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Still though, while I previously submitted ballots for their Top 100 TV Shows and their Top 100 Animated Characters list, a Villains list, was a little more complex. And by complex, I mean, vague. There weren't any clear guidelines to this list, and unlike their previous lists, this is a subject that encompassed the entirely of literature, and in the cases of some/many villains, the most notable ones often cross mediums. Characters may originate in a book or a comic, and then be brought onto TV or movie, and then be re-adapted and re-adapted, and, then you have to determine how critical the multiple adaptations are, or how about long-running characters from a particular franchise....- and what does a villain constitute, and how much literature should we consider? Plays, video games, music maybe? How about mythology, or the Bible, or you know, historical characters? And this doesn't even get into a more straightforward but more complex question, what even is a villain? I mean, we know what an antagonist, but does that necessarily that our protagonists is automatically the good guy? This was a difficult list to construct, not necessarily as difficult as the animated characters list, which I think was probably the hardest list I ever had to construct, well, at least until those Top Ten Worst TV Songs Lists I did earlier this year. That might've been easier to construct, but, that was, vastly more painful to do. I'm still entirely over that yet, but I did manage to pull it off, and like those other results, I've decided once again to reveal my ballots for GEEKCAST RADIO's poll. The voting has been closed, so I'm not effecting the results at all, and I have. like in previous years, gotten their bless. (You can find links to my previous lists, by clicking the "TOP TEN LISTS" button at the top of the page.)
But, for the sake of sanity, I decided to construct a few personal guidelines myself for this poll, and tried quite hard to follow them, so, before I start revealing my ballot, let me try to explain how I was thinking.
ARBITRARY RULE I MADE UP FOR MYSELF #1: I'm disqualifying characters who originated in religious or mythological texts.
Look, I'll be straight, there's a legitimate chance that I would've put God from the Bible number one the list. Or YWHW, or however that's pronounced, if I decided to include that. I partly, couldn't do that, as bad as he is in the Old Testament, he's been more influential outside of literature, but even still, I just didn't want to deal with that minefield. So, God's out, Judas Iscariot's out, Cain's out, Zeus is out; I'm eliminating anyone/anything that is now or ever was in a canonized religious text of some form or presumed form. So, yeah, for the few of you who think about it, that's how Loki got disqualified from the list; not that the villain from the "Thor" comics was getting in anyway. (Spoilers: I don't have a lot of comic book characters on this list. Sorry)
ARBITRARY RULE I MADE UP FOR MYSELF #2: I'm disallowing any character who was/is a real-life person from the list.
This does suck in certain instances, but I think it's a good solid rule in general. I mean, there are some amazing works of literature that are about real people, and many of them are about real-life villains, but it's too easy. It's also just too easy a cop out. If I include everybody who's ever even been apart of a story of some kind, I could easily just say that, "Well, all these books and movies took place during World War II, so I can put Adolf Hitler on the list, right!" I mean, sure, I technically could, or I could specify a particular portrayal of a real-life character from a particular text, but disqualify other portrayals of that character, but then I'd be considering how they'd rank along characters that have survived in like seven or eight different art mediums, and that's not fair, either way. I mean, sure this will probably eliminate a lot of great characters too, but I think it's for the best. So, I'm not gonna put, say Ed Gein on this list, because he was a real-life serial killer, but there's nothing against listing a character or two that might've influenced or inspired by Ed Gein, but was completely fictional from him. That would work. So, inspired by is okay, but no real-life people, for me.
... Well, mostly, no real life people. I do have sorta exceptions to that rule on this list, but I think I can justify them by claiming, that they're creation is so far outside or beyond the real-life character that I think I'm in the clear with including them, and I'll explain those exceptions I made when I get to them.
After that though, anything goes, essentially, after compiling a collection of about 400 or so villains from every piece of literature I can think of that I've at least seen, read, and/or are familiar with, etc. I have to figure what was most important. How destructive the villain was, how successful, how important? He sick-in-the-head, etc. And, sure, to varying degrees I considered all of those factors. That said, the big factor that I came to as a factor, was literary importance. "Well, that's great, how do I measure that?" you might be asking..... Well, I-, I did physically try to measure this for awhile to be honest, and that was just a nightmare. "So character A. was only in these mediums, but he was only prominent in this medium, but not as prominent in the medium as this character, who's only in one, but this medium isn't as important or influential as this one, plus this character here, has crossed into several mediums....- Blah! (Sigh) So, actually physically measuring this, didn't entirely, work, but I still used that as the base, and I think that idea of the literary importance of the characters, is what ultimately won me over as the main factor for who made the list and where. I mean, if this poll allows to incorporate characters from all forms of literature, than I think it's only fitting that literary value and importance be, maybe not the guaranteed main determining factor, but a big % of the scoring. And honestly, when I finally came to that conclusion, making this list got a lot easier for me. Last time, I felt compelled to make a blogpost of characters that were honorable mention, but for one reason or another didn't make the list; I think I'm just gonna include that right here instead. So, before we finally start counting down, here's some Honorable Mentions:
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Bluto-"Popeye"-Eh, I consider him more of an antagonist than a villain.
Hedra Carlson-"Single White Female"-Ooh, this would've been a good choice.
Pete Campbell-"Mad Men"-Oh he came close, but I suspect the worst of Pete Campbell might've been yet to come on that series.
Catwoman-"Batman"-Yeah, I did include a Batman villain, not her, but she was in consideration.
Diana Christensen-"Network"- Eh, she was just ambitious and doing her job, I can't fault her for everything, at least not in the movie. In real life, influence....
Sheriff Joe Cooper-"Killer Joe"- This was character #101. Ultimately, despite stage and screen relevance, I think he's too new and too reductive of similar characters.
Lancaster Dodd-"The Master"-I need to watch that again, but I had a choice of P.T. Anderson villains, I picked the other one.
Fred C. Doggs-"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"-This one gets forgotton a bit I think, but I don't know, this isn't a movie that's as interested in the villain as you'd think. Maybe he works better in the book.
Bill Driver-"Kill Bill Vol. 1"-Relax, I did find room for a Tarantino villain.
Auric Goldfinger-"Goldfinger"-I didn't have a Bond villain, but he was the closest.
Bert Gordon-"The Hustler"-Ooh, underrated villain, but I just couldn't find a spot.
