I've been thinking about what makes a really compelling villain. Who are some of your favorite villains? What makes them awesome?
do the flying monkeys on the Wizard of Oz count?
They are minions, the wicked witch was the villain in that flick.
The flying monkeys gave me nightmares!
@Kenderdragon the whole feel of the movie changed after they showed up
@RoboGraham the evil collective nonetheless
I played a combination of a Winged Monkey/Head Guard when I was in the 9th grade. It was a Catholic High School where most kids wanted to be jocks. Our Drama Club was a wee bit underpopulated. I had watched all of the "Planet of the Apes" films, and was asked to teach the rest of the Flying Monkeys how to walk and talk.
@ailurophile thats almost like being responsible for evolution
@btroje Ha! That's funny!
Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, the hitman in No Country for Old Men.
Yahweh, for mass genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the near obliteration of the human race, yet maintaining a loyal following. That's some true wickedness right there.
Okay, serious answer: I'm drawn to villains that are flawed but not in a cartoonish way. I like them to be people with hopes and dreams, but who have something deeply wrong with them. Perhaps their horrific acts are the result of blind anger or a mental imbalance or even a philosophical perspective that, if you try a little, you can empathize with. But I think there also needs to be something truly frightening about them, something unpredictable or an amoral aspect that leaves you feeling uneasy about what they could do at any moment.
I prefer a villain like Magneto from the X-Men franchise, because, though he's the enemy, you totally understand where he's coming from and why he feels the way he does. He's not evil, per se, but he is willing to do whatever he thinks is necessary to bring about the world he envisions for the survival of mutants everywhere.
@silvereyes Hahaha! I hadn't seen that one. That's awesome! I like Pet Holmes a lot.
@silvereyes That's hysterical! Thanks for sharing it.
Catwoman from the old batman
there were 3 in the tv series.
Julie Newmar...Hubba Hubba!
Julie Newmar. Accept no substitutes. Boy, did she give my 7-year old body something to think about.
Oh, there were Cat Women other than Eartha Kitt?
I have to agree with others here who like Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker. His is the darkest, most layered version of the villain. It has no camp at all, unlike Nicholson's, who was a good baddie, but still patterned after the Cesar Romero version from the original Batman TV series, right down to the cackle. LOL! Also agree with others here that Ledger's loss was huge.
Bane as played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises
The Joker as played by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
The Penguin as played by Robin Lord Taylor on Gotham and Danny Devito in Batman Returns
Loki as played by Tom Hiddleston in the Thor and Avengers series
Agent Smith as played by Hugo Weaving in The Matrix
Hannibal Lecter as played by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
Tommy Devito as played by Joe Pesci in Goodfellas
Cobra Kai Sensei and his students from The Karate Kid
Doomsday
Freddy Krueger
Jason Voorhees
Michael Myers
The Terminator
Gollum (kind of annoying too lol)
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman as played by Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket
Leatherface
Megatron
Surtur from Thor: Ragnarok
Hela as played by Cate Blanchett from Thor: Ragnarok was pretty bad ass
I don't know much about the character, but I suppose Thanos will make my list after I see Avengers: Infinity War. He's supposedly one of the top most powerful villains ever.
All of them are either powerful, creepy, diabolical, quirky, assholish, or evil lol. Makes for good entertainment.
Macbeth. In many good stories the hero starts out vulnerable and grows wiser, stronger, and more virtuous as the story progresses. It is the opposite in Macbeth. He starts out as a loyal soldier for his King and devolves into a villain with no qualms about murdering anyone who gets in his way.
I think MacBeth must be Vladimir Putin's role model.
Donald Trump and his sidekicks Pence, McConnell, and Ryan. They represent the epitome of evil.
One of my favorite Twitter handles is someone named "AynRandPaulRyan".
Negan from The Walking Dead! Delightfully diabolical and easy on the eyes
Kevin Spacey's character in Seven.
How about Kevin Spacey, just the man himself?
Real? Probably Kim Jong Whichever. Easy to make fun of, torments and prods the US, bound to die soon.
Fictional? Cobra Commander. Easy to admire, torments and prods the US, bound to take over the world soon.
Anakin Skywalker. All he ever wanted was to save Padme and gain immortality.