Well, awhile back someone asked if there had ever been any real-life mad scientists, and a few candidates (Dr. Mengele, Gerald Bull) came up. That’s left me morbidly wondering…how many real life SUPERVILLAINS can there said to have been? I don’t just mean “run of the mill” dictators, murderers, etc. I’m thinking almost cartoonish supervillainy.
Bin Laden seems to qualify, and maybe Carlos the Jackal. Can anyone else think of any other additions to this ghoulish list?
It’s pretty hard to top President Niyazov of Turkmenistan, who is not only bumblingly incompetent while tryign to be a traditional oppressive dictator but actually had a 36 foot tall gold-plated revolving statue of himself installed in the capitol.
He’s the kind of guy you could really picture muttering “And it would have worked, too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!”
So supervillain, maybe not. More of a real life MojoJojo or Dr. Evil.
Idi Amin - former dictator of Uganda and now guest exiled-dictator-in-residence of Saudi Arabia. Funky costumes, an outsized -almost campy- personality, rumors of cannibalism (was that true or not?), and a brief stay in New York durin his exile. He sounds like a rejected idea for a Bond Villain.
Don King - a petty hood convicted of manslaughter turned crooked boxing promoter/boxer exploiter/flim flam artist/TV personality all while luaghing like a clown and waving the American flag. Besides, how could he not be a supervillain with that hair?
Rudy Guiliani (pre-Sept. 11) - The head of a vicious oppressive police state located on an exciting, glamourous island. With a scary rug on his head, a messy separation from his actress/TV host wife who was appearing in “The Vagina Monologues”, and a hyperactive annoying son who he couldn’t control during his swearing in.
Steven Segal - a pudgy, washed up action star with a greasy ponytail and a trumped up past as a government agent/spy/badass/whatever. A failed pop singer (who knew that his “music” would sound like a bad Little Feat cover band?)/wannabe Buddhist guru/possible Mob shakedown victim.
There’s something more… supervillainish about Adolph than Stalin, though. Mad scientists conducting unspeakable experiments, superweapons, funky uniforms, dastardly plots for world conquest, atrocities… not to mention the finishing touches like occultism and such. And folks like Goebbels and Goering make such perfect supervillain allies.
Then again, this might be that many of the post-WW2 supervillains have borrowed to a degree from Nazis.
The Black Dragon Society— H.Y.D.R.A/Cobra type secret society that set Japan onto the route to World War. Secret Society/Political Assasins/Organized Crime/Fascist Conspiracy/Espionage Organization, all rolled up into one.
The Hashassin (sp?) cult profiled by Unca Cecil also fits this bill.
Vatious of the “bad” Popes, especially the Medici, remind me of Doctor Doom.
Beria. The head of the NKVD under Stalin. Simply evil.
Actually Adolph Hitler is the worlds first Super Villian.
If you look at comics before WW2, say Superman (one of the few to survive from that era) you will find that there were no super villians. It was always superman defeating the bank robbers, the crooked union boss, or saving Lois from the island of bird men. No Lex Luthor, no infinetly powerfull badies.
And it makes sense. Just look at Hitler, thousands of crack stormtroopers, a secret police, massive armies with the latest tanks, planes, and other weapons, not to mention thousands of scientists literally working on all manner of freaky sci-fi weapons of DOOM, all who obey his commands as if from a god. His near infinite resources of a contenent. His maniacal quests for world domination (and that he was more succesfull at it then anyone else in history). And finally the fact that he is undiniably, unredeamably evil (I don’t care if he did give us the VW bug).
Once WW2 ends you slowly start to see the super-villians we know and love today.
Say what you will about the Nazis, they had a great sense of style. Nothing is more intimidating then the organized evil look of a black ss uniform. It is from this that the evil-henchman look is derived.
Haha, what a great way to describe him. “Boyish” I like that.
I can see it. * “Hee hee! I shall steal peoples hopes and dreams with Microsoft Word Pro, and using Outlook, I shall mail it to my secret account, whizzkid@msn.com, where a team of former competitors shall convert it to youth! Hee hee!” *
Attila the Hun comes to mind for some reason, along with various Carribean pirates, though I think a big qualifier for a super-villain is high technology. Since no one has, to my knowledge, assembled death rays in orbit yet, I think the world has not yet trembled appropriately in fear at anyone since Hitler.