# Bad bad guys **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756 "2015-10-25T23:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/41 "2015-10-27T00:51:29Z")
I nominate Sigfried of KAOS. Also, The Brain, and Snidely Whiplash. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/42 "2015-10-27T00:53:55Z")
How could I forget Boris and Natasha and Fearless Leader. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/43 "2015-10-27T01:54:49Z")
Doctor Claw. Every one of his schemes was foiled by an 8 year old girl, a dog and an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/44 "2015-10-27T02:59:33Z")
Plankton from SpongeBob is pretty incompetent… but I enjoy Plankton, so he’s not a “bad” bad guy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/45 "2015-10-27T03:30:31Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > …I also kinda like that one Bond movie where the bad guy was a media magnate who was trying to start a war between the US & China because it would be a huge boost to his business. The sillyness with the stealth boat almost ruins it, but that guy was such an arrogant ass, that his death at the end ranks as one of the most satisfying movie villain demises I can remember. That was _Tomorrow Never Dies_: [Tomorrow Never Dies - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Never_Dies) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/46 "2015-10-27T03:45:57Z")
> [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](#): > > …Leroy Brown. > Duh. Baddest man in the whole damn town. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/47 "2015-10-27T03:49:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ahhhh, well he’s my original example. Boring. 🙂 > > And he’s boring not because the character was boring, or Jeff Bridges did a bad job… he’s boring because he’s extremely limited in his options. And the problem is that he’s a CEO of a publicly traded corporation - he has a board of directors to answer to, he has to sign off on SEC filings, he has to make sure the company is profitable and in a way that’s pleasing to investors, and everything he does leaves a record. > > I mean… you can be evil as a CEO. But you can’t be evil in the way of a Marvel villain where you kill people with your bare hands and divert billions of dollars of shareholder funds for secret projects with no repercussions (must make for some very thick and convoluted 10k’s). I mean, Jim Chanos would have Odebiah’s ass for lunch - “The New Enron: Where does Stark’s cash go?” > > Again… this is just me. Others may find that CEO’s make for effective bad guys in action movies. Stane is a great bad guy because he’s also Tony’s father figure and his turn is an emotional betrayal-- he’s far from just a Corporate bad guy. They establish that Stane was closer to Tony than his own father. Stark has a transformative experience and threatens both of their livelihoods and the facade of caring “uncle” starts to fade and his professional and personal jealousy starts to take hold. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/48 "2015-10-27T04:27:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ahhhh, well he’s my original example. Boring. 🙂 > > And he’s boring not because the character was boring, or Jeff Bridges did a bad job… he’s boring because he’s extremely limited in his options. And the problem is that he’s a CEO of a publicly traded corporation - he has a board of directors to answer to, he has to sign off on SEC filings, he has to make sure the company is profitable and in a way that’s pleasing to investors, and everything he does leaves a record. > > I mean… you can be evil as a CEO. But you can’t be evil in the way of a Marvel villain where you kill people with your bare hands and divert billions of dollars of shareholder funds for secret projects with no repercussions (must make for some very thick and convoluted 10k’s). I mean, Jim Chanos would have Odebiah’s ass for lunch - “The New Enron: Where does Stark’s cash go?” > > Again… this is just me. Others may find that CEO’s make for effective bad guys in action movies. Well, that’s a comic book universe. He shares a world with a guy who can increase his mass twenty-fold in an instant, in complete violation of the concept of conservation of mass. If they treat the laws of physics that way, what chance does corporate law stand? [Evil CEO Lex Luthor](http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/b/b2/JL_Luthor.png/revision/latest?cb=20150331173254) could both [menace the public in green and purple power armor](http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/6/64770/1297543-actioncomics_luthor177cc3b.jpg), and still run a successful campaign for [President of the United States.](http://media.comicbook.com/uploads1/2014/11/luthor-v-luthor-111499.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/49 "2015-10-27T21:29:41Z")
How about Supernatural baddies who do really stupid shit and / or who have powers that aren’t really explained very well? Example: **It Follows**. Demon very slowly walks toward the hero, and can assume _any form_ it wants. So naturally it assumes the form of an old lady in a nightgown shuffling through the halls of a High School, or a naked man on the roof of a house, instead, of, say, another main character. Also, it sometimes takes a few days off, so the heroes can sit around and talk, and other times it shows up right on time as the plot demands. **Ghost Rider** is another one. Wes Bentley is the Son of Satan, who sometimes has the kind of power you would expect, and other times gets hurt when he gets a fireball in his back, and is pretty much defeated in a fist fight. Then Ghost Rider defies Satan himself, who acts like there’s nothing he can really do about that. And don’t get me started on Loki in the Marvel movies, who’s a Demi-God but who can get exactly as incapacitated as required for that point in the story. “Puny God” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/50 "2015-10-28T00:06:58Z")
I don’t know what took me so long to remember this one; I must have blanked it out: The worst bad guy ever, from “Jurassic Park,” yes, it’s **NEWMAN!** ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756/51 "2015-10-28T14:22:00Z")
The Scorpio Killer from _Dirty Harry_. He’s based on the Zodiac Killer, who taunted police with letters to newspaper editors. He’s a whiny histrionic crybaby who giggles and is so over-the-top in delivering his lines, you wish he would die immediately; not because of the heinous crimes he committed, but because he’s just so damned annoying. Eastwood portrays himself as the ultimate cool guy: Raspy monotone, steely, macho, intimidates bad guys and _Breaks All The RulesTM_. The contrast between Dirty Harry and the Scorpio Killer makes the latter much more singularly annoying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-guys/735756.md?page=2)