“Serious film”? This is the version of Robin Hood with the patented flaming-arrow-cam, right? The one where they infiltrate a castle by loading themselves into a catapult and flinging themselves over the walls? It was sillier than Men in Tights.
I gotta agree with the Alan Rickman nominations
Daniel
KAAAAAANNNNNGGGGG!!!
Couldn’t possibly agree more. I love Al Swearengen-- best TV villain ever.
I also love Omar from The Wire and Tony from The Sopranos. I was rooting for Gary Oldman as Dracula in Coppola’s version of the movie-- how could I root for the pathetic Harker played by Keanu Reeves? Along those same lines, I was hoping Agent Smith would eat Neo in Matrix: Revolutions.
Bender, of course.
Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) from Fright Night.
Spike from Buffy.
Lestat from Interview with the Vampire, etc.
Any other sexy vampire I’ve forgotten.
Sesshomaru from Inuyasha.
Karen and Jack from Will & Grace. I know they’re broad cartoon characters, but they totally kill me. (I read in Entertainment Weekly last week that part of the reason Will and Grace’s characters have devolved and become more obnoxious is to compete with the scene-stealing Karen and Jack, but instead of becoming a fun sort of evil, they’ve just become jerks.)
Jurt from Roger Zelazny’s Merlin books.
Jurt always got the sticky end of the lollypop. Everyone I know thought the character was stupid and annoying, but I’ve always felt so sorry for him. Possibly because we both hate Merlin so much, the tosser.
sigh Poor Jurt.
Chang, actually.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0102975/combined
I’ll add Mr. Gone from The Maxx. A serial rapist and murderer, but damn, he’s just so cool. You hate to like him, but you can’t help it.
Second Spike, and the Trio.
:dubious: He’s a super deformed sprite. The character designs of him aren’t that hot-looking, and the new CG version of him is just plain creepy
Well, sure, he isn’t the destroy/take over the world kind of evil, but personally I think that makes him all the more dangerous. For him, it’s all a big game - the plots, counterplots, manipulation, etc etc etc etc. He does take risks, but they’re all calculated; I don’t think he ever puts himself in a situation where he’s truly in over his head.
(Why, no, I’m not biased about Xelloss, not at all. :D)
The Monarch, from the Venture Brothers.
C. Montgomery Burns (from The Simpsons) and Jean-Baptise Emmanuel Zorg (from The Fifth Element) are two of my favorites.
And on preview, I second the Monarch!
His character was certainly the villain of the story, but I don’t know if it’s fair to call him evil. His defense of himself at the end of the film is fairly accurate, if self-serving – his worst crime was doing exactly what the heroine asked him to do. The rest of his behavior was hardly exemplary, but I don’t think it was truly evil.
Bowser. He’s evil, but always has time for a friendly game of tennis or a go-kart race.
Those aren’t mutually exclusive. What about Ares from Hercules and Xena fame? OK, OK, so it’s a typo. Still, Ares was certainly a fun bad guy on those series.
Bender’s not evil. He’s more of a “Chaotic Neutral”.
Ooh! Ooh! Satan, from Highway 61. In order to finance his cross-country trip, Satan goes to a small-town Church Bingo game and whips everyone’s butt, winning the prize money and a macrame plant holder made by one of the little old bingo ladies. As he leaves, an angry woman mutters under her breath that he must’ve been cheating, at which point he turns around and says, “Lady, you can’t cheat at bingo. If you could, I would, but you can’t. I won because I was lucky - lucky to wind up in a town full of losers!” He then drops the plant holder into a trashcan and leaves, while I’m rolling hysterically on the ground.
And that’s not even getting into the scene where he corrupts a little girl, one of the wrongest and funniest things I’ve ever seen.
A close follow-up: Satan, from The Book Of Job
Satan: Sigh, I’m bored. Oi, God!
God: Hmmm?
Satan: I betcha you can’t torment and torture your most devout follower, putting them through unimaginable agony, and they’ll still like you.
God: Oh yeah? You’re on!
Satan: heh heh heh
Daniel
the Master (#1 - Roger Delgado)
Davros & the Daleks
Sil
– All the above from “Dr. Who.”
Scorpius from “Farscape.”
Barnabas Collins & Angelique from “Dark Shadows.”
Patsy Stone from “Absolutely Fabulous.” (an aging, self-absorbed party-queen & leech on Edina, but funny, funny, funny)
Bart Simpson (who, as we know from that “Treehouse of Horror” episode is the evil twin!)
Al Pacino’s devil in *The Devil’s Advocate * has already been mentioned.
Robert de Nero’s devil in *Angel Heart * was better than the rest of the movie.
Jack Nicholson’s devil in The Witches of Eastwick.
“Are women one of God’s little mistakes? OR DID HE DO IT TO US ON PURPOSE?”
In comic books, I can’t help feeling sorry for Starr in Preacher. He keeps trying to be the diabolical evil mastermind, but he keeps getting himself screwed. Literally, in one case.
George Costanza.
I love the Mummy from, of course, The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Such a yummy face (once he actually has a face; before, not so much) and such a tormented soul. I have a hard time rooting for the good guys in those movies.
Several from Get Smart
Ziegried and Stalker
Bronzefinger
The Craw (Not the Craw, the Craw!)
Hagbard Celine from Illuminatus!
Lord Vetinari from the Discworld books