Dorian Gray-"The Picture of Dorian Gray"-I struggled over this one, but ultimately, too self-torturing and reflective to include.
Grendel's Mother-"Beowulf"- Woody Allen's right, don't take any class that makes you read "Beowulf". The only problem is that you have to read it, to know why you don't need to read it.
Col. Nathan R. Jessup-"A Few Good Men"-Eh, he could've handled being on the list, but I just ran out of room.
Waldo Lydecker-"Laura"-I do love that name, Waldo Lydecker.
Tony Montana-"Scarface"-You know this film's a remake right? And I can't use the characters over different works excuse either, he was Tony Camonte in "...Shame of a Nation", which is the better movie btw.
Scarlet O'Hara-"Gone with the Wind"-Well, she kinda is the villain.
Rhoda Penmark-"The Bad Seed'- I did find a way to put two little kids on the list, but you'd think they're be more, wouldn't you?
Mr. Potter-"It's a Wonderful Life"-I have other greedy characters on here, and besides I tend to think George Bailey when I think of the film.
Carmen San Diego-"Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?"- I really should've been able to find an excuse to put her on the list. I mean, fuck, she steals landmarks, like big ones! BTW, sorry gamers, this was by far the closest I came to considering a video game character. The medium doesn't lend itself to compelling villains, I'm sorry, but it doesn't.
Chester Tate-"Soap"-I think sitcom villains do get a bad rap, I included a few, but this one's underrated, as is "Soap" in general.
Evelyn Ann Thompson-"The Shape of Things"-Oh, not enough of people have heard of her.
Tommy Udo-"Kiss of Death"-Nobody could play a villain like Richard Widmark. I do wish "Kiss of Death" was a better movie some days. Well, I guess both versions, but even the good ones has some annoying tendencies.
Frank Underwood-"House of Cards"-Eh, the Shakespeare character he's stealing everything from is on my list; I felt no need to include him.
Bishop Edvard Vergerus-"Fanny & Alexander"-Bergman's usually too complex for true villains, but I considered him for a bit.
General Zod-"Adventure Comics #263"-This was the closest a character from "Superman" came from making this list. No, I don't consider Lex Luthor a good villain, I genuinely didn't consider him, and you shouldn't either.
Zombies-Yeah, I'm delineating all Zombies in case some are more interesting, they're generally not compelling villains, even in good stories.
Alright that's enough. Let's get to the real list, at least the first half of it. Remember, this isn't the results of the Poll, this is just MY BALLOT, and MINE ALONE. Keep an eye out on the Geekcast Radio Network and listen in for when they reveal their final results.
TOP 100 VILLIANS (MY BALLOT)
So, I think my number 100 is probably gonna surprise people, because of how low I ranked him. I suspect that he's gonna show up on most ballots. I thought about ranking him higher, but the more I looked up the character, the less and less I felt like he deserved a spot.
100. Daniel Plainview ("There Will Be Blood", 2007)
The reason that Daniel Plainview kept falling lower and lower on my ballot, is that, the character's name in the original Upton Sinclair book, "Oil" was James Arnold Ross, and P.T. Anderson, his adaptation was a very loose one, and I would argue that his version of this character is more intriguing and frightening and not really related to the original one in any way. The original book, was more like "Written on the Wind", and-eh, instead Plainview is some great embellished capitalistic metaphor, and that's great. He's vicious and conniving and brilliant in ways that even we don't even realize until it's too late. He's the anti-American dream.
99. Marcy Rhoades D'Arcy ("Married... with Children", 1987)
I don't know if people really get just how messed up and twisted "Married... with Children" actually is. Especially at the time, when the "family sitcom" was so dominant and so prevalent, the fact that a show like "Married... with Children" existed seems ridiculous today. It was originally called "Not the Cosbys", but what it really was was, "Not the Bunkers". In any other series, Marcy would be the heroic character. The one you cheered for, the one who was trying to do everything to make the everything else better, but because the show is so twisted, she actually is the villain, because she the representative of everything in Al's world that's gone or is going astray, that she ends being the hypocrite antagonist villain, who you want to see, get expose and get her comeuppance and for her to realize how shallow and tunnel-visioned she really is.
98. Boris Badenov & Natasha Fatale (Rocky and His Friends aka "The Rocky and Show", 1959)
I think when, you can just reference the character's names and knows exactly who they are and what they're talking about, then you should at least be considered for this ballot. And when you say someone's a Boris & Natasha, you know exactly what that means. It's strange how they are so unanimous, of all the villains the Russians we've created during the Cold War, to think that it's a comedic parody couple that has survived the longest and continues to hold up, the strongest. And the most villainous. And the funny thing is, they were the Henchmen, they weren't even the big bad. Maybe that's what makes them so beloved. And despicable too. I mean, Fearless Leader wasn't the most competent villain either, but nobody remember him. He's not iconic likes these two are.
97. Estella Havisham ("Great Expectations", 1860)
Dickens didn't write a lot of straight villains, he always wrote characters instead of villains, really. It was almost like he emphasized with them, just as much as he did the young, poor narrators of his works. I could've picked a couple different character from "Great Expectations", Miss Havisham is probably the most likely selection for some, but in this complex story, twisted narrative web of lies and misgivings, I think I can argue that Estella Havisham is probably the most despicable of the group. She's just a cold-hearted bitch, sure she was brought up to be that way, but I mean, I don't really it would've made that much difference. Complete, manipulative, femme fatale even before there was such a thing. Part of it's clearly Pip's fault, he thinks she's one thing and she's clearly another, but she doesn't correct, and in fact, she keeps up the dream for him, as long as humanly possible, and by the end of the thing, she's a complete fake, who you couldn't trust if her tongue was notarized. And yep, she's still the ideal in Pip's eyes. She's the patron saint of sugar mamas.
96. King Joffrey Barantheon ("A Game of Thrones", 1996)
Yeah, if I remember your name in "Game of Thrones" that counts for something. I'm kidding, kinda. (Seriously, how do people keep track of this show?) There's always been young prick kings in history, and usually there's lots of eh-, places that do, historical has a lot of-eh, dark clouds come over them. Nowadays, they don't even have to be young, but yeah, the obnoxious, privileged, slimy ignorant twit who is clearly the last person in the world who should ever be in power, but he's rich and he ends up in power, and he can make everybody do whatever he wants, and he exploits it as much as he can. No wonder civilizations fall under people like him. Most other characters on that show, are practically interchangeable, he's one of the few that wasn't.
