A while back, I talked about 10 Villains I considered to be some of the worst in the media. This week, we get to be more positive as now I talk about some of my favourites. Yay!
As I've said before, villains are among the most memorable characters in all of media. Whether we love to hate them or actually love them for how cool and evil they are, villains always leave an impression on us, sometimes bad and sometimes good. And given Halloween is near, why not get into the Halloween spirit by talking about my personal favourite villains in media? Much like my worst villains list, this list is in no particular order. This isn't a Top 10 Favourite Villains list, this is just a list of 10 villains I love, be they villains from childhood or villains I've enjoyed as an adult.
So, without further ado, let's unveil my list of 10 favourite villains in media...continue if you dare my friends...
Death from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
DreamWorks did NOT need to go so hard on this guy, yet they did anyway and gave us their best and possibly scariest villain to date.
Death is by far the most memorable thing about Puss In Boots: The Last Wish with EVERYBODY who has seen the movie remembering this guy and how frightening he was. It's often debated if kid's movies have gotten too kid-friendly and are too watered down compared to the movies of the past, so Death really stood out as being a genuinely scary villain in a modern animated family flick when most animated films nowadays have silly, over-the-top villains who are more pathetic than anything else. Death has a fantastic design going for him, mixing a classic werewolf design with a grim reaper motif to fit his position as Death incarnate and the white fur plus his blood red eyes make him look VERY striking whenever he's onscreen. The twin sickles he always carries around and fights with also look great and he always looks scary and imposing when he wields them. I also love how the movie gets more serious whenever Death shows up. His presence is NOT a joke with his creepy whistle sending a shiver down even Puss's spine, and he is treated as deathly serious (pun intended) whenever he's onscreen. He's the only foe Puss has faced that he's genuinely frightened of, and that in turn makes him a more memorable and scarier villain to watch. He's like the closest thing we're going to get to a serial killer from a horror movie in a family-friendly film! It also helps that his voice actor, Wagner Morua delivers a spine-chilling performance that makes Death sound as scary and intimidating as it should do while also oozing some dark charisma that adds to his creepy charm.
Oh, and do I need to mention the fact he's LITERALLY DEATH ITSELF PERSONIFIED?! If that's not scary, I don't know what is! Death is one of my favourite villains for how memorable, intimidating and threatening he is, while also being one of the most powerful villains in media history, given he's literally Death itself. You can't stop death, you can't outrun it, and you can't defeat it. Death always comes in the end and death always wins, and that to me is scarier than anything else a villain can throw your way. And all this was from a Puss in Boots movie no less! It just goes to show how no matter what story you create and what characters you use in it, if you give them some careful thought, you can go far with anything and anyone. And all this is what makes Death such an amazing villain and one of my all-time favourites.
Death: he's no doubt whistling for joy at the fact he's claimed a place on this list...
Kilgrave from Jessica Jones
Kilgrave: Hello dear reader. You will not skip this section. You will continue reading until you've reached the end of my section. You do not care about the rest of this post.
Media Man: Kilgrave, how many times do I have to tell you to stop trying to mind-control my audience?! Go on, get out of here, they'll read all about you!
(Kilgrave is ushered away.)
Ahem, sorry about that. Let's continue: This is unquestionably one of Marvel's most threatening villains ever, and also one of the scariest, but not for the reasons you might think.
Kilgrave is a standout from other villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in how he's not some all-powerful monster, alien or godly figure. He's not even a guy in a mech suit. Instead, he's just an ordinary human with an extraordinary power: the ability to mind control people with just his voice. Kilgrave proves to be one of the most dangerous threats in the Marvel universe just from that power alone. With just a few words, he can enslave your mind and have you bending over forwards, backwards and sideways just doing what he tells you to do, and you are completely powerless to fight it. Once he has you, you're his and that is absolutely TERRIFYING! There's barely any limit to his power too. He can mind-control several people at once, one such example being an entire police station, and he can command you to do just about anything, even kill yourself. All that alone makes Kilgrave a spine-chilling threat, but what makes him so scary is the fact that there are people like him in real life. Kilgrave is a man with no moral principals and thinks he's entitled to whatever he wants, and we know all too well that many, many, MANY people like this exist. The fact someone like Kilgrave could be walking down the street right now is scarier than any other villain you could see in media. We'll never meet a real Darth Vader or Thanos or Darkseid and such, but we could easily meet a real Kilgrave...
