# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/41 "2023-07-02T17:58:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Ba’al from Stargate SG-1 He is one of the two I first thought of when I saw this thread last night. The other was Crowley from _Supernatural_. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/42 "2023-07-02T18:04:39Z")
Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy’s _Blood Meridien_. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/43 "2023-07-02T18:09:51Z")
I’m torn between Darth Vader and HAL. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/44 "2023-07-02T18:15:48Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Anton Chigurh. Good one. He still haunts my nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/45 "2023-07-02T18:17:30Z")
Too sedentary (and especially obese) and you risk a fatty, greasy liver. Most unappetizing. And cirrhotic livers would be tough and chewy.\* \*I’ve seen and handled so many human livers on the job that whatever tiny appeal liver might once have had as food dissipated long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/46 "2023-07-02T18:50:25Z")
Some of the Dickensian villains are excellently bad: Uriah Heep (from David Copperfield, 1935 movie played by Roland Young, otherwise known for comedy); Miss Havisham (from Great Expectations); Quilp (from The Old Curiosity Shop); and uncle Ralph Nickleby (from Nicholas Nickleby) are among the better known ones. They each go to their satisfying reward, as well. To quote Miss Prism, “The good end happily, the bad unhappily; that is what ‘fiction’ means.” ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/47 "2023-07-02T18:50:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy’s _Blood Meridien_. Great one. I’ll nominate the Borg. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/48 "2023-07-02T18:52:31Z")
**KNEEL!** Before the **GENIUS** of Victor Von Doom! ---
**Author:** ![gre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@gre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gre)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/49 "2023-07-02T21:01:36Z")
I despise all villains unless it’s played very comedically, and they’d better still get their ass handed to them by the end. I’ve experienced too much villainy in ordinary life. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/50 "2023-07-02T21:35:13Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Some of the Dickensian villains are excellently bad: And Scrooge, of course, til he sees the light. How about Sydney Greenstreet in the Bogart films? And Old Man Weaver, on the Andy Griffith Show. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/51 "2023-07-02T21:37:44Z")
> [@Jaycat.again](#): > > And Old Man Weaver, on the Andy Griffith Show. Wasn’t he the same guy as Homer Bedloe on _ **Petticoat Junction** _? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/52 "2023-07-02T21:47:35Z")
No Disney villains? Ursula from _The Little Mermaid_. Dr. Facilier from _The Princess and the Frog_. ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/53 "2023-07-02T21:54:12Z")
J.R. Ewing ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/54 "2023-07-02T21:58:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m torn between Darth Vader and HAL. HAL had a better arc and was only ever guided by a desire to carry out the mission. He could be ruthless, yes, but not heartless. I think that’s important. He didn’t go any harder on anyone than he absolutely needed to. He never force choked anyone out of spite, or took a man by the throat, held him up in the air, and snapped his neck for the sheer theater of it. It was just business with HAL, and in the end, who’s to say he wasn’t right? The mission was too important to be jeopardized, after all. But Vader? Ruthless murderer of younglings and juvenile sandpeople, complicit in genocide on a planetary scale. Oh, and he killed a Anakin Skywalker, too, for whatever that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/55 "2023-07-02T22:04:23Z")
I’m torn. Most of my favorite villains are probably anti-heroes at worst: fundamentally, they’re the hero from a different point of view, and often, a not incorrect one. Two that fall into this category are Magneto (was amazed he hadn’t been mentioned yet), and Scorpius (from Farscape). But it seems the intent is to avoid villains that are arguably doing the right things, even if possibly in the wrong way. I generally find that my favorite villains that _don’t_ fit the above categories are the ones that get the evil done entirely through the actions of other, often well-meaning people. They just… push, and the dominos fall, to ever greater consequences to all involved. So, my two favorites are from Stephen King works: Randall Flag and (especially) Leland Gaunt. Randall pushes far harder, and of course, the movie portrayal by Max von Sydow of Gaunt makes that specific appearance an 11/10 for me. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/56 "2023-07-02T22:11:09Z")
Moriarty, in the versions where she turns out to be a “she” and the love/temptress of Sherlock’s life. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/57 "2023-07-02T22:18:39Z")
Fair enough. Vetinari is written as an antagonist but seen by others as a villain. How about Lionel Luthor (a.k.a. "The Magnificent Bastard) from Smallville? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/58 "2023-07-02T22:19:29Z")
I like scenery-chewing satanic figures, like Tim Curry in _Legend_, or Al Pacino in _The Devil’s Advocate_. On a more human scale, King Richard III, or various Alan Rickman characters. Anthony Zerbe in _Omega Man_ or _Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park_. Jeremy Irons in the first _Dungeons & Dragons_ movie. Heath Ledger as the Joker. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/59 "2023-07-02T23:12:25Z")
Phillip & Elizabeth Jennings from _The Americans_ . So many groovy disguises and you have to remind yourself constantly that they are ,in fact, very bad people. Phillip is especially charming with his line dancing … ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435/60 "2023-07-02T23:25:01Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Nazis. Illinois Nazis. I _hate_ Illinois Nazis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-your-favorite-villain/986435.md?page=4)