So, when I first got informed of this list, I was given a masterlist of suggestions of top villains from several different mediums. When they listed the villains, from this book, they listed the title character. Um, maybe this was me, but-eh, seriously? That'd be the last character I would've called a villain; and I'm sure Stephen King would think that too.
95. Margaret White ("Carrie", 1974)
The villain in "Carrie," is the mother. She's the one who's truly crazy insane, and is the reason why poor Carrie, is so inclusive that she ends up this weird outcast who's humiliated and made fun, and, you know, a little normalcy and self-assurance at home, and she might've laughed out the pig's blood. But not who she had as a mother; she had the mother from Hell. Psychotic Bible-thumper, who scorned the day that Carrie was born. Margaret White, is why there's a Carrie, who's a hero to every unpopular bullied kid in the world. But, how does the her story end, not at the school. at the end, where she take out the biggest bully of them all.
94. Max Cady ("The Executioners", 1957)
Max Cady's interesting, 'cause he's been a successful villain on screen twice now, in multiple decades, and his influence is still seen everywhere. He's a determined man, who thinks he's righteous in his actions. He was sent to jail, got out, and one-by-one starts stalking the attorney as his family who put him away. He's interesting, 'cause he's somebody who got educated in prison too, that's something, that people don't think about, but you have nothing but time so you learn as much as you can, and when you do, you use it on the outside world, and there's some people who probably don't need that kind of intelligence behind them. He's a terrifying figure, but he's also a seductive figure. Most villains, are fairly single-minded, but with his obsession is single-minded, his character isn't it's far more layered which makes him far more diabolical.
93. Gordon Gekko ("Wall Street", 1987)
Maybe it's that I'm an American that I end up with a lot Capitalist villains, but-eh, there are certain character who just hit ya right in the gut. Gordon Gekko, is one of the real great American characters, 'cause you know damn well, there's a bunch of yuppie mutherfuckers who took his character as inspiration, instead of what he really is, which is just, a crook that surrounds himself with a few expensive things, so he gets away with it, while everybody else goes to jail.
92. Fernand Mondego ("The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844)
He's not a villain who's name you remember, but you damn sure remember what he did. "The Count of Monte Cristo" is of course a revenge story, it's kinda the Max Cady story, but with the roles reversed. The guy goes to jail for years, and finally escapes and plots his revenge, and the revenge is the guy who put him there, 'cause without him, he was able to get ahead of everything and everyone. Steal his life essentially. You do have to think he was must've been pretty powerful to be able to do that to begin with, you know; the villain's big sin is that he was just an incredible jealous man.
91. Cody Jarrett ("White Heat", 1944)
Well, I needed to have one James Cagney role in here, and to me, this is the one that makes the most sense. And you Tony Soprano was the first gangster with a mom complex. Yeah, at least he was aware of it, and knew it was bad. Cody Jarrett, was born into crime, and the story is when his mother passes away, how he starts to lose it. He wasn't nice to begin with, but he was nice to his mother, so slowly but surely, the world starts to turn on him as the police are coming on, and when he blows himself, you know, "Made it Ma, Top of the World!", that's another example of the parents screwing up the kid. A classic psychopath who wishes he was a sociopath.
90. Louie De Palma ("Taxi", 1978)
I've known a lot of people, some of them on my recommendation, 'cause I've talked about how great is so much here, who've gone back and watched the series, and they love it, as they should. There's this one, that I think, almost goes over people's heads in the first episode. 'Cause the whole episode, Louie is in his cage, and he just insulting and abusing everybody that walks in there, and yelling into his microphone, and he's such a leach and finally, there's practically a huge ruckus going on, and he's gets out his cage, and then he steps down onto the floor, and everybody in the audience starts laughing, 'cause people didn't know who Danny DeVito was back then, so it's great subtle joke about just how vicious and despicable this guy is, with this big reveal that he's this little sprout of a man. Louie De Palma, is one of the truly great villains of television. He's got it all, he gets a little power and exploits, he's corrupt, he's a schemer, a conman, a complete sleeze..., there's very little to like about him, always taking a shortcut, manipulative as Hell. Yet, they kinda let him get away with it, even though, they absolutely shouldn't.
89. Lady Eboshi ("Princess Mononoke", 1997)
Lady Eboshi, is one of the more complex villains on my ballot. She's a villain in her actions, but it's not like she's an unreasonable villain. She's had a rough life, has moved forward, brought a lot of people with her. I mean, she's built on city, back when that wasn't done, and she did with rejects and other assorted criminals mostly old geishas and prostitutes. She's building a future, and for that, she has to destroy the past. So she's going up to fight against a literal god, and she's damned for it. Arrogant, ballsy, vengeful to some extent, but you know, that's what you expect when somebody who's out to fight nature. And continues to fight on after getting nearly destroyed. She's essentially out to end life as the world at that time knew it.
88. Roger 'Verbal' Kint ("The Usual Suspects", 1995)
I can see some people debating on whether or not this is a good and valid twist to the story. I've never actually thought much of the film myself, but, this is a great villain. The whole twist is that there's about him that indicates his real identity, nothing makes him seem plausible as Keyser Sosay, or that he knows anything other than the myths about him, that's why it's so shocking when we do finally realize we've been had. Of course, that makes perfect sense, because he's that violent and destructive and so major in the underworld, would have to be a perfect master of disguise to be able to get away with everything.
87. Griffin Mill ("The Player", 1988)
Griffin Mill is the character that everybody in Hollywood probably hates more than anybody else. It's really kinda shocking his character doesn't get brought up more. You don't think of him as the villain, because he's the protagonist, but consider what he does. He gets a death threat, ends up killing the person he thinks is sending the threat, but got that wrong, so he's blackmailed on that end, and then he decides to marry the guys' wife, and live happily ever after. And oh, by the way, he's a pitchman. No, worst, he's the guy who hears the pitches, but not the Producer, or anybody artistic or in power to make a movie. Part of me thinks these guys are the most disposable useless pieces of garbage in Hollywood, part of me thinks I should be applying for jobs like his 'cause I think I'd be good at it. The movie's opens with somebody calling him an asshole, and by the end, we realize he totally is, but he's the hero anyway. It's supposed to be this ruthless, cynical Hollywood satire, and it's not like it isn't but that doesn't mean it's inaccurate.
