# Great female villains **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455 "2012-01-14T00:12:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/81 "2012-01-15T15:59:07Z")
Child-roasting, assault-victim-procuring, old-lady-bludgeoning Iris Crowe from **Carnivale**. The things one does for love… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/82 "2012-01-15T16:21:03Z")
Saffron from _Firefly_. She’s just a girl trying to get by with nothing but a complete lack of morals and Christina Hendricks’s face and body. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/83 "2012-01-15T16:45:25Z")
Another vote for Poison Ivy. Doesn’t matter how she is portrayed, she is _pure sex._ Of all the crushes I had a 14yo, that one has stayed. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/84 "2012-01-15T17:30:19Z")
[Mother Gothe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X9gLw1Wy2w)l! ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/85 "2012-01-16T14:07:25Z")
Oh man, how did I forget Azula from Avatar? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/86 "2012-01-16T15:20:25Z")
Irina Derevko from “Alias”. Her sisters Katya and Elena were pretty shady too. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/87 "2012-01-16T21:16:02Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I can endorse all of these, but I still favor Stahl as the main bitch. Ally has such weird eyes and such a venomous personality that acting Stahl was probably a piece of cake for her. Ever since her first scene, I kept hoping for something bad to happen to her, and having Opie be in on it a whole season’s worth later just fulfilled all the pent-up hate I had developed for her. That catharsis theme is being well exploited more and more in the shows I enjoy watching! I had a flicker of sympathy when Otto banged her up in the prison interview room but by the time she came to the end of the road in season 3, well…no mercy. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/88 "2012-01-16T21:30:17Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I had a flicker of sympathy when Otto banged her up in the prison interview room but by the time she came to the end of the road in season 3, well…no mercy. Otto has gotten plenty of good scenes! Sutter does a great job of writing himself into the show. Ever wonder what he and Katey talk about other than the show? ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/89 "2012-01-16T21:42:57Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > How the heck did we get this far into the thread without mentioning Dolores Umbridge? I actually was coming in to say her.. I hate her so very much, > [@psychonaut](#): > > The best villains are the ones who delude themselves into thinking they’re the good guys. For this reason I nominate _Deep Space Nine_’s Kai Winn. Another good one. I hate her too. Both these characters fill me with pure revulsion. Brrrr. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/90 "2012-01-17T02:19:25Z")
“Milady” from **The three Musketeers**. Faye Dunaway did the best movie version. Actually, I like Rebecca deMornay better in the role, but her movie of it was so awful I’m going with Faye. “Wilhelmina Slater,” from **Ugly Betty** , the role Vanessa Williams was created to play. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/91 "2012-01-17T03:51:07Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Diana Riggs played Mrs. Danvers the house keeper at Manderley House in _Rebecca_ But the more Evil Mrs Danvers was played by Judith Anderson in Hitchcock’s 1939 version. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Wicked Queen in Disney’s SNOW WHITE. ---
**Author:** ![coolbyrne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@coolbyrne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coolbyrne)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/92 "2012-01-17T04:26:27Z")
> [@Billy-o](#): > > Livia from “I, Claudius”. Came in to nominate her. The absolutely irrepressible Siân Phillips. If they were ever to remake the series, Livia could only be recast with Tilda Swinton. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/93 "2012-01-17T16:20:34Z")
Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Bellatrix LeStrange in the Harry Potter movies ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/94 "2012-01-17T17:24:46Z")
I always liked **Lucille Bluth** from Arrested Development. Very understated, very evil. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/95 "2012-01-17T19:16:19Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > And how could I forget Felice from Julian May’s _The Saga of Pliocene Exile_? And after thinking it over, I’d better add: Maria from _Aunt Maria_, by Diana Wynne Jones Tanya von Shrakenberg from _Under the Yoke_, by S.M. Stirling The Warden, from _Holes_, by Louis Sachar Baroness Ceausescu, from _A Princess of Roumania_, by Paul Park and a classic: Miss Minchin, from _A Little Princess_, by Frances Hodgson Burnett Also, while up to now I’ve been sticking to literature, I can’t help but mention Lois’ mother from _Malcolm in the Middle_, as played by Chloris Leachman. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/96 "2012-01-17T19:45:12Z")
The evil Queen Achren from the Chronicles of Prydain. And Tilda Swinton’s White Witch is a _tour de force_ in scornful scenery-chewing even if her scheming leaves something to be desired. I heartily endorse Dolores Umbridge as well. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/97 "2012-01-18T00:50:49Z")
> [@Billy-o](#): > > Livia from “I, Claudius”. This is who I came in to mention, and I see after your nomination there were a number of others! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/98 "2012-01-18T02:02:53Z")
No mention of Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) from Glee? Cathrine Tramell (Sharon Stone) - Basic Instinct Xena Onnatop (Famke Jansen) - Goldeneye Lori “Considah that a divorce” Quaid (Sharon Stone) - Total Recall > [@Gagundathar](#): > > Oh yeah! Uma Thurman’s character in _Kill Bill_. > The Bride. > Beatrix Kiddo She’s not the villian. She’s a female antihero protagonist. The rest of the gals were great villains though! Especially Lucy Lui. > [@lost4life](#): > > I always liked Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development. Very understated, very evil. Mallory Archer! Off topicish, but is Mom from Futurama supposed to be a nod to Mom the evil pimp from Doctor Detroit? Same mannarisms. Same pair of weird bald henchmen wearing what look like vallet uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/99 "2012-01-18T02:06:21Z")
Almost forgot. Not necessarily a “villain”, but Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol) had a bit of a mean streak in her in Boardwalk Empire. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/100 "2012-01-18T06:12:45Z")
Another vote for Dolores Umbridge, and while we’re at it, Bellatrix LeStrange. I wanted to pop both their heads off, which in my mind makes them effective villaiins. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455.md?page=6)