Fannish Friday: Favorite villains!

[lirazel]

I'm not talking about nuanced characters with gray morality this time (though I will certainly talk about those sometime!), I'm talking about straight-up villains! People (or other beings) you love to watch being evil!


Here are some that come immediately to mind for me:

+ The Fanged Four from the Buffyverse when they're all evil and before they become those nuanced characters with interesting arcs. I just love watching Spike & Dru in BtVS season 2 or the flashback scenes where they're running around causing havoc in historical locations. Would have watched a Fanged Four spinoff, but alas it never happened!

+ Mrs. Eleanor Iselin from The Manchurian Candidate. Angela Lansbury deserved every award for that role!!!

+ The Borg. Just collectively.

+ Victoria from the Man from UNCLE movie. This one is all style and no substance--we don't actually know her very well--but her style is so good that she deserves a place on the list.

+ Shawn from The Good Place. Maybe this is just because I love Marc Evan Jackson?


Tell me about some of your favorites!

Comments

[dolorosa_12]

I love Buffyverse villains as well. Spike and Dru, various combinations of the Fanged Four, and Mayor Wilkins are all just great. The writing for all of them is excellent, they are all perfectly cast, and they have great chemistry with each other/with other characters with whom they interact. Minor recurring villainous characters like Ethan Rayne are great too, as well as some characters I'd class as amoral antagonists rather than out-and-out villains.

In fact, they're such well written and well acted villains that I'm finding it hard to think of anyone else from any other canon to talk about here!

[lirazel]

Buffy definitely has great ones! Agreed about Mayor Wilkins and Ethan Rayne in particular.

[chestnut_pod]

Sauron! I just think he serves his purpose admirably.

[lirazel]

Oh interesting. I think of Sauron as more of a sort of formless evil--I don't remember getting any sense of personality. Is it more from the Silmarillion or has it just been too long since I've read LotR?

[chestnut_pod]

I find it hard to "love to hate" characters -- mostly, if I hate them, I just hate them! I can recognize skill in crafting them and their utility to the plot, but I don't drag out my bucket of popcorn when they come on-page, exactly. So a formless evil works just fine. He's doing his job to the highest degree!

[elperian]

+1

[lirazel]

Ah, I see! That makes sense!

[elperian]

I have to nominate Scorpius from Farscape, because he remains a villain even when his goals align with the main Moya crew (who in any other narrative would probably be framed as villains themselves). The writers manage to give him depth and layers and STILL keep him a villain, which is a feat unto itself, but damn if every time I see him appear again in 1x19 'Nerve' I don't jump a little. Still scary! After all this time!

Does YoSaffBridge from Firefly count? I think she does! I also have to nominate Caleb Covington (Julie and the Phantoms) and Emperor Palpatine himself! PT/OT only, of course.

[elperian]

For reference, I think Scorpius' intro here is still spooky with no context (he's the guy in the gimp costume - ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5yGWStqA5I

Also, this analysis (spoiler warnings): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBG8qnoILSE

[lirazel]

I would say she counts! And yes, these are all good ones!

[dollsome]

The Fanged Four, yes!! Marc Evan Jackson, yes!!!!!

I am having such a hard time thinking of a definitive answer to this question, because I have such a tendency to go "Aw, they're just misunderstood and emotionally suffering!" about my favorite villains and fiends. (Villanelle! Lucille Sharpe! Amy Dunne! Do I have a type!!) I've been thinking all day! I'm sure I'm forgetting someone obvious. My favorite I've managed to think of so far is Jack Donaghy's tween girl nemesis Kaylee Hooper on 30 Rock, played flawlessly by Chloe Grace Moretz.

[lirazel]

To me, Villanelle is more a grey character because her journey is such a focus of the narrative, but Lucille Sharpe is definitely portrayed as a villain and she's a great one!

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<my [...] rock,>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

To me, Villanelle is more a grey character because her journey is such a focus of the narrative, but Lucille Sharpe is definitely portrayed as a villain and she's a great one!

<i><My favorite I've managed to think of so far is Jack Donaghy's tween girl nemesis Kaylee Hooper on 30 Rock, played flawlessly by Chloe Grace Moretz.</i>

I haven't seen this, but that is HILARIOUS.

[lannamichaels]

Jafar from Aladdin was my favorite for years and years and is probably directly responsible for my love affairs with villains. He was such a great character.

[lirazel]

Love it! He's a good one indeed! My favorite Disney villain is probably Scar, but that's just because Jeremy Irons!

[lannamichaels]

Scar is also wonderfully villainous :D

They just dont make spectacular villains like that anymore :(((((