Who are the greatest villains of all time? Obviously, the villain is a key and crucial element to any movie or show's existance. This list is my favorite television villains. Some of the choices are a little strange or obscure. Some are not exactly villains, just mean-spirited. Some stopped being villains. Many are only included from memories of my childhood. Here then, is my list, in no particular order.

1. John Bly, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." There was something about this guy that meant business, especially the way he said "Coun-ty."

2. The main four villains from "Batman"--The Frank Gorshin Riddler, the Julie Newmar Catwoman, the Penguin, and the Joker. Peerless.

3. Of the cartoon "Batman", I prefer the Joker, although the Poison Ivy character was a good improvement over the comics, and is my favorite female villain from the show. Mark Hamill was great as the Joker's voice.

4. Count Baltar, "Battlestar Galactica." Always reminded me of Dr. Smith. Also from the show was the two-episode character of space Nazi Commandant Lightner, another great villain.

5. The Devil, "Brimstone." Another great FOX show canceled too soon in favor of junk.

6. Boris and Natasha, "The Bullwinkle Show." Classic characters. Snidely Whiplash should also be on there from this show.

7. Dr. Blight, "Captain Planet." Maybe it was the voice work, or maybe I'm a sucker for a femme fatale, but this was always my favorite character from this not-so-good cartoon of the 1990s.

8. The Beagle Boys, "Ducktales." Come on, now, who can't remember all the Beagle personalities? Big Time, Baggy, Burger...

9. David Xanatos, "Gargoyles." What I admired about this villain was that he never lost his cool, had many good points, and actually evolved as a character. I also liked Demona from this show, but her character was slightly more baffling in terms of development.

10. Cobra Commander, "G.I. Joe." It's Frank Burns from "M*A*S*H" on a terrorist level.

11. Skeletor, "He-Man." I actually don't remember this guy too well, but I loved the show.

12. Major Hochstedder, "Hogan's Heroes." This seems dumb, but I always thought "Hogan's Heroes" was upped to a level beyond dumb farce when Hochstedder was on because it implied that there WERE Nazis that weren't just nice saps like Klink and Schultz. And always..."WHAT IS THIS MAN DOING HERE?"

13. Dr. Claw, "Inspector Gadget." Come on, now, what kid wasn't driven crazy about not seeing the face?

14. Dr. Zachary Smith, "Lost in Space." Not really a villain, since he rarely did anything nasty, but included for sheer enjoyability.

15. Lord Zedd, "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." Another bizarre choice, but this guy, of the various Power Rangers villains, was the only threatening one. He also was the bad guy during the show's most enjoyable period.

16. Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank, "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Need I say more?

17. C.C. Babcock, "The Nanny." My personal favorite of a grand character type--the scheming rival with a different hair color and a far greater bank account than the heroine. I also enjoyed Libby Chessler from "Sabrina."

18. Team Rocket, "Pokemon." The only reason I actually watch the cartoon in a nutshell.

19. Miss Parker, "The Pretender." While "The Pretender" died a painful death in terms of NBC's ambivalence and bizarre writing, Miss Parker was a terrific character (although I preferred her relentless Javert type better than the more vulnerable personality later on).

20. Queen Diana and Longinus, "Roar." Yet ANOTHER FOX show bumped too early! Blast you all!

21. The Really Rottens, "Scooby's Laff-a-Lympics." The great thing was that they got second or first place from time to time!

22. Newman, "Seinfeld." 'Nuff said.

23. Gul Dukat and Weyoun, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." My favorite villains from this show, although I will never forgive the show for what they did to Dukat in the final season.

24. King Koopa, "Super Mario Brothers." The version in which he had the many kids 'cuz he was like a sinister Bill Cosby.

25. Shredder, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Note that when he was taken out, the show stunk.

26. Dick Dastardly and Muttley, "Wacky Races." I liked their spin-off even better when they tried to "STOP THAT PIGEON!"

27. Harvey Baines, "Waiting for God." A great bad guy from the kind of show America doesn't have the guts to do.

28. Cigarette-Smoking Man, "The X-Files." Well, at least until season five.

Here's a few you left off.

Darth Vader- How can he be left off of a greatest villians list.

General Zod, "Superman II". "My God!" "That's Zod".

Auric Goldfinger, "Goldfinger", 007's most even matchup. "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"

T-600, "The Terminator" and T-1000, "Terminator 2". 'Nuff said.

And for us Trekkers...

Khan, "TOS: Space Seed" and "STII:TWOK". "Please sit and entertain me". "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!"

