# Real-life super villains? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2002, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385 "2002-08-11T08:02:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 12, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/21 "2002-08-12T03:03:11Z")
Jessie Ventura would be _perfect_ for this role, if only he would break the law. He actually played one in _The Running Man_, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/22 "2002-08-12T11:04:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTA \* > \*\*Curtis LeMay, who tried to destroy the world.[/b Cite? I’m having a tough time believing an American General would be so unbalanced as to want to destroy the world. Hell, not even Jack T. Ripper was _that_ nuts. > [@](#): > > **L. Ron Hubbard.** Amen, and kudos for bringing this sewer rat to the light of day. Anyone who can elevate pulp sci-fi (complete with BEMs\*!) to a true Evil Cult is a supervillain in my book. Elron even had his own navy (Sea Org) manned by cult slave-fanatics brainwashed by various ‘auditing’ techniques he dreamed up. \*BEMs = Bug-Eyed Monsters. Standby of the Bad Old Days of SF, the era that garned the genre its seedy, backalley reputation. We’re only now coming to convince the ‘straight’ media that those days are gone. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/23 "2002-08-12T16:06:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > \*\*Jessie Ventura would be _perfect_ for this role, if only he would break the law. He actually played one in _The Running Man_, IIRC. \*\* As a resident of Minnesota, I can tell you this: Jesse Ventura is bent on destroying \*this[/] part of the world. But it is really more due to his bumbling ineptitude. How about Nicolae and Elana Ceausescu? Sure, they stood up to the commies for a little while, but cracked down on their countrymen like meniacal clowns. Scientists were forced to allow Elena to claim all of their scientific breakthroughs as their own. Nicolae is more involved in forming a cult of personality than actually governing, and places his family members into high ranking positions throughout the government. They eventually try to cover up their bumbling by hiding the facts and killing the oposition (along with some nifty media campaigns). They seem to me to be the prototypical supervillians. Out in the open, yet behind the curtains they were controlling, brutal, and self serving. ---
**Author:** ![knarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@knarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knarf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/24 "2002-08-12T18:16:03Z")
Maybe Jim Jones? The entire “People’s Temple/Guyana colony/killing a congressman/mass-suicide” seems to fit the category. Maybe more super-villain-ish if he had lived through it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/25 "2002-08-12T19:11:57Z")
**Pierre Trudeau** : He was rich, astoundingly charismatic, intelligent, sexy, and controversial. He and his policies were both strongly liked and strongly disliked (he was loathed by Richard M Nixon, for example). Most of his nation mourned when he died, and he is honoured to this day in Canada. He wasn’t evil. But… if he _had_ been turned to evil, he would have made an _excellent_ supervillain… ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/26 "2002-08-12T19:29:29Z")
How about Pol Pot of Thailand? A pretty gruesome soul. [hijack]Why do the minions remain in the service of the super villain? He treats them like crap, always blames them for any failures, and they live an entire life in some wretched surrounding like under the subway or in a sewer? They could have a better life as a burger flipper. Boys and girls! Don’t grow up to be a minions![/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/27 "2002-08-12T21:16:54Z")
Illinois seems to lend itself to generating some of these horrors, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer (or was he Wisconson’s contribution?), various Chicago gangsters, etc. ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2002, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/28 "2002-08-12T21:27:03Z")
Illinois seems to lend itself to generating some of these horrors, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer (or was he Wisconson’s contribution?), various Chicago gangsters, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/29 "2002-08-13T02:47:50Z")
Okay, what about Napoleon? They used to call him the Antichrist! Oh, and Ivan the Terrible! You have to be really bad to be called the “Terrible”-after all, Peter the Great was a cruel tyrant. Rasputin Anastacio Somoza Fidel Castro, as sort of a stupid, egotistical super villain-he’s got the ego and the cigar chomping down pat. Plus he LOOKS like a Super Villain! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/30 "2002-08-13T03:31:39Z")
Real-life supervillians? Doctor Doom. Everyone forgets Doctor Doom. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/31 "2002-08-13T04:44:13Z")
If each registered user at the SDMB chipped in a couple of million dollars each, we could have one hell of a shopping spree at [the Villian Supply store](http://www.villiansupply.com) . Sure the initial investment would be high, but once the world cowers at Cecil’s feet our ROI would be quite substantial. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/32 "2002-08-13T06:52:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Doctor Doom. Everyone forgets Doctor Doom. Well of course they forget him! Have you _seen_ Latveria recently? Too many robots, not enough civic pride…sadly, a tale all too common in today’s world. ‘sigh’ Victor hasn’t been the same since getting hisself killed in that battle between Terrax the Tamer and The Silver Surfer back in '85. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/33 "2002-08-13T17:45:23Z")
What about Francois Duvalier, AKA “Papa Doc”. The self proclaimed ‘president for life’ of an island nation with a dreaded secret police force and a reputation for being a master of Vodoun was also a medical doctor. He routinely proclaimed his own divinity and dressed up in the manner of “Baron Samedi” a feared Vodoun diety. Certainly all of the ingredients for a super villain, at least a second tier one. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385/34 "2002-08-13T20:23:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clevername \* > \*\*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. \*\* The latest: Remaking the [calendar](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia-pacific/2181151.stm?) in his image! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-super-villains/123385.md?page=1)