86. Anton Chigurh ("No Country for Old Men", 2005)
"No Country for Old Men" is interesting, in that in actually originated as a screenplay that Cormac McCarthy wrote, but then became a book originally instead, which is strange considering the book, which switches perspective every other chapter or two, but there's little description of Anton Chigurh in the book. It's not even really clear, for a long time, that he's an actual character, in either version, it's more like he's a presence who comes along. Like an angel of Death. Can you kill him, is he something that dies, is he a representation of death, is he death? How do you even pronounce his name? That don't really give you that much in the book either, there's little description of him, there's just what he does. And what he does, is frightening at best, and fatal at worst. You can run all you want, eventually he catches up to you.
85. Maj. Frank Burns ("MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors", 1968)
Oh God, where to even begin; he's got every base covered. I know, they made dimwitted, in the show, to kind him of tolerable, but he wasn't a fun dimwit, he was just a piece of shit. You know, in the novel, he's only a Captain, and he isn't a trained surgeon, but he still acts that way. Yeah, he's righteous, he's pious, he's arrogant, he's a hypocrite, and worst than all of that, he's supposed to be the guy, saving peoples' lives, and in many cases, he's putting their lives more at risk. Think about that, the next you watch one of the surgery scenes in the show. There's literally nothing about him that's likeable, like nothing redeemable about him. Maybe he might accidentally do the right thing for the wrong reasons, but even that's a stretch.
So, while I did include one Dickens, I didn't include any more. I know, the big one, everyone might be considering is Ebenezer Scrooge, and I thought about him, but, he doesn't do anything. In fact, he's a good guy by the end of the story. He doesn't like Christmas much, at least until the end, but he's not angry at the Holiday, he's just an old grouchy fart who gets visited by ghosts one day. So, I couldn't quite place him as a villain. Didn't feel right to not have a holiday villain though...
84. The Grinch ("The Hoobub and the Grinch", 1955)
So, I went with the one who tried to steal a holiday. The Grinch is the only character on this list that originated in a poem, one that was first published in a Redbook magazine. Sure, he realize the err of his ways, but really think about all he does and goes through. He down to a town, just to completely ruin everyone's Christmas, steal all the toys and decorations, lies right to a kid's face, and he steals from a whole town. Even if it's just a small town of woos, think of all the work that involves! And in one night! Santa, sure, but a Grinch; that's some next level hate. I bet if stopped and thought about it, after realizing how misguided it all was, everything he put into that, it would really shock him.
83. Gregory Anton ("Gaslight", 1944)
Do people even know what it means to gaslight somebody anymore? They damn sure used to. Similar to "The Count of Monte Cristo", I think more people remember what the villain did than they do, then who they were, and it's particularly confusing because the villain actually changes names several times, depending on the adaptation. The original play which is called "Gas Light" or "Angel Street" depending on side of the pond you're on,the main villain is named Jack Manningham, but in the British film adaptation, it's Paul Mallen, and then, the flm version most people know about, the George Cukor film, which Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for, his name is Gregory Anton, and is played by Charles Boyer. It doesn't really matter who the guys name is, what's important is that he marries the woman, and then begins to brainwash her into thinking she's crazy. It's so vicious, 'cause he's attacking her mind essentially. He's diluting this person. People forget that he's a jewel thief and that's why he's doing this, it's not even important that part. Honestly, it's the kind of thing you absolutely fear when somebody close to you gets married, that, is this guy/girl gonna take my friend and completely fuck them up in the head?! That's what so fucking frightening about this guy.
Speaking of brainwashing, what's worst the husband doing it, or the mother?
82. Mrs. Eleanor Iselin ("The Manchurian Candidate", 1959)
Well, this story suddenly seemed more relevant than it probably should be. You know, in the right hands, this could be a satire of the Cold War; there's a lot of winks and nods to the absurdity of it, and it takes some shots at McCarthyism, but really, what's so viscerally startling is how close it seems to happening. And Mrs. Iselin, this really disturbing mother character, who has this almost incestual relationship with him, but she's also this dominant, KGB handler, which is so much more fucked up than it seems. She raised him, to be captured and brainwashed to become a sleeper agent, that she controls, in order to orchestrate political assassinations.
81. Carmen (Carmen, 1845)
I think most people, even non-Opera people, are familiar enough with Carmen. The original story comes from a novella, and it's-, it's no version is it really good, but it's basically the first modern-day femme fatale trope. She's the original heartless who people fall in love with, and she screws them over. You say she's a gypsy...- got I can't believe I just made that reference, but it really doesn't make sense, unless she just is, some kind of otherworldly witch-like character, who will just swoop in steal your man and destroy them. She seems like a folk tale more than a real person; I guess you can argue that's why it's so powerful as the kind of story that's supposed to scare men straight or something, In any other sense of the story she seems to passive to be this destructive. She's almost the Sirens meets Helen of Troy to men everywhere, and rightly or wrongly that's-a that's a myth that's held some water.
So I thought I did a pretty good job with my Top 100 Animated Characters Poll last year, but-eh, I do feel like after reflecting on it, that I made one, pretty bad mistake and left somebody off who should've been on there. I'm not making that mistake again.
80. Elmer Fudd ("Elmer's Candid Camera", 1940)
He doesn't always go hunting rabbits; I know it seems that way sometimes, but really it's how he does it so mindlessly that's fascinating. Why does he hunt rabbits? I don't think he even knows. He seems willing to shoot a duck when he's told it's duck-hunting season, he often seems sorry when the animal he hunts seems dead, which is strange, like he isn't aware of that being the results of rabbit hunting. I mean, he never does catch Bugs, but still, like, it's almost like he's hypnotized to hunt, without asking if he wants to or even if he likes it. It's pretty fascinating really, he never thinks ahead, he just acts before realizing how things could turn out. That's not only why you want to see him get his comeuppance, it's why it's so easy to deceive and trick him.
