# Who, or what, is your favorite villain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435 "2023-07-02T03:56:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/181 "2023-07-13T20:42:43Z")
YES. Scott Tenorman’s parents. And then he taunted Scott with “I made you eat your parents, I made you eat your parents.” He later found out Scott was actually his half brother. ---
**Author:** ![AkioMorita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@AkioMorita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AkioMorita)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/182 "2024-02-21T23:37:13Z")
As in Bocce? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/183 "2024-02-22T00:50:52Z")
This far in and nobody’s mentioned Snidely Whiplash?!? 😲 ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/184 "2024-02-22T00:54:20Z")
I agree. Master of science and sorcery. Darth Vader is a pale knock off. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/185 "2024-02-22T01:34:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > (b) it’s her effect on the _story_ that’s, uh, mesmerizing. And like Mr. Bester above, she brings the most out of the characters she interacts with: Devotion from Spike, Macho Bullshit from Angel, whatever the hell it is between her and Darla… Juliet sold both sane and crazy very very well. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/186 "2024-02-22T01:46:35Z")
Has anybody cited Webcomics? Drip Rat from the webcomic JACK. A rapist and serial killer who, upon death, became an arch-demon…the very embodiment of the Deadly Sin LUST…and the main enemy of the titular Jack, himself the Sin of Wrath and tasked with the duties of the Grim Reaper, shepherding the newly dead to judgement. [Jack - Archive (thecomicseries.com)](https://jackrabbit.thecomicseries.com/archive/) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/187 "2024-02-22T01:50:08Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Has anybody cited Webcomics? Tarquin Xykon Red Cloak The Linear Guild was boring. I was glad when Malack… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/188 "2024-02-22T02:11:30Z")
What is a Bocce? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/189 "2024-02-22T02:12:59Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > So how would YOU describe Cartman? A villain? A hero? An anti-hero? Something else? A juvenile dick. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/190 "2024-02-22T05:10:33Z")
Looking back through this tread I’m shocked that **Vincenzo Coccotti** from _True Romance_ was overlooked. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/191 "2024-02-22T05:50:03Z")
Traditionally, **Eric Von Stroheim** was billed as “The Man You Love to Hate,” but the parts that stood the test of time: Sunset Boulevard and Grand Illusion, are sympathetic characters. **J. T. Walsh** played a prick better than any other actor of his generation. Everyone has had someone like his characters inflicted upon them at some point in their lives. **Cyril Cusak** , of Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Day of the Jackal, excelled at the banality of evil, his characters have so completely accepted their own sadism and corruption that they’ve grown bored of it. And, as a product of the Irish theatre, Cusak had a more natural acting style than the Shakespearian Brits who generally get all the attention for villainy, including his son-in-law Jeremy Irons. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/192 "2024-02-22T17:36:30Z")
Roy Batty of **Blade Runner.** Eminently quotable and not just for his tears-in-rain speech. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/193 "2024-02-22T20:18:16Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > **KNEEL!** Before the **GENIUS** of Victor Von Doom! I’ll second Victor von Doom. He always seemed a classy villain, and his armored costume had style. I’m convinced that George Lucas stole the image to create Darth Vader, just adding a Samurai _Kabuto_ helmet with a futuristic-styled faceplate. He already had the armor and the hooded cape. Not only that, Doom was portrayed as offering his enemies dinner more than once: > **[Come Dine With Doom](https://peerlesspower.blogspot.com/2016/03/come-dine-with-doom.html)** > > A blog about the titles, talent, and stories of Marvel Comics! > **[X-Men: Storm & Doctor Doom Just Recreated a Classic Marvel Moment](https://www.cbr.com/x-men-sword-doctor-doom-storm-dinner/)** > > Storm and Doctor Doom just shared a quiet evening together, and in the process recreated a classic storyline from X-Men history. Again, I suspect these gave Lucas the idea for the Dinner with Darth Vader scene in the Cloud City in \*_The Empire Strikes Back_. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/194 "2024-02-22T20:28:39Z")
For me, inhuman villains–be it the Borg, the Goblin King, or Dracula–are less scary than human villains. Especially villains that are governed by instinct or magical code or programming code can be cool, but they’re more like forces of nature than personally repugnant villains. So I’ll propose one I haven’t seen so far: Killgrave, from Jessica Jones. A child who was tormented and experimented on by terrible parents, he develops mind-control powers, and he uses them to rape and murder and enslave people around him with zero regard for their humanity. The casual violence he inflicts on those around him made my skin crawl in the best possible way. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/195 "2024-02-22T21:52:15Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > So I’ll propose one I haven’t seen so far: Killgrave, from Jessica Jones. A child who was tormented and experimented on by terrible parents, he develops mind-control powers, and he uses them to rape and murder and enslave people around him with zero regard for their humanity. The casual violence he inflicts on those around him made my skin crawl in the best possible way. IIRC, “My evil parents did medical experiments on me, and that’s why I’m this way,” was Killgrave’s self-serving spin on his childhood. While he did undergo experimental medical treatments, they were because he was born with a degenerative neurological disease, and they were trying to find a cure. As an aside, we learn in the TV show that Killgrave isn’t his real name, and his parents named him Kevin. I always wondered if that was a reference to the film, _We Need to Talk about Kevin_, about a mother dealing raising a kid whose a violent sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/196 "2024-02-22T22:08:53Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Roy Batty of **Blade Runner.** Eminently quotable and not just for his tears-in-rain speech. In what way is he even a villain? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/197 "2024-02-22T22:09:23Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > IIRC, “My evil parents did medical experiments on me, and that’s why I’m this way,” was Killgrave’s self-serving spin on his childhood. While he did undergo experimental medical treatments, they were because he was born with a degenerative neurological disease, and they were trying to find a cure. Reading the wiki, it sounds like you’re right. The experiments weren’t frivolous; they were life-saving. Nevertheless, they were torment, and his parents didn’t exactly win any Parents of the Year awards for how they connected with him during that process. Which isn’t to excuse him, obv; but it makes a character interesting if their motives for being awful have some underlying logic. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/198 "2024-02-22T22:21:32Z")
Baron Harkonnen from _Dune_. And all his creepy relatives, too. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/199 "2024-02-22T22:27:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In what way is he even a villain? Was it necessary to kill J.F. Sebastian or Hannibal Chew? ---
**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:** [February 22, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/200 "2024-02-22T22:40:04Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Reading the wiki, it sounds like you’re right. The experiments weren’t frivolous; they were life-saving. Nevertheless, they were torment, and his parents didn’t exactly win any Parents of the Year awards for how they connected with him during that process. My recollection is his parents were normal parents dealing with a very ill child, and Kilgrave’s complaints were just narcissism and self-justification, but I could be misremembering, or maybe it was deliberately ambiguous about where the truth was between their two versions. I do kind of prefer the “He had a loving and supportive family until he made his mother hold a hot iron to her face,” version, just because of how absolutely and completely evil it makes him. Plus, “Victims of abusers become abusers themselves,” is a tired and problematic trope, particularly in the context of a story about an abuse survivor. Making him evil _ex nihilo_ makes for a stronger story. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435.md?page=11)