I really liked Lord Oberon and Lady Titania from Gargoyles. (That show got really weirdin its later years. Shakespeare, the Illuminati, time travel, Avalon, King Arthur... so very cool... so very sad that ABC ruined it.)

Charles: That was just a TV villain list. I can't even go INTO movie villains without expanding it by at least twenty more.

Diabolico from Lightspeed Rescue and Darkonda from in Space.

Oh yeah...and the Dark Masters from Digimon

I would like to add Vince Macmahon to that list.

Spike and Drucilla from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Bounty Hunter from the X-Files, anybody?

-12-

Melkor. Destruction of the lamps and the trees, Fall of the Sacred city, Conquest of Belerland, fondation of Utomoto, and Angband, Corruption of the Maiar, perversion of Orcs and Trolls, enemy of the Nolder, Deception of Manwe, and will on the last day try to destroy Arda. Top that.

Rick Berman & Brannon Braga.

We did say "Great villains" Those two are the kinds of villains who hate...and not in the good way.

Treze Kushrinada from Gundam Wing. He memorized the names of every person who died because of him (and there were a lot).

Zechs Marquis from Gundam Wing. I just love the voice. Its so evil!

The Clown on the VOYAGER episode THE THAW,just
'cause he was played by Lenny of Lenny & Squiggy
fame from LAVERNE & SHIRLEY(also 'cause it's the
only way I could plug one of my all time fave
sitcoms!)

But seriously folks:

THE OAKLAND RAIDERS
THE NEW YORK YANKEES
(can't get more Villinaous than THOSE Teams!)

The Green Goblin(Spiderman)
Buzz(Supergirl)
Lex Luthor:THE GREATEST COMIC BOOK VILLIAN OF ALL
TIME!!!!!!!

Dr.Zachary Smith(Lost In Space)
Catwoman(Julie Newmar/Lee Meriwether versions)

The YANKEES???

I thought the topic was GREAT villains!

Psi Cop Alfred Bester("they're just mundanes"--the creepiest voice!)
and shadow agent Mr. Morden("What do you want?")
both from Babylon 5.

I'm glad someone already mention the Cigarette-Smoking Man.

John Travolta in Broken Arrow and Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Blight from Batman Beyond
"Who are you"
"You killed my father"
"Do you realize how little that narrows it down?"

Magneto from the X-men series (not the new one)

Locutus from TNG

And My All Time Favorite:
Scorpius from Farscape
That guy is awesome!!!!

See ya later
TUE

Kagato from Tenchi Muyo! When his ship is being attacked, he sits down and starts playing a big pipe organ. That alone makes him cool!

Marvel Comics
The Green Goblin prior to him being revealed as Norman Osborn. (Actually, if that had been the last GG appearance it would have been fine, but they had to keep bringing him back & ruining a great villain.)

Doctor Doom before he was overused & became a joke.

DC Comics
The Fatal Five (Legion of Super-Heroes) Tharok, Validus, Manos, the Persuader & the Emerald Empress, the best supervillain team of all time (pre-Levitz, of course.)

The Crime Syndicate (Justice League of America) Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring & Johnny Quick the second best supervillain team, especially their original appearance. (Later appearances tended to weaken them.)

Deimos (The Warlord) occasionally overused, but still a great never say die villain. ;-)

The movie Timecop's Sen. Aaron McComb. Who can deny not adoring him after such a comment as this: "Never interrupt me when I'm talking to myself." This is, of course, in reference to the DataLink factory scene and how he traveled back to consult his younger counterpart.

I categorically Deny adoring Sen. Aaron McComb, this is, of course, in reference to the previous post.

I just noticed the board, but I wanna get my two cents in. Here's my top 5, in reverse order:

5. Hannibal Lecter, Silence of the Lambs: I'm not even gonna go see the sequel that just came out, however; according to the reviews I've read, it stinks. But tell me Anthony Hopkins' performance didn't send shivers down your spine and make your skin crawl, and I'll call ya a bold-faced liar!

4. The Red Skull: Nazi madness at its finest.

3. Dr. Doom: Arrogant, powerful, ingenious, disfigured. Everything the perfect villain should be. Would probably be #1 on my list, if he wasn't used too much!

2. Dr. Clayton Forrester (Do I need to say where he's from?): Perfect example of a brain-dead mad scientist. I still miss him. MST3K probably should have ended when Trace left, but NOT that horrible ending they used when they thought that might be the end of the series!