As is, Kilgrave was a compelling villain and by far the most fascinating (and scary) thing about the Jessica Jones series. Anytime he was onscreen, he commanded the viewer's attention and the show suddenly got much more serious whenever he was around. At the same time, Kilgrave managed to be darkly charming some the odd bit of humour here and there (especially dark humour) and the occasional quirk. It probably helps that he's played by the infectiously charming David Tennant. That guy can play the biggest douchebag you've ever seen in your life and still be fun to watch. XD David really made this character with his performance and made him somewhat charming in spite of the fact this guy does the most evil, hideous things imaginable. Kilgrave was well-written, fascinating, scary and charming all at once, and all that plus David Tennant's performance made him a firm favourite for me.
Kilgrave: He didn't need to command me to put him on this list, that's for sure...
Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
If I was to make a list of my favourite Disney villains, this guy would be Number 1. I did once put him at Number 2 on the best Disney villains list I made two years ago and here he is again earning a spot on this countdown.
Frollo is like Kilgrave in how the thing that makes him scary and intimidating isn't necessarily what he is, but WHO he is. Like with Kilgrave, Frollo's a scarily realistic villain in the sense that people like him do exist and are a threat to the world at large with how much power they possess. Frollo is a judge who seems to be one of the most powerful men in Paris with just about everyone regarding his presence with fear when he shows up. And as a powerful figure, he abuses that power any chance he gets by harming innocents and going on a destructive, fiery rampage just trying to track down Esmeralda and destroy her. He may not have magic or superpowers at his disposal like most villains, yet he still causes so much death and destruction with just the men that are loyal to him and his sick, twisted orders. And much like real people in power, Frollo is a racist to an unhealthy degree to the point he threatens to burn down all of Paris just to kill gypsies. This is sadly reflective of real life in how especially in this day and age, we have powerful people doing real harm to others because they can't let go of their bigotry, which once again is why Frollo is such a scarily realistic villain.
Frollo is my favourite Disney villain for a lot of reasons. I love how threatening he is, I love how darkly relevant he is with how people like him are a threat in real life, I love his fantastic design where he just oozes menace with every glare he gives and his iconic black robes that make him look even more imposing, I love Tony Jay's smooth, charismatic vocal performance and I ESPECIALLY love his Villain Song "Hellfire". Frollo's also rather infamous for the fact he's one of Disney's most "adult" villains out there with most of the movie's dark tone coming from him and how he's complex in a way that kids wouldn't really understand. I mean he has sexual desires for Esmeralda, that's pretty ballsy a topic for a Disney villain to tackle. XD Frollo was an amazing villain and easily stands among Disney's best. Threatening, powerful, scarily topical and yet oozing with evil charisma, Frollo commands our attention and it's easy to see why he's left such an impact on us all.
Frollo: you do NOT want this guy to be the judge of you...
Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2
I already talked about this guy in my DreamWorks villains list last year, so you'll already know why I like him so much.