79. SS Col. Hans Landa ("Inglourious Basterds", 2009)
Well, I had to have a Nazi on here, and he's definitely the most interesting fictional Nazi. Hans Landa's a fascinating figure. He's not your typical Nazi, he's a detective essentially. He knows how to read people, and situations, he's smarter than those around him, both on his side and the opposite side, and he knows it. He recognizes all the angles to play, and how to play them, and he's so meticulously gleeful about it. He's eccentric, you don't eccentric Nazis, even in movies, they're all, very buttoned, very serious about their work, which does make sense, because it was Hitler who was the artistic flashy, sociopathic one, and they were his followers, but here, he's the charismatic one, the eccentric, he's the one who knows how to chew on the scenery, sometimes literally. That's how I want my sociopathic Nazis, at least when Tarantino creates them.
78. Napoleon ("Animal Farm", 1945)
Won't be the only George Orwell character, but yeah, Napoleon, you're typical Stalinesque dictator in pig form. So, you're typical Stalinesque dictator I guess."Animal Farm", is of course, based on the Russian Revolution, is some would argue it's a parable, some would call it a satire, whatever it is, it's remained powerful to this day. Orwell, is a strange creature; I've never really been the biggest fan, but he is a great writer, and he takes such a strange and unique perspective on things; we're still kinda catching to him I feel in some ways. We're getting, there, but it's still such a leap. There's been animals signifiers for humans before, long before Thomas Nast even, but set a whole farm parable like that. And he does manage to create a sickening and viciously evil and compelling villains.
77. Noah Cross ("Chinatown", 1974)
There's a lot of "Chinatown", that's directly influenced by "Oedipus Rex", some are clearly more obvious than other, and it's not a direct retelling, but it's influence, is clearly all over the story. One thing that original play doesn't have, that "Chinatown" improves upon, is that it has a villain. "Oedipus" is Greek tragedy, the villain is destiny, it's not compelling really. "Chinatown", there's clearly this God-like character, Noah Cross, who, rapes his daughter, to give birth to another, and on top of that, he control the water in Southern California, so the guy is absolutely all-powerful and believes he can get away with anything, and he because it's a Roman Polanski movie, he does. To us, it's fatal and destiny, to him, he's just moving around the people like pawns on a chessboard.
76. Khan Noonien Singh ("Star Trek", 1967)
I think it only appropriate for there to be a "Star Trek" villain or two. That said, it's always a been surprising to me that Khan, has survived as such an integral and memorable character in the "Star Trek" universe, in all other aspects, he's very much a classical literary villains. He's a genetically modified superhuman from another time and place, and yet he's also obsessed with revenge over his wife's death, something that seems far more human. There's a Captain Ahab quality to him, and that's good, in of itself, but it does seem odd in hindsight for "Star Trek", a show that's at it's best when it was about the future, but I guess that conflict in of itself actually does work as a strength. That's the thing, he is essentially a terrorist, and despite what we'd like to believe, most people become terrorists when something emotional gets to them and they feel like there's no other option, which actually parallels great with Spock, who does his best to keep emotions at bay. That's the trick to "The Wrath of Khan", it's not Khan vs. Kirk, it's Khan vs. Spock, for the soul of Kirk
75. Monseigneur Claude Frollo ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame", 1831)
Oh boy, we're getting into religious villains now. Archdeacon Frollo, in the novel, is actually more sympathetic than most later interpretations of the character, but he's still the main villain. He raises Quasimodo and is actually fairly friendly and compassionate in raising, which is actually what makes his downfall so much worst. He's a fatalist, he believes in inevitability, but he also studies alchemy. He's also celibate, but deeply in love with Esmerelda, which then means she must be a devil tempting him, which he gives into, even though she didn't say he could. And now he wants her handed and begins to orchestrate it, which annoys Quasimodo...- there's a lot of fucked up, going on in his mind, and the thing is, he's in a position of power, so those conflicting thoughts, eh, they begin to really distort, or maybe show the person's true colors.
74. Cesar Soubeyran dit Le Papet ("L'eau des Collines" aka "The Water on the Hills", 1952)
Marcel Pagnot's "L'eau des Collines", was partially made into a film by Pagnol, strangely, eh, over ten years before the novel was actually published, and of course the novel itself, was the inspired for the Claude Berri movies, "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources". Cesar Soubeyran, seems like, your typical old patriarch of a farming community and the story is a fairly laborious, slow tale, but that's actually what makes the tale so much more vicious than that. It's actually a Capitalist parable, 'cause Cesar decides to plug up a spring at a neighbor's residence, an out-of-towner who inherited the land and wants to begin farming, not realizing that the rain doesn't fall there and he doesn't about the spring. He literally, kills the competition by making him, work himself to death, so he can buy the land and take it over for his own goals. That alone would be good enough for this list, the fact that he would undertake such a scheme of, what is essentially corporate espionage and terrorism, for years, but then, there's this other element to his character, that plays out in the second part of the story, that twists this morality tale into Greek tragedy. Normally, this is the kind of villainy that's fought over millions or billions of dollars or some ridiculously expensive project, this was a fight over flowers inevitably. This is one villain, who's comeuppance, is so worth the wait.
73. Marquise de Merteuil ("Dangerous Liaisons", 1782)
It is so strange that this book, that's essentially a collection of letters written from and between certain characters, has been adapted like hundreds of times over the years and re-imagined and re-conceptualized, etc. On the level, it's a whole politically-motivate scandal tale, on the other, it's two characters, playing a game with other peoples' lives, using sex, essentially as a weapon, and even then, it's the Marquise de Merteuil character, the woman, who's constantly coersing others to do their work through seduction. I've honestly never figured what the hell to make of, any version of this story, other than basically that, it's a story of rich elite bitch who's so decadent and excessive, and is willing to use people and sex, and both to get what she wants, and-, yeah, it's basically seems likea game to her more than anything, which makes ever more villainous, 'cause it's pettiness that she does this for.
72. Rev. Harry Powell ("The Night of the Hunter", 1953)
"The old story of right hand, left hand...., the ultimate false prophet in gothic literature. I think this is kinda what I consider my Mark Twain entry; the story itself feels very Huckleberry Finn, but he never created a truly memorable villain, but Davis Gubb's creation of Harry Powell, this former criminal who cons the town, is such a classic villains. Anybody that's ever seen the Charles Laughton, just sorta gets sucked into him. You so, get sucked into him, and how many times, have we seen the "LOVE" and "HATE on the knuckles, ever since, it's still referenced all the time. He cons his way into his mother's life, kills her, the kids start escaping, and he's after them, and all the time, everybody just believes him, 'cause he's a man of God. The real disturbing thing, is just how easy it was for him, to trick everyone. The kids saw through it, right away, the adults, just were suckers. It's so bizarre.