1. Lex Luthor (modern version): He toys with people's lives like they were ants, gets away with tons of crimes, is filthy stinking rich, and just became President of the United States! `Nuff said.

And.....Hero who would've made a great villain:

1. The Shadow, from the old radio program: The ability to cloud men's minds and that sinister laugh....

*sinister laugh*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

Buzzzzzzz......The Green Hornet!! (I'm not the Shadow, but the Green Hornet and the Shadow are my two favorite old radio programs! I've even got two episodes from the Australian version of the show on tape!) :-0

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? ScottN SLUGBUG KNOWS, SLUGBUG KNOWS ALL~!!!!!!!! hehehehehe:~}

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned Ernst Stavro Blofeld . . . the prototype for the moder-age supervillian!

Blofeld was ruined as a villain by one little fact....he was originally played by Telly Savalas!


Who knows what evil lurks in the farts of hens?

No, he was originally played by Donald Pleasance.

You Only Live Twice - Donald Pleasance
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Telly Savalas
Diamonds are Forever - Charles Gray (??)

Actually Blofeld was a puppet. The cat was the real criminal mastermind. That's how Blofeld could die & return looking completely different. The cat got a new puppet.

1) Professor Moriarty

2) Fu Manchu

3) The Hooded Claw from the Penelope Pitstop series.

4) Beloc from Raiders of the Lost Ark

5) Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man

6) Mr. Burns from The S***S***S!

"Bah, he was a rank amateur..compared to Doctor Colossus!

What about the pirate LeChuck from the Monkey Island games? A "true evil [that] can never be destroyed completely," as they say.

Actually, Blofeld was originally played by Anthony Dawson in Thunderball and finally by John Hollis in For Your Eyes Only.

And I would think that Goldfinger became the prototype for future archvillains.

Vageeta from Dragon Ball Z, especially as a good guy who you keep waiting to turn back to a villain. When he insists that it if they are recognized and reports hound them doesn't matter because he will just destroy all the reporters all was perfect. (The silence from everyone else before his wife shot him down was great for all seven-year-old girls whose brothers watch the show.)

I nominate Prince from Lexx season 3. He has a great screen presence. Also that cool ability to die and instantly come back in whatever body he chooses.

For those that don't know, Lexx season 3 is set entirely around 2 planets called Water and Fire. During the course of the series we realise that they are actually Heaven and Hell, and Prince is the Prince of Darkness.

Great (approximate) quote:
Kai: Why do you want to destroy Water?
Prince: Because it's full of good, and I'm full of evil. I'm really not that complicated.

Psycho Rangers - Power Rangers in Space

Pinky & the Brain ;-)

The Dragon (Mrs. Green) - College Roomies From Hell!!! The only person the evil Mike Green fears, his mom. ;-)

The Borg before they were overused & became a joke.

"Pinky and the Brain?" Narf!

Emperor Ming as portrayed by Charles Middleton

Princess Ardala from "Buck Rogers In The Twentieth Century"

'Atchet 'Arry from "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"

Prometheus from "JLA"

Sir Reginald Styles from "The Invisibles, a man who hunts the homeless for fun!

Francis Urqhart from "House Of Cards"

Slightly nostalgic.

Me.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadows know. Morden told them.

Depending on your definition of great, I always liked the original Black Cat (from SpiderMan) and Ambush Bug (from SuperMan). They were off-kilter and fun. And then they got over-used and boring.
And my all-time favorite (okay, one of my all-time favorites): Ambush Bug vs. the Legion of Substitute Heroes. I mean, really, think about it: Substitute Heroes? A girl who's strong - as long as it's dark? A girl who makes people sick?

"So what do you do?"
"I make people sick."
"No, really."

And my all-time favorite line: One wrong move and I kill the cake.
(Okay, so you really had to be there, but trust me, it's hilarious. The book came out late 80s. Find it, buy it, keep it.)

"And my all-time favorite (okay, one of my all-time favorites): Ambush Bug vs. the Legion of Substitute Heroes. I mean, really, think about it: Substitute Heroes? A girl who's strong - as long as it's dark? A girl who makes people sick?

'So what do you do?'
'I make people sick.'
'No, really.'

And my all-time favorite line: One wrong move and I kill the cake.
(Okay, so you really had to be there, but trust me, it's hilarious. The book came out late 80s. Find it, buy it, keep it.)" - mei

I LOVE that comic! For those who want to read it, the comic book in question is DC Comics Presents: Superman and the Legion of Substitute Heroes #59, published in 1983. At www.mycomicshop.com it sells for $4.00 in Near Mint and at www.milehighcomics.com it's going for $2.65 in N/M. (They're having a special sale on DC Comics, I believe.)

