# Female villains in literature and cinema **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765 "2005-04-17T14:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/21 "2005-04-17T21:26:57Z")
Well, I saw the title and thought “Keeel moose and squirrel!” Upon further thought, however, I’m sad that I’ve been beaten more than once to Livia. It’s beautiful how she makes banal little Messalina from the sequel seem like such an _amateur_. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/22 "2005-04-17T21:44:29Z")
Zillah from Margaret Atwood’s _The Robber Bride_. Great book, great villian. ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/23 "2005-04-18T05:45:49Z")
Joan Crawford in **Mildred Pearce**. ---
**Author:** ![Coulbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Coulbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coulbean)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/24 "2005-04-18T09:03:26Z")
Cruella DeVille even has her own theme song. I offer Norma Desmond from **Sunset Blvd.** ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/25 "2005-04-18T09:16:58Z")
I was going to start this thread one of these days, if only to mention Grandma from _Preacher_. If graphic novels are allowed, she is my nomination. What a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/26 "2005-04-18T09:18:20Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I think the one that stands out in my mind is Annie Wilkes from **Misery**. I haven’t read King’s book, but I love the movie, and if ever there were a perfect casting, it was Kathy Bates as Annie. The movie is pretty faithful to the book, but if you enjoy the movie portrayal of Annie, I’d really recommend you read the book. She is pathetic, repulsive, simultaneously caring and sadistic. Wonderful villain. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/27 "2005-04-18T14:27:25Z")
From GI Joe, The Baroness, a bespeckled, leather-catsuit-clad, Eastern European accented, terrorist leader. Comes across as a revolutionary polemical-spouting cross between a schoolmistress & a Dom. Expert sniper. Interrogator, & enjoys it. Fighter pilot, & loves to strafe unarmed civilians. Past mistress of betrayal, treachery, & coup-de-tas. Mistress of Disguise. Pats you on the back until a bullet hole appears between her fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/28 "2005-04-18T15:19:29Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > From GI Joe, The Baroness, a bespeckled, leather-catsuit-clad, Eastern European accented, terrorist leader. > > Comes across as a revolutionary polemical-spouting cross between a schoolmistress & a Dom. > > Expert sniper. > Interrogator, & enjoys it. > Fighter pilot, & loves to strafe unarmed civilians. > Past mistress of betrayal, treachery, & coup-de-tas. > Mistress of Disguise. > Pats you on the back until a bullet hole appears between her fingers. And yet she was the subject of so many of my prepubescent fantasies! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/29 "2005-04-18T15:35:23Z")
The **Alien** ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/30 "2005-04-18T16:02:20Z")
“Olivia” from Peter Straub’s novel _Julia_. Revolting, and all the more horrific because she’s a child. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/31 "2005-04-18T16:33:56Z")
> [@buns3000](#): > > Joan Crawford in **Mildred Pearce**. Ummm, she wasn’t the villian, she was the heroine. Her daughter Veda was the villian . . . ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/32 "2005-04-18T16:36:04Z")
. . . and since I managed to spell “villain” wrong _twice_, I won’t bring up your spelling “Pierce” wrong . . . ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/33 "2005-04-18T18:36:22Z")
the Queen / old crone in “Snow White.” (Disney version, and the Sigourney Weaver version). Alex (Glenn Close) from “Fatal Attraction.” Tony’s mother Livia (Natalie Marchand) from “the Sopranos.” Norman’s (Anthony Perkins) mother from “Psycho.” (Yes, by the time of the events of the movie, she’s already dead. But considering Norman’s condition, she must have been a truly evil bitch.) From the bible: Jezebel (high priestess of Babylon’s Baal cult), Delilah (the harlot who betrayed Sampson). From greek mythology: Hera, Medea, Pandora (somewhat sympathetic, a tool of the Gods, but still…), Calypso, Eris (goddess of discord, sets in motions that lead to the Trojan war), Clytemnestra… From “Star Trek: TNG” - the Borg Queen ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/34 "2005-04-18T19:03:58Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > The movie is pretty faithful to the book, but if you enjoy the movie portrayal of Annie, I’d really recommend you read the book. She is pathetic, repulsive, simultaneously caring and sadistic. Wonderful villain. I’ll second Annie, and tell you the creepiest thing about seeing the movie version–Kathy Bates, in that film, looks _exactly like my mother._ I saw it in the theater, and have never watched it since. Dolores Umbridge from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_. One of the best love-to-hate-her villains I’ve seen in years. Diana, the alien leader from _V_. She always scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/35 "2005-04-18T19:17:14Z")
If we’re going with '80s cartoons, then [Evil-Lynn](http://users.skynet.be/fa430383/2000/evillynn.htm) from the _He-Man/She-Ra_ franchise ought to count. Heck, she’s even got “Evil” in her name! (Though I confess I don’t remember if she was He’s villianess, or She’s…) ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/36 "2005-04-18T23:06:53Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Diana, the alien leader from _V_. She always scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. Ooh yeah. She’s deliciously evil. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/37 "2005-04-18T23:13:30Z")
Mona Demarkov from **Romeo Is Bleeding**. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/38 "2005-04-19T00:33:33Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > If we’re going with '80s cartoons, then [Evil-Lynn](http://users.skynet.be/fa430383/2000/evillynn.htm) from the _He-Man/She-Ra_ franchise ought to count. Heck, she’s even got “Evil” in her name! > > (Though I confess I don’t remember if she was He’s villianess, or She’s…) He’s He-Man’s villain. I recall quite clearly one of those “we all have to get along” episodes where she got stuck in the desert with Teela and they had to cooperate to survive. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/39 "2005-04-19T00:39:51Z")
Sigh. _She_ is in He-Man. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/40 "2005-04-19T02:17:19Z")
I see some TV characters in here, so I’m going to nominate Sherry Palmer from _24_. She had me screaming at the TV, “Shoot the bitch! SHOOT HER!!!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765.md?page=3)