Lord Shen stands as one of the biggest examples of "don't judge a book by its cover". I don't think any of us expected a peacock of all things to be an awesome villain, yet DreamWorks managed it with this guy. Lord Shen proved that even a peacock can be threatening with not only a striking design that doesn't make him look goofy in any way, but by also being one of DreamWorks's darkest villains ever put onscreen. I mean this guy COMITTED GENOCIDE FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! Now I have this funny image in my head of Death being kept very busy because of all the pandas Shen killed. XD Anyway, Lord Shen was a pretty menacing bird with even his minions showing fear in his presence and not daring to disobey him and this peacock's kung-fu skills are nothing to sneeze at either. This guy is able to keep Po on his toes after all, and that's no easy feat. But Shen's most dangerous weapon of course is his brain. He proves to be quite cunning with how he can play mind-games with Po and the fact he invented the cannon is a feat in and of itself that put all of kung-fu at risk. If Shen had succeeded, then China could've been a very different place...
Lord Shen is still the best villain to come out of Kung-Fu Panda, and is easily my favourite of them all. He was great to watch when he was onscreen, he was surprisingly dark and menacing, Gary Oldman absolutely stole the show with his vocal performance as him, the animators made his design absolutely work and he left a very memorable impression on all of us for how surprisingly threatening he was. No Kung-Fu Panda villain can ever top this guy in my opinion and it's easy for me to say why he ranks among my favourite villains ever.
Lord Shen: not even a warrior of black-and-white could stop him making it onto this list...
The Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
The 2003 incarnation of the Ninja Turtles remains my favourite incarnation of the franchise, and this version of The Shredder remains my favourite incarnation of The Shredder. No Shredder ever comes close to topping this guy in my opinion.
I'll confess that nostalgia might play a part in this since I did grow up watching the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and thus this is one of the villains from my childhood. But re-watching the show again and looking back through the eyes of an adult, my opinions remain unchanged. This version of the Shredder is awesome and no, the fact he turned out to be an alien in a suit didn't ruin him for me. As a kid, I do remember finding the twist weird, but it didn't stop me thinking Shredder was so cool. Not only is his character design incredible with this armoured samurai look and the sharp blades on his arms, shoulders and shins, but he's a formidable fighter that can take on the Turtles single-handedly and even Splinter can sometimes struggle against him. He's also a very threatening guy by nature with his tendency to murder or mutilate his minions for failure. Just look what he did to Baxter Stockman for starters... And what makes him stand out so much is that he's a villain in a property that was made by 4Kids Entertainment, the same company that dubbed a lot of anime into English such as Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and more. That company would censor the hell out of so much anime for ridiculous reasons, and yet their take on the Shredder is played completely straight with NO censorship anywhere. He's deathly serious, menacing and the writers make that clear as day. Weird isn't it how 4Kids were more ballsy with their own properties than they were with Japan's...
Anyhow, the Shredder was a compelling threat all throughout the show. He was cunning, he was calculating, he was strong, he was terrifying and he was also the kind of villain who would get stronger just as his enemies did with an upgraded new mech suit near enough every season for him to play with and keep his enemies on their toes. He even manages to be a threat from a political stand point when he poses as a benevolent philanthropist and paints himself as a good guy! Once again, we know all too well that people like that exist... Combine all this with a scary, intimidating vocal performance by Scottie Ray and you have a version of the Shredder that tops all others.
The Shredder: he shreds all the competition and that's why he earns a spot as one of my favourite villains ever...
Dr. Finitevus from Archie Sonic the Hedgehog
The Sonic franchise has quite a roster of villains to choose from, be they from the games, comics or movies, and for me, my favourite Sonic villain is one from the comics.
Dr. Finitevus always stood out for me thanks to his incredibly striking design. Yes, we can make jokes about "recolours" all we like and say Finitevus essentially looks like an albino Knuckles, but at least they didn't just paint Knuckles white and call it a day. He wears a huge cape that meets in the middle to form that star pattern you see in the picture above, his hands and feet are bandaged up and he wears gauntlets on his arms and legs that carry warp rings he can use for combat. A particular favourite tactic of his is to use the warp rings to redirect attacks or cause enemies to crash into each other, making him a slippery customer to deal with. All that made Finitevus pretty eyecatching for me and anytime he appeared in the comics, I was always drawn to him because of how striking he looked and how dangerous he could be in a fight.
