDavid11 · Jul 6, 2017

My favorite villain has to be the Joker. What do I like in a villain? Evil, done in a hilarious way. He's usually going down at the end anyway. Why not laugh all the way?

airandarkness · Jul 7, 2017

Hmm, let's see. Definitely Ishamael from The Wheel of Time series. Also, not a book villain, but Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty - she's probably my favorite Disney villain. It's easier for me to think of villains from film/tv too, I can think of a few good ones from the Buffyverse...

Jade Rothwell · Jul 7, 2017

I like villains who feel like people. you can see why they do what they do, but it doesn't change that they did it. As said in Brooklyn 99 "Cool motive, still murder." Poison Ivy comes to mind. she's not evil, and isn't even always a villain. she just has a skewed worldview where killing humans is worth it to keep plants alive. her actions are still wrong, but make sense when you think of things from that perspective

Flambeau · Jul 12, 2017

I usually gravitate toward flamboyant, sophisticated, theatrical villains. James from Pokemon, The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series, Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective, and J. Worthington Foulfellow from Pinocchio come to mind. It is definitely more difficult to think of examples from literature though!

noirdood · Jul 12, 2017

Remember that when a character in Shakespeare called another a villain, he was saying that the other person was of low social standing, not saying he was an evil dude. Insulting one's social standing was fighting words in those days.

Shoeless · Jul 12, 2017

I was actually quite impressed with the treatment and performance of Magneto in X-Men: First Class. It helps that Fassbender is a great actor, but his arc during that first 60s era movie made it very easy for me to think, "Y'know, he's not really wrong, Xavier's a bit naive about all this." They made his motivations completely understandable, and... yeah, I suppose it's not fair that his enemies were Nazis, that skews things a lot.

PostScript · Jul 14, 2017

Frieza from Dragon Ball Z Abridged.
I like my villains cold no pun intended and sadistic.

Raunchel · Jul 14, 2017

This is a difficult one. On one hand, I would be tempted to just name myself, but I don't know if I actually like myself all that much. So, I'll need someone else.

One of my all-time favourites is a bit campy, but Lucy Diamond from DEBS, there just was something really nice about her, even if she became more of a goodie in the end.

Favorite Villains

ThatWeirdGuy

Trying not to panic

Beanie5

Live a poem...Or die a fool. \/

MadAlice

We're all mad down here

PyriteFool

noirdood

RaiscaraAvalon

Lost In The Realms

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it

AnthonyDavid11

airandarkness

Jade Rothwell

rolling dice

Flambeau

noirdood

Shoeless

PostScript

Raunchel

Lady of Masks