From false prophets to the patron saint of scorned women everywhere, at least until Alanis Morissette came alone.
71. Alex Forrest ("Fatal Attraction", 1987)
Originally based on a 1980 British TV movie, "Fatal Attraction" I guess you could argue, dates back earlier to something like "Play Misty for Me", but I don't think the Mistress from Hell trope was ever really fully defined by a character 'til Alex Forrest. This pretty much became the cautionary tale for cheating husbands forever afterwards. She's the one you think about. She's the literal wrong person to fuck with. It's the classic trait, of one thinks it's one thing, and the other thinks it's the other, but then the crazy ex-girlfriend, boils the rabbit and stalks the family, and whatnot.It's such a beautiful nightmare, in concept at least. I don't know if the movie ever fully works, but it works emotionally, and that's all that really matters.
70. MacBeth ("The Tragedy of MacBeth", 1606?)
I think most like to remember how Lady MacBeth is the villain of, "MacBeth", and I'm not saying she's not, spoiler warning, she might show up later, but just because there's a woman behind the throne, doesn't mean that the man in the throne isn't a villain himself. Even after she dies, he's still out there, causing wreckage, and falling into his delusions and nightmares, completely convinced that he will somehow survive all the destruction around him, because some witches told him one time. This is another crazy man in power, who's losing his mind, and seeing ghosts everywhere, as he tries to dilute himself into believing his kingdom is still in power. He causes just as much death and damage in the play as she does, if not moreso.
There's some scholars that point to MacBeth being a real historical figure, and that Shakespeare was influenced heavily by a famous British historical book called the "Hollinshed's Chronicles", which is also noted as a possible source for several of Shakespeare's work in fact, but that said, there's also clearly several difference he made to the character, that trying to even compare the real life character to the fantastical one is almost Quixotic pursuit and it won't be the only time, we'll have to struggle with that regarding a Shakespearean character on the list. The next character however, isn't based on a real life person, so far as anybody can tell, but it's origins is far more difficult to pinpoint. Some claim it's originally Celtic or Welsh, in origin, but I think the one most modern scholars think about is actually is the German version, so we're gonna go with that one. Won't be the last time the Brothers Grimm show up either.
69. The Evil Queen (German Fairy Tale, "Little Snow White", 1812)
Part of me is amazed at just how flexible this character has been over time. Which is weird, considering how most interpretations of this character, generally focus on her vanity. In both senses, ironically. There's other things at play though, she's jealous of her daughter/stepdaughter, there's also
a political portion behind it. She's a Queen, who banished her next in line, and sent people to kill her. And yet, the thing most people find fascinating is how she's obsessed with being beautiful. Ironically that does make sense, because the other reasons she does what she does are actually kind logical, but she's prettier than she is, is, most definitely not a reasonable excuse. "She's prettier and nicer than me! Fuck this bitch, let's destroy her!" That's her perspective essentially, which is why we find particularly heinous; it's not just the fact that she puts beauty before anything else, it's that she ever thought she was actually a good person to begin with.
68. Eddie Haskell ("Leave It to Beaver", 1957)
"Gee, Mrs. Cleaver, you're looking really lovely today." Do people even remember these days what it means to call somebody an Eddie Haskell? It's not just two-faced, it's a particular kind of being two-faced. This weasel-y kind, where you're ridiculous polite to people in power, usually all adults, like the perfect good-natured, well-groomed kid, and then, behind their backs, you're the piece of shit who causes everybody to get into trouble. He's the smart-mouth sycophant, that's the type. That's not an idealized '50s thing, that's the ultimate asshole thing. That goes in any decade, kids who do that kind of shit are the fucking worst. Even worst than the adults who do it sometimes. The really nice guy who tries to sell you a bridge to nowhere to help push you off and claim they tried to save you after you fell. That kind of piece of no-good piece of shit. Even among con men, that kind of conning I'm sure pisses them off.
67. Mark Lewis ("Peeping Tom", 1960)
Boy, a camera can be a deadly weapon, can't it? "Peeping Tom" didn't get the appreciation it deserved at the time, but it pretty much ended Michael Powell's career, it caught on years later, and no is considered a classic early slasher thriller. It's another one, where we remember how the villain acted, more than the villain himself, and he's a creepy little guy. He's Mark Lewis, as innocuous a name you can come up with, and all he does is kill women, by photographing them to death. He kills with the camera, to capture them at the moment of their death. So he can rewatch it and see life, coming out of somebody. I'm not sure how he'd have reacted to some of the dark web internet stuff, today, and maybe him doing this back then was preferable, but it's still.... This probably has a lot more effect to people in the film industry, 'cause subliminally the subtext is pretty obvious, We photograph and direct the image, and we can chose to have you killed in the frame, if we wanted to, but you know, most of us, do it outside the frame and that's for the best.
66. The Phantom ("The Phantom of the Opera", 1909)
I gotta be honest here, I've never really understood why "The Phantom of the Opera" has survived this long and remained so popular, in any form, really. It's a weird character, 'cause he's a ghost, he's a person, he's a romantic, yet he's a monster, and it's all based around this opera house. I guess people, see him as tortured; I never saw him that way. I always thought he was lucky. He lived in a theater, he had some sway over the productions, he dates the lead actress, lives in a cool underground cave under the theater..., fine, he's deformed a bit; I thought he would've overcome that. Nothing worth breaking a chandelier for. Either way, it seems to be the modern Beauty and the Beast horror story for a lot of people, so I guess there's something effective about him for some.
65. Bruno Anthony ("Strangers on a Train", 1950)
Great villain, Bruno Anthony, of "Strangers on a Train". This is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, who most famously wrote the Tom Ripley novels, and Bruno Anthony is kinda Ripley in reverse. He not so much fascinated by humanity, but he is intrigued in how he can manipulate people. He's completely heartless. He will stick to the lie, even in the face of death. And the end of the Hitchcock, he has the evidence in his possession, as he's dying, after he's been caught, after he throw off a kid off a runaway merry-go-round, never that he killed a guy's wife, expected him to reciprocate; it's take a special kind of sickness to deny everything and stick to the lie, even at the end. Especially back when everybody would confess at the end, Bruno Anthony, always struck me as fascinating, 'cause his actions are so disturbing all you want to do is ask why? What's so wrong with his life that he'd rather go through a charade like that.