Ambush Bug was a villain? I just thought he was an annoying goofball who got in the hero's way. I only started to like him when they gave him his miniseries & specials and set him aside from the regular continuity.

And, IIRC, Infectious Lass was only added to the Subs for the purpose of making that joke. I think she only made 2 appearances prior to that & neither involved the Subs.

The real villains were Paul Levitz & Keith Giffin. Prior to that the Subs were a group of characters with less than stellar powers who decided they were going to help out despite their limitations. (The definition of a hero in my book.) Levitz & Giffin on the other hand decided to strip them of their dignity and make them laughing stocks.

KAM: I'll agree with you about the Subs being heroes. It's just that they had such - I'm sorry, but it's true - silly powers. Chlorophyll Kid, who can make plants grow. (And if there are no plants?) Stone Boy, who can turn to stone. (Can't move when he does, but no one's perfect.) Porcupine Pete, who had little bristles all over his body. Or that two-headed guy.
To be fair, many of the regular LSH had less than stellar backgrounds - because they were 'born' at a time when people weren't so picky. Shrinking Violet and Duo Damsel come to mind; I just find it hard to believe that a whole planet could have evolved such powers.
I don't know when the Subs became jokes. I sort of took that issue as a satire - let's have fun. Like what they did with Fire Lad, who actually had a halfway decent power - and kept ruining things by sneezing on them. That whole issue just fit right in with Ambush Bug.

And Ambush Bug was, by definition, a villain - since he was working against a hero. It's just that he was such an off-the-wall villain.

Chlorophyll Kid carried seed packets in his belt.

Porcupine Pete & the two-headed guy & Antannae Boy & Arm-Fall-Off Lad were added to the Subs, I believe, for the purposes of the comedy story.

The original Subs were Polar Boy (ice-powers), Night Girl (who came from a planet without a sun) Chlorophyll Kid, Stone Boy & Fire Lad. Later Color Kid (he could change colors) joined. Then Dream Girl after she quit the Legion & Star Boy when he was expelled for killing.
Dream Girl & Star Boy rejoined the regular Legion & the Subs line-up didn't change for years. When I stopped reading it regularly (around the time the name changed from Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes to just Legion of Super-Heroes) that was still the line-up.

As for Legionnaires with goofy powers, what about Matter-Eater Lad (can eat almost anything), Bouncing Boy (he bounces) & Shadow Lass (can make things dark).

Oddly enough I can only remember one story where they ever teamed up Shadow Lass & Night Girl.

And I'll never understand why Polar Boy's powers weren't acceptable to the Legion. I guess they were just extra-cranky on the day he tried out.

I'll agree about Polar Boy. Put him together with Lightning Lad, and you'd have a super-conducter (or something, my science is a little weak sometimes).

And you have to wonder about the geniuses that wouldn't immediately put Shadow Lass and Night Girl together. I would have thought they'd be a team - can't have one without the other. The creators would have spent all their time trying to figure out reasons to keep them apart - but at least the leaders wouldn't have looked so stoopid. (Much like that word. ;)

Yeah,I'd forgotten about Bouncing Boy. Man, the early 60s really had some good ones, didn't they? And I always liked Cosmic Boy's planet - Bismol. What city did he come from - Pepto? And that wonderful black and PINK outfit HE wore!!!

We should probably take discussions about the Legion over to the Legion of Super-Heroes board in Comic Books (just scroll down the Topic list).

However, Cosmic Boy was from Braal, Matter-Eater Lad was from Bismol (which seems even funnier.)

Cosmic Boy wore pink & Black & Element Lad originally wore a pink & white outfit. So what? Why should the archaic idea that pink is for girls & blue is for boys mean anything? It is the 30th century, after all.
Also I don't recall anyone complaining about Supergirl, & Lightning Lass/Light Lass wearing blue. And Princess Projectra's original costume was blue. And Shadow Lass' skin was blue.
Besides Cosmic Boy's pink and black costume was way better than the black outift he wore later. Although the 18 to Dead Female Demographic may disagree with me.

And to get this thread somewhat back on topic:
Kerrie, it appears that you changed the name of this topic from Great Villains to What Makes a Great Villain?, however, MikeC's first sentence reads, "Who are the greatest villains of all time?"