But of course, Finitevus's most dangerous weapon is his brain. He's a cunning and intelligent scientist capable of pulling off complex gambits and those plans are often dangerous enough to nearly doom the world, namely his plan to turn Knuckles into the fearsome Enerjak and have him raze the world to the ground. Dr. Fintievus sees the world is corrupt and beyond saving, a "garden gone wild" as he puts it and that it has to be destroyed so it can start anew. He's maniacal, insane, sadistic and beyond reason, and that's what makes him such a compelling and deadly threat to Mobius, arguably more so than even Dr. Eggman himself as Eggman doesn't want to destroy the world, only conquer it. The fact Finitevus's mad schemes have resulted in the deaths of quite a few Mobians, including Knuckles's father, also adds to how much of a threat he can be. It's such a shame that Archie Sonic had to be rebooted no thanks to a certain writer ruining everything with his stupid lawsuit for Finitevus was an awesome villain and I would've loved to have seen what else would've happened with him after his last appearance. As is, Finitevus will forever stand as one of the most dangerous and threatening Sonic villains ever to terrorize the world of Mobius and while he may never get used again, I'll still remember him for the few appearances he had, and he'll still stand as one of my favourite villains of all time.
Dr. Finitevus: this guy is one evil echidna...
Bane from The Dark Knight Rises
Bane is Batman's greatest enemy. Yes, even more so than The Joker. And for me, the best incarnation and my favourite version of Bane will always be the one from The Dark Knight Rises.
Bane has a reputation as one of Batman's deadliest and most powerful foes he's ever faced. When you take in the fact Bane is one of the few Batman villains to outright DEFEAT him, it's no wonder this guy has left his mark on the world of Gotham. Bane first appeared in the Knightfall comic storyline in which he orchestrated this incredible scheme that saw Batman wear himself down trying to round up his enemies after they escaped from Arkham Asylum for the billionth time. By the time Batman was done, he was mentally and physically exhausted, which left him at Bane's mercy. This of course led to this famous moment...
And thus Bane forever cemented himself as an icon in Batman's Rogues Gallery.
As for why the Nolanverse Bane is my favourite incarnation, I can explain why. This Bane is by far the most threatening version of Bane with his imposing figure and fearsome looking mask that makes him look like some kind of terrifying beast and also adds to his intimidating appearance. His characterization is spot-on too, bringing him closer to his comic personality after the infamous Batman & Robin movie portrayed him as a dumb muscle. This Bane is intelligent, menacing, coldly ruthless and yet has a courteous side to him with a few moments of eerie politeness edging his ruthless actions. He's the kind of guy who will probably request politely that you face him before he utterly destroys you. And just like in the comics, he's very successful in what he does with his expertly executed gambit that sees Gotham cut off from the world and the city forced to do his bidding or else they'll be destroyed. Bane is such a compelling threat in this movie for how clever and strong he is, easily able to match Batman blow-for-blow and outthink anyone who tries to take him down. His eloquent dialogue also helps too with some of the film's most memorable scenes consisting of him just giving speeches that really stick in your head once the film's over. Combine that with a killer performance by Tom Hardy and you have in my opinion THE definitive incarnation of Bane. No Batman villain can ever top this guy in my eyes.
Bane: the man who broke Batman's back didn't have to break anything else to earn a place on this countdown...
Megatron from the Aligned continuity
How funny that I put one version of Megatron on my worst list and now we have another version of Megatron on my favourites list?