64. C. Montgomery Burns ("The Simpsons", 1989)
Let's face it, the longer one goes on running a town's energy on nuclear power in this day and age, he pretty much deserves to be on the list. I suspect that most people would probably rank Sideshow Bob as the ultimate "Simpsons" villain. Hmm. I guess so, but he's really only after Bart. He's got crazy schemes and shit, but he's after somebody. Montgomery Burns is just a greedy old Capitalist bastard who won't die. And he's too old and powerful to ever stop. You can't even shoot him; he still survives. Seriously, this guy came up with an idea to block out the Sun, so that more people would need to use electricity and power during the day, so he could charge them more and would become richer. I mean, fuck! That's, that's a villain move you don't see. I'm gonna fight the Sun! Daylight! Wow has he stayed alive all this time. I mean, even for a cartoon character, he still like five years past when he probably should've keeled over, you know?
63. The Hag aka The Witch (German folklore, "Hansel & Gretel", 1812)
Don't take candy from strangers, I guess? No wonder how you look at "Hansel & Gretel", or any version of the story really, it's fairly gruesome and disturbing. The kids are in the woods because they're parents are throwing them away, 'cause they eat too much. There's a lot of evil characters in this; they don't have a good home to go back to. So, you already think the story's kinda awful, but you find this old woman with a house made out of candy and gingerbread and you think, "Oh, well, that's nice. but then you think for a second, and realize, "Wait, why didn't she eat the candy," and then, "Oh, shit! This is bad." I guess it's the first known story, that's sorta consider to be like a PSA propaganda of it's time, and that's probably why it works well. It gets ingrained in ya, don't trust strangers. They might like to eat kids.
62. Tony Soprano ("The Sopranos", 1999)
I saw on a few lists that I looked up, try to consider Tony's mother Livia Soprano to be the true villain, and I don't think that's necessarily the worst analysis of the show, she was definitely a piece of work, but I think that just because a gangster is observant enough to realize that he needs therapy, doesn't mean that we should let him off the hook. He's a mafioso, he's a crime boss, and highly influential within the group, and he's climbing the ladder up. Just because he's a nice guy trying to get through the day, doesn't really change that. He treats his family horribly. Cheats on his wife all the time, divorces him, the kids are a mess, he barely notices, his family's fucked up. He makes the strippers he hires at his club have sex with him to keep working. He killed people, including close friends, he's had others killed, just because you relate to him, and you understand him, doesn't really excuse the fact that, he's still a mobster. Bad things happen to people around him, and perhaps bad things happen to him.
61. Regan MacNeil ("The Exorcist", 1971)
It's not Regan's fault that she's on this list, but you gotta believe that, once you've been possessed by Satan, then you're pretty much, no pun intended, scarred for life. "The Exorcist", today, I think, is so ingrained into the culture, people sometimes go back and look at it and not really find it as traumatizing or shocking as people think it's supposed to be, but I think that's only because we're so much more familiar and educated about demonic possession because of "The Exorcist". It's cliche now, but before then, it wasn't a common thing in horror or to the general public. The thing that's the most scary really, is why her? It seems, in all other aspects, completely random that she was the one who became possessed, and therefore, it could happen to anybody.
60. Phyllis Dietrichsen ("Double Indemnity", 1944)
They remember Dashiell Hammett, they remember Raymond Chandler, they don't always remember James M. Cain, the third of the great hard-boiled detective crime novelists of the first half of the 20th Century, which is a bit weird, 'cause he actually created the most memorable villain of the bunch. She's named Phyllis Nirdinger in the novella, "Double Indemnity", but arguably the best femme fatale of all-time is Phyllis Dietrichsen in the Billy Wilder film. She doesn't even really do much, she just steps out onto the landing wearing a towel and a anklet, and suddenly he's killing a husband for her, and once the insurance money comes in, they're skipping town. And that's it, like, you're dead. That's a femme fatale. It doesn't even make sense, it's not like she knew he was even coming. She must've just been preparing for any guy to come around, in a towel?
59. Norma Desmond ("Sunset Boulevard", 1950)
From one Billy Wilder to another. "Sunset Blvd", is an amazing film. It's a thriller, it's a film noir, it's a black comedy, it's a Hollywood satire, there's so much within the movie that's interesting, but the real key is Norma Desmond. This aging silent movie star who believes her next big break is around the corner, and has secluded herself into this bizarre decaying mansion, and she basically kidnaps this poor writer, I mean she blackmails him really, but she makes him write this ridiculous script for her,...- she's basically trying to Stockholm Syndrome the guy, and when it doesn't work, she kills him, and by that point, she believes she's in a movie. She's almost inhuman at that point. It's really, structural, almost like an alien invasion story, and she's the alien.
Okay, now we're getting to, one of the big ones I referenced as being a pseudo "Exception" to the "real person" stipulation I gave myself. Um,... just trust me on this one though, he belongs on the list.
58. Vince McMahon ("World Wide Wrestling Federeration: All-Star Wrestling", 1971)
Despite my temptation, I'm listing the character of Vince McMahon, or as he likes to called, Mr. McMahon, as oppose to the real guy. And I promise this is the only professional wrestling personality on the list..., but considering everything, he needs to be on the list. He's the greatest villains the industry's ever had. The boss you hated, 'cause you knew you couldn't trust. You saw in real life, that you couldn't trust, and he was such a prick, he put that behind-the-scenes crap onto the main show and told you you couldn't trust him, and then he just becomes that hated guy, who, you know you can't get rid of, 'cause he owns everything. You can try to beat him up, but he'd just fire you. Unless, you were so big and important to his company, that he couldn't fire you quite yet. That's a bizarre dynamic, but a fascinating dynamic. He was the representative of every boss you absolutely wanted to kill, and occasionally the guy who represented the everyman like us would be able to destroy him and nothing would happen to him. At least at that moment, maybe not the next.
