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My Favorite Villains


Ranzo

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Villains have always fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was the way they operated, the way they moved. Their goals always so divergent from the heroes or so eerily similar that it made you question who you were really rooting for. Almost every story has em' or inserts something to take their place, such as society, nature etc. A villain right can give you someone to really root against, or for if you are so inclined. They can drive the story along like no other and pull the hero into the most strenuous and exacting endeavors. A villain done wrong however, can have all the impact of a wet fart in a scorching plain. What makes a good villain? I think a good villain is made up of five things appearance, presence, voice, power, and goal. I think these are essential for a villain to work in a story. Without these traits you might as well just drag up from the earth your cliche mustache twirling villain and prop him up for all to see. So without further ado here are my favorite villains and why. This isn't a comprehensive list and the order is nonessential.

1. Slade

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/6/6d/Slade_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20051110185652

Slade was a incredible villain and he is essential to why I still count Teen Titans as one of my favorite shows. He had everything I wanted in a villain. What I most loved about him was voice, power, and presence. First off was his voice, Ron Perlman did a amazing job with the voice of Slade. He lent Slade a voice of menace and absolute confidence that broke time and time again upon the Titans backs. His power to was impressive. He could go toe to toe with any of the Titans and beat them and it took all of their power to stop them. His presence was also incredible he dominated every single scene that he was in without question.

2. The Joker

https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/batman-the-animated-series-joker-1.jpg

Joker is the perfect villain and I think he shines the brightest in the animated series. He is a perfect counter to Batman in every way and is the absolute opposite of everything that he wants to protect. I like the animated Joker the best simply because of Mark Hamil. I truly believe that voicing him is the best thing that he has ever done.

3. Vernon Schillinger (OZ)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/9/91/Schillinger.png

Schillinger easily represents everything I detest in a person. He's an out and out Nazi, and as cold and callous as they come. Yet it was his detestable nature that made him such a good villain. In a show that's known for it's brutality he was easily the most vicious. What really made me like him was the brief glimpses of something resembling humanity that he would show. To this day it is hard to look at JK Simmons and not see Schillinger, no matter how many goofy Dads he plays.

4.Frank (Once Upon a Time in the West)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/f/fc/Frank-2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160820230523

In the movie this is how Frank is first introduced it's such a brilliant and brutal scene that really impacted me

This early act of callous cruelty gives him a malignant presence in every scene he is in. He's completely willing to do anything and everything to get what he wants. Henry Fonda gives him a air of quiet detachment and a sense of invincibility.

5. Perfect Cell

main-qimg-072df53b0f1d26637ac59ae4014e61

I love Perfect Cell because he is such a amazing antagonist. He has the abilities and weaknesses of all the greatest warriors. He is confident and arrogant without overdoing it. So many villains like him are just over the top that it just becomes laughable. It was great to see him evolve from his imperfect state to his perfect one. I also like that his goal was simply to find a worthy opponent to test his power on.

6. Mr. Dark (Something Wicked This Way Comes)

https://i.imgur.com/F7d0xnn.png

Mr. Dark is another good villain that is so understated and yet so powerful. He operates a carnival that promises people their deepest wishes and feeds on them. Jonathan Pryce does an amazing job of giving him such a threatening edge with just a few words.

7. Cluny the Scourge

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/b/b9/Cluny_the_scourge.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20160711025501

Now Redwall had a lot of great villains but Cluny is always going to be my favorite of them all. He is such a perfect adversary he is ruthless but also clever, brutal yet cunning. His mere presence inspired instant fear and his drive inspired hundreds.

8. Kirei Kotomine

https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/characters/3/258487.jpg

Kotomine was a perfect villain in Fate/Stay night and a great foil for Shirou. What really made him a great villain in my eyes was seeing his corruption in Fate/Zero. I also like that he sought the grail for the shear curiosity of what it would spawn.

9. Maou

TVTropes_Maou_4965.jpg

Maou is a great antagonist because he is constantly two steps ahead of everyone. He has plans within plans and he sets himself up as the adversary of Haru just for the shear joy of it.

10. Jack Of Blades (Fable)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jackofblades_1119.jpg

Jack Of Blades is one of my favorite villains simply because of his appearance and voice. That alone makes him such a menacing villain. I also loved the mystery behind his mask and background. Who was he before he found the mask? That question goes unanswered witch makes the allure of him all the more powerful.

Well that's all the villains I can think of at the moment I will probably add to it later. What are your favorite villains? Let me know!

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The traits you mentioned about "Maou" probably make him one of the more interesting villians on this list in my eyes. I don't think I finished the VN he's in, and it would have been a while ago that I played it at all, but just about any character who has the "all according to plan" sort of thing done right can be quite interesting.

As an example, I would point to the protagonist of War of The Human Tanks. He's a incredibly good commander, to the point that, if the game had a more serious tone, it would be more than a little unbelievable. Of course, its quite a silly game, story wise, so it works out well enough. He ends up being "a few steps ahead" of pretty much everyone when it comes to strategy and such, in any case, which sort of plays out in the actual gameplay, since simply being a human player makes it pretty easy to fight the AI enemy, even though they often have better tanks than you do, and such things.

Another character, one who can kind of be considered a "villian who plays the role of a hero", is Rance, from the Rance series of games. I would dare say that he isn't really "evil" in any sense, and even quite a likeable character, but he's obviously rather... self-centered, I suppose one could say. Unlike either of the previously mentioned characters, much of his capability comes from directly being pretty powerful, rather than being good at planning and such. He's also just plain lucky, to a rather obsurd degree. He does consider himself a "hero", but many of his most heroic actions end up being done for fairly villainous reasons. Overall, however, I would sort of consider him to be one of the best protagonists and one of the best villains at the same time. :P

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Slade in first? Awesome list, that arc about Terra always gets me.

Kirei is also a nice pick.

Personally, I'm really fond of villains that once are really righteous, but fell so hard from grace that we have to wonder what went wrong along the way. There's a character in Final Fantasy Tactics that I liked (hated actually :P) that does exactly that, but the game really shows you, slowly in each chapter, what was happening to his mind.

Another villain I liked, a different type from the one above, was the lucky bastard Kira Yoshikage from Jojo part 4. The guy's a serial killer with some powers and all he wants... is to be left alone, in peace, with his hand fetish (not that he wants the rest of the girls...). And you should see the lenght he goes to accomplish that! Eventually you even wonder how the heroes will get him, because luck always seems to be on his side.

Edited by MaggieROBOT
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