Megatron has a lot of different incarnations to talk about and while some are lame, some are great villains worthy of the Decepticon leader's name, especially the Megatrons from Transformers One, Beast Wars, Animated and the Unicron Trilogy. But for me, the best incarnation of Megatron is the one from the Aligned continuity of Transformers. This was a period when the franchise tried to make all its franchise connected with shows, games and comics all being set in one big universe. For me, this was the franchise peak and among the many reasons why it peaked is how it characterized these iconic transforming machines. Megatron was just one such example. His design in Transformers: Prime is the best design Megatron has ever had in my eyes. Effortlessly combining the designs of his Animated, G1 and Movie selves into one, this Megatron looks huge, imposing and brutal, which befits his gladiatorial background and makes it easy to see why this guy is the Decepticon leader. I look at this guy and think EASILY that he could conquer planets and take down armies with how powerful and menacing he looks. I remind you, this guy pretty much throws around Optimus's teammates like they're ragdolls and even when Optimus is involved, it's not guaranteed to be win for the Autobots!
This Megatron isn't just powerful though. In his own words, he didn't become a Champion in the pits of Kaon just through his savage might, but also his cunning. This Megatron is no fool by any means, easily seeing through Starscream's deceptions and even admitting that he only kept him around because his constant failures amused him, and when Optimus lost his memories and reverted back to his Orion Pax state, he exploited the crap out of it and ended up setting the stage for the events of Season 2. But his cleverest moment for me was when evened the playing field by cleverly exploiting a loophole involving the Forge of Solus Prime to make his own weapon to combat Optimus's Star Saber. That in my eyes was sheer genius and shows this Megatron is both brains and brawn. Whenever this guy got involved in the action, you knew things were about to get serious and Megatron would always keep the Autobots on their toes whenever he was around. It also helped how they got Frank Welker, the original Megatron, to reprise his role here and Frank portrayed Megatron with a deeper, more menacing voice than he did in G1 which only helped in selling the threat this Megatron carried with him, and also added an air of dark authority to his words. In my eyes, this is the definitive Megatron. Menacing, scary, powerful, cunning and opportunistic, this Megatron is everything the Bayformers Megatron WISHES he was. If we combined the backstory of Megatron from Transformers One with the design, power and voice of Prime Megatron, then we'd have the best Megatron ever depicted in media.
He is the dominator. HE is the destroyer. HE. IS. MEGATROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!
The Daleks from Doctor Who
If it wasn't for these guys and their striking, iconic designs, I probably would never have watched Doctor Who and the franchise certainly wouldn't have become the sci-fi mega hit it is today without them.
Doctor Who is home to a plethora of awesome aliens, menacing monsters and vicious villains that have given our heroic Time Lord trouble time and time again. But none are more iconic or as dangerous as the Daleks. Everything about them is iconic and memorable from their name to their distinctive pepper-pot designs and their electronic voices that spark fear in those that hear their infamous cry of EX-TER-MIN-ATE! The Daleks are a true threat on a universe-wide scale thanks to their weaponized mobile mechs that allow them to operate machinery with their sucker arms or crush heads and their deadly ray guns that kill instantly when they shoot the enemy. The Daleks are usually a sign that the end is coming for you and that no matter what you do or how far you run, the Daleks can and WILL catch you, and when they do, you're dead. Some of their best showings for me come from episodes where there's an army of Daleks facing off against groups of people like in The Parting of the Ways or The Stolen Earth/Journey's End in where the Daleks come off as completely unstoppable and that any attempt to fight them just slows them down at most, but barely. And there' also episodes where just ONE Dalek proves to be a terrifying foe to face with Dalek and Resolution being two such examples. In those episodes, one Dalek manages to rack up an impressive body count and proves to be near invincible when in action. Sadly, the sheer power level of these things does mean they get defeated in rather anticlimactic ways, but that's a writing issue, not a character issue.