57. The Joker ("Batman", 1940)
When it comes to comic book villains, the problem is that most of them, aren't as interesting or as iconic as the superhero. In some cases, they're barely relevant or comparable to each other, really. "Batman" is strangely the one franchise that's managed to pull this off. It's strange, 'cause Batman is by far the most interesting of the superheroes, and yet there's a long list of memorable and interesting supervillains, but The Joker, no matter the era, no matter the perspective, is always fascinating, and the more you go through him, and the more interesting layers and levels to him there are. He's only comic book character I included, because there's so much that has happened with him, and so much you can do with him, and he'd still be The Joker. He can be serious, he can be a joke; he's just the best comic book super villain, arguably the best comic book character, maybe behind Batman.
56. Asami Yamazaki ("Audition", 1997)
So, Alex Forrest, was just obsessed, Asama Yamazaki, um, she's not somebody who's seduced, she's a seductress, and then she kills people. "Audition", I think it's still the best Asia Extreme movie, and it's a film, that's "Blue Velvet"-ish in it's execution and tone, and it's this disturbing but hopeful charming tale of a guy, holding an "audition" an he finds this charming but quirky girl. And they start dating and we think she's a troubling but intriguing young woman and then, suddenly, she's eh, the psycho killer bitch from Hell. She's sadistic, she's a torturer, she's a pissed off girl who's been scorned one too many times and now she's the dungeonmaster and torturer. She's a black widow, disguised as a ladybug. One foot at a time, she's chomping you down. Deeper, deeper deeper.
55. Hans Beckert ("M", 1931)
Ooh, the whistling pedophile, Hans Beckert. Peter Lorre, played a lot of great villains. The first one he become famous for, was his best, and that's Hans Beckert in Fritz Lang's "M". It's interesting 'cause he was a tortured character, who knew what he was doing was bad, but he couldn't stop himself. Strangely he rarely in the movie, the movie is more about the attempts to capture him, as he's riled up the neighborhood as more and more kids become missing and dead. And it's really kinda interesting how the movie, is a man vs. society film, 'cause at the end of the movie, he's on trial that's set by the underworld, who've captured him before the police have, and you feel sympathy for him. Especially with German Expressionism, really foreshadowing a lot of the Nazi regime to come. But still, you can only feel so sorry for the guy.
54. Sweeney Todd ("The String of Pearls: A Romance", 1946)
"Sweeney Todd" originated from a penny dreadful which was basically what was considered, the classic pulps of that time period, and for the most part, was mostly regarded as an urban legend moreso than a story for awhile, but eventually, he became quite influential in literature and kept popping up with new directions every time, the best and most famous of which is the Sondheim musical, but's he's been a great staple of horror for awhile now. This is a great example of a character, who continually evolved over time. Sometimes he's the bad guy, sometimes he's the hero, there's a lot of interpretations of him. I'm kinda amazed, that there aren't more barber horror characters out there.
Back then, some of them were like the doctors of the time too. Bloodletting was still a thing at that time. They got your neck in a precarious position and a very sharp blade. I'm amazed more people weren't made into meat pies.
53. The One-Armed Man ("The Fugitive", 1963)
So before there were all these "Twin Peaks" and "The Killing" and even "The Prisoner", there was "The Fugitive", which was the first real television show that centered around the search for a killer, over the series. That killer, was mostly for a mysterious figure named "The One-Armed Man". This was the first great mysterious elusive television villain character that you built up over time, and waited for to find out about. We're used to characters like that now, who get revealed to us over time, or that we wait for to finally get revealed after being inferred early on, but that wasn't a normal thing for television before "The Fugitive", and half-the-time that happens now, it's when the hero is moreof anti-hero. "The Fugitive" is a story about a wronged man, searching for the murderer of his wife. So, it's an elusive character that's a true villain. He's a ghost, who may or may not even be real; we don't even know if he has a real name. He's the inspiration for a lot of great villains that came later, and he's still a great villain over multiple pieces of media.
52. Captain Ahab ("Moby Dick", 1851)
Hubris, obsession, fanaticism, puts others in harm's way for his own selfish revenge. They say "Mody Dick", is one three novels that works on all levels of conflict, along with, "Crime & Punishment" and "Madame Bovary". I don't know if I completely buy that, anymore at least, but we've all gone after the white whale, before. This was another one on the masterlist that surprised, where they listed the whale; the whale remember that he broke off somebody's leg. It's Ahab, who seeking punishment and revenge. A dangerous, deadly mission in the Ocean, with others' lives at stake, for a particular whale. This was the 1800s, they were lucky to find a whale. He's that great heroic, 'who seems great and understanding and then you realize, way too late, just how far gone he is, and suddenly you're following a crazy man. He's one of the first great American literary characters, who you can distinctly list, among the great classic literary characters in the West. He's Shakespearean, he's Greek tragedy, there's some Dickensian obsession to him; there's a lot to the guy.
51. Dr. Zachary Smith ("Lost in Space", 1965)
Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of cowards on this list. You'd think there'd be more. Frank Burns, yeah, he's a bit of a coward, but Dr. Smith is a really despicable coward. "Lost in Space", actually originated as a comic called "The Space Family Robinson", and it was a complete derivative of the "Swiss Family Robinson," it wasn't a great comic or even a great show, but when the rights got bought and it was turned into "Lost in Space" on television, one of the two big characters they added, was Robbie the Robot, who was pretty famous at that point, and they created the character of Dr. Smith, the guy who sabotaged the mission to begin with. He's supposed to be a prisoner; he is a terrorist after all, but it does make sense, after all that time to let him free a bit, he's not escaping onto a distant planet anywhere or something, so they bring him along on missions and whatnot. Then, however he befriends the kid but he does it, for protection from the kid and the robot. He's a terrorist, he's a scumbag, he's may be a skilled doctor, but he's a fucking coward most of all. He hides behind a kid for fuck's sake to stay alive. He's Lucy with the football to him, but at least Lucy was just hurting and teasing Charlie Brown, she wasn't using him as a human shield. He might be the most despicably cowardice villain in all of literature, when you really think about and analyze the long game of what he was doing and trying to do, underneath that charisma and flamboyance, he's a true piece of scum.
He's only #51 here though. For the rest of the list, come back later for PART II of my Geekcast Radio Network's Top 100 Villains ballot, and see where you're favorite, or best, or least favorite, or most hated villain(s) are. Or aren't, maybe I missed them. Thanks again
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