KAM: I'll try to make this the last on the LSH.
Altho girls have frequently worn blue, it's been considered sissy for guys to wear pink. I had a friend who told me that "real men don't wear pink." I wanted to introduce him to my grandfather - 6'2", retired from the Army, whose favourite suit was blue with a pink shirt. And he looked smooth.
I've also recently been reading a book that includes a lot about Elvis. In the fifties, Elvis wore black and pink - that was a really cool combo at the time. Since LSH came out about that time, I guess that's how Cosmic Boy got those colors.

Actually, I think the Daleks and the Cyberman should be among the top villains. The Daleks only care about killing, and the Cyberman only care about converting everyone else to Cybermen. And they were around for quite awhile, so they must have been pretty good. Or bad, depending on how you look at it.

Saddam Hussian, The South Park version. I'm still wondering if the Army will sponser an airing of "Bigger, longer and Uncut" as war time propaganda.

Saddam Hussian, the Hot Shots version.

Since the title of the board is "What Makes A Great Villain?", here's my answer: cool dramatic music. Think Darth Vader's theme from The Empire Strikes Back, which was the first film I saw where I realized I wanted to be a bad guy because the bad guy music was cooler...
Um, I mean, I really liked it.

Saddam Hussian, The South Park version.

Yes, that Saddam was a bit of a "hussian" in that film!

Johnny Bates, aka Kid Miracleman (Eclipse Comics' Miracleman series - sadly unfinished - hope Gaiman will get back to it one day)

Jareth the goblin king from THE LABYRINTH

Khan!
Some of the best villains are the ones who are actually intelligent, well-read and willing to give their adversaries credit when they are outsmarted. Khan fits these...plus he seduced one of Kirk's female officers just by his slickness alone! "Please, sit and entertain me."


How about KARR and Garth Knight from "Knight Rider"?

Lydecker from "Dark Angel"?

Pearl/Bobo/BrainGuy from MST3k?

King Mob:

>> 6) Mr. Burns from The S***S***S! <<

Good choice, but does he really count as an out-and-out villain? I see him as more of a Scrooge-type.

The Hooded Claw- The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
Dick Dastardly- The Wacky Races

Dr Emil Gargunza (The Creator of Marvelman/Miracleman/Kid Miracleman !)
Alternately, the Q'uays (whose body swapping technology was exploited by Gargunza to create Marvelman/Miracleman)
"Pluto - Steppenwolf !" (Cute toy Poodle changes into the Rottweiler from Hell !)
(In case you're wondering, "Marvelman" was the original title for the "Miracleman" strip when it first appeared in the U.K Comic "Warrior" in the early 80's ! Marvel sued,& won over the title's name, even though they did not have the rights to the name in the U.K at the time !)

Kagura (Inuyasha):Wants nothing more than to be free of Naraku.Has the ability to control the wind and also the dead.Sympathetic despite being a villian.

Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist):Uses her stretchable fingers as knives.Manipulates Ed and Al so that they'll find a way of creating the Philosopher's Stone so that she and the other Homonuculi can become totally human.

Invaders(Gatekeepers 21):Eerie because anyone who no longer cares about others and the world about them is capable of turning into one.For some reason Gatekeepers are immune from this process.
(Different from the original Gatekeepers where only machinery was affected.)

Naraku(Inuyasha):Evil incarnate.Has manipulated events and people in order to gain what he wants:to become a full demon.Created Kagura,Kanna and other incarnations of himself.Known by the spider burn mark on his back that also appears on the backs of his incarnations.

Knives(Trigun):I know someone is going to complain if I don't include Vash's twin brother Knives.Killed Rem and stranded himself and Vash on what later becomes the desert world of Gunsmoke

TPTB at Cartoon Network,especially Adult Swim.
Need I say more!?

Pretty much the whole cast of Darken

Mike Ram: August 24, 2003

I agree about Lydecker. Especially after watching all the reruns (again and again) on SiTV.

You have to be able to feel for a great villain, or at least be able to see things from his side, and Lydecker lets you do that.

Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) the street criminal, and Dick Jones, the business criminal, both great villians from "Robocop".

Plus, Richter (Michael Ironside) and Vilos Cohaagen from "Total Recall". They were pretty villianous too.

You'll note that Jones and Cohaagen were both played by the same great actor, Ronny Cox.

A decent villian in an otherwise bad movie was Dr. Arliss Loveless from the 1999 bomb "Wild Wild West". He existed only from the waist up - he had a futuristic (for 1869) wheelchair that was equipped with weapons and mechanical legs! Even though the movie was terrible, I thought Kenneth Branagh did a good job with what little he was given to work with.

I know there are others, I'll be back later!