Anyhow, the Daleks are not only terrifying (they have a reputation for sending kids hiding behind the sofa for a reason), but they can also be pretty cunning and manipulative foes too. There are numerous occasions where the Daleks will manipulate others into working for them and dispose of them later on and they prove to be capable of pulling off impressive gambits that can even surprise the Doctor, namely how The Stolen Earth had them steal the Earth away and leave the Doctor just floating in time and space so he couldn't interfere. A true villain in my eyes is both smart and strong for that is THE killer combo for making a truly terrifying threat and the Daleks fit both criteria to a tee. But what also makes the Daleks such a scary and sinister threat is what the represent. Writer Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, basically made the Daleks a Nazi allegory and the Daleks represent what the Nazi party was all about in World War II: total extermination of the "lesser races". The Daleks are an example of how terrifying and narrow-minded the ideology of fascism is and how it leads to people doing the most terrible things in the name of power and glory to their name. The Daleks are scary because of the fact we humans could easily create something as hateful as these guys and kill as many of us as they want without remorse. What they represent truly is the scariest thing about them, and that only makes it more satisfying for us whenever they get defeated. All this and more are why the Daleks are among my favourite villains ever.
The Daleks: they exterminated their competition in order to earn their spot on this list...
Darth Vader from Star Wars
Darth Vader was destined to get a spot on this countdown. He remains my favourite Star Wars character of all time and is unquestionably one of my favourite villains of all time.
Darth Vader needs no introduction. He's one of the most iconic villains in media PERIOD! You have to have no exposure to media whatsoever in order to be clueless as to who he is. Darth Vader is a Sith Lord and one of the main figureheads of the evil Galactic Empire, a position he carries out with ruthless ambition and unwavering loyalty to his master, Emperor Palpatine. His deep, booming voice, ghostly wheezing and imposing black suit and armour make him a horrifying sight to behold for anyone on the battlefield. When you see Darth Vader, you should run for the hills for he is not somebody you want to cross paths with. He's very powerful, easily able to hold his own against powerful Jedi Knights with ease and in battle, he's like an immovable object. Any blow stricken against him more seems to annoy him than anything and even when characters like Obi-Wan, Cere Junda and Ahsoka Tano can actually damage him, he still doesn't go down and just keeps going! It's like he can't ever be stopped and that like a true juggernaut, whatever you do to him won't take him down for long. He's also such a dangerous threat to those around him that even his own men fear him and the few that actually speak back to him quickly regret it when he Force chokes them into their place, and that's if he doesn't kill them first!
Darth Vader is also another villain who is as cunning as he is powerful. Vader proves to be a pretty intelligent villain with how he can exploit compassion for others to his advantage and think a few steps ahead of the enemy. He's even the guy who put a tracking device in the Millennium Falcon just in case his enemies got away after all. That's some pretty clever foresight to get one over the enemy. In The Empire Strikes Back, his gambit even comes close to having Luke encased in carbonite and while Luke survived and got away in the end, Vader still pretty much ended that movie victorious with how well he played everybody and outsmarted the Rebels. Darth Vader is also one of those villains with a pretty tragic backstory that only adds to what a compelling character he is. Seeing him start as the young and innocent Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace and fall to the Dark Side is really heartbreaking and makes it easy to see how he became who he is today. While I wouldn't say he's a wholly sympathetic villain, it is easy to feel sorry for him after seeing what he went through in the prequels. Darth Vader is an icon for a reason and a villain that has always stuck in our imaginations ever since 1977. His imposing stature, his recognizable costume, his booming voice courtesy of the late James Earl Jones, his brutal strength, his great intelligence and his tragic fall to villainy make for one of media's most iconic villains and easily among my favourites.
Darth Vader: The Force was certainly strong with him to become one of my favourite villains of all time...
And that's it for this list. I hope you enjoyed reading about my favourite villains, and I invite you all to share your own list down below. What are YOUR 10 favourite villains in media? I'd love to hear your choices.
Come tomorrow, I wish you all a Happy Halloween. Next week, I'm covering the career of another Robot Wars legend, Dantomkia. See you then media fans!
Honourable Mentions
Beast Wars Megatron
General Grievous
The Cybermen
The Joker
Black Doom
Emperor Belos
Yami Marik
Steeljaw
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Myotismon
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