Greatest Villain Every

[fireinthedust]

So the Mrs and I are having a debate: who is the all-time greatest villain? I'm talking about movies and books. Here are the criteria we've been working with:

Name:

1) Track record: what have they accomplished prior to their antagonism?

2) Success rate: what do they manage to do in the film/media?

3) How close to winning they get

4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot.

 

[fireinthedust]

Name: Ursula
Source: Disney's the Little Mermaid

1) Track record: hundreds of merfolk tricked out of their lives

2) Success rate: complete success in her scheme against Ariel, preventing her from kissing the prince before the allotted time was up.

3) How close to winning they get: Pretty close. In fact, she "won" in that she conquered the oceans from Triton; had she teleported away rather than fighting, she could have devastated the good guys and won the day.
In fact, I argue her mistake was stepping out of her arena: she was a temptation expert and contract-maker, rather than a combatant. If she'd outsourced attacking Ariel, avoiding personal risk as carefully as before, she wouldn't have lost.

4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot: I giver her full points for style. Entertaining song, sassy presentation of her argument, and really original visual design.



Oh, and before anyone jumps on my head, this thread should help design vilains in an rpg.

 

[WayneLigon]

The Joker is probably one of the greatest comics villains ever invented.

1) Track record: what have they accomplished prior to their antagonism? Before they meet, the Joker is already an accomplished murderer with an agenda.

2) Success rate: what do they manage to do in the film/media?
His film success has been spotty (One fair, one outstanding), but most of the animated material does all right by him. His appearances in Batman: TAS are some truly classic material.

3) How close to winning they get
He has won minor victories and he's come very close to his ultimate goal several times. Killing Robin II (In fact, one of his old lairs featured a 'trophy case' with a dead teenager in a Robin costume labeled 'The Time I Won'), killing Sarah Essen (Commissioner Gordan's wife at the time), and of course being the single worst mass murderer in the DC Universe. In fact, his best quote to date is 'You have to win every time. I only have to win once!'

4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot.

What's not to like? A tight shtick that's still broad enough to encompass comedians, clowns, circus, laughter, etc etc. A well-written Joker tale is a marvel to behold.

 

[lexoanvil]

Name:Lavos

1) Track record: maniplulated humanity over thousands of years to its own ends
2) Success rate: perfectly until time travel is involved
3) How close to winning they get: wins until time travel is involved
4) Style: feeding off the planet and its inhabitants resulting in a world shattering apocalypse

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Name:
1) Track record: what have they accomplished prior to their antagonism?
2) Success rate: what do they manage to do in the film/media?
3) How close to winning they get
4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot.

NAME: Blackie Duquesne (Edit: From 'Doc' Smith's Skylark series. Probably the first [non god] megavillian.)

1) Nothing.

2) Steal an important invention (space travel, basically), kidnap the hero's girl, save the hero's bacon, conquer the Earth, cheat death, etc., etc., etc.

3) He wins. (In that in the final book he gets to go free and set up his own world as Emperor Blackie the First.)

4) Very entertaining. A suave character who keeps his word (except once) and is the hero's equal. But totally ruthless.

 

[Hawke]

Voldemort

1) Track record: Nearly took over the world, killed countless wizards, and developed probably the largest evil following in recent history.

2) Success rate: It takes a while, but comes back and subversively regains control and causes the ministry to fall. Many plotlines seem to work out fairly well to kill and disgrace people.

3) How close to winning they get - Pretty freaking close. Ministry gone, the school all but defeated, his long-time nemesis killed.

4) Style: Reading about him was quiet scary. He was a master of developing fear such that even mentioning his name caused fear to folks. Symbolism of the Dark Mark is very cool as was the horcruxes. Death Eater masks were freaky, too.

 

[Thasmodious]

Name: Bill

1. Track record: One of the world's top assassins, heads an organization of highly trained, deadly assassins.

2. Success rate: Waits for the inevitable reunion with the Bride, still holding all the cards (her daughter, an understanding of the situation that Beatrix doesn't get until the very end)

3. How close to winning do they get: In some ways he did win. In others though, it came down to a one on one fight, which he lost.

4. Style: As high as the meter goes. Smooth, powerful, a murdering bastard, a flutist, a twisted morality (but a morality nonetheless), great lines, the best hero-villain confrontation this side of Shakespeare.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I have two...so here is my ideas

Name: David Xanatos (Gargoyal cartoon)

1) Track record: what have they accomplished prior to their antagonism? He is a self made man who very few could touch.

2) Success rate: what do they manage to do in the film/media? On more then one accasion he just out right won...from getting his girlfriend out of jail, to cloneing/gentic maipulate fake gargoyals, to going back in time and manipulating his own past...heck he fought king oberon.

3) How close to winning they get well he did win as I said...and in the end was never really beaten worse then minor set backs

4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot. It was fun trying to figure out what his goal was. If you check out TV trope.com they even name a few after him.




Name: Doomsday/Armagedon Beast (Death of superman)

1) Track record: what have they accomplished prior to their antagonism? He killed thousands, then on top of that destroyed worlds, and even fought the guardians of the Universe.

2) Success rate: what do they manage to do in the film/media? This dude took apart the JLA, knocking blue bettle into a comma, destorying booster's suit, knocking out martian manhunter, breaking Ice's arm, blinding Guy Gardner, oh, and on top of that he killed this hero going by the name SUPERMAN

3) How close to winning they get He killed Superman

4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot. He was a brute, and it was a brutal fight.

 

[Wik]

Name:

1) Track record: what have they accomplished prior to their antagonism?

2) Success rate: what do they manage to do in the film/media?

3) How close to winning they get

4) Style: how much you just like watching them work; not just a set piece, but an enjoyable part of the plot.

Roy Batty (Bladerunner)

1. Killed some guards, snuck back to Earth. Was also an android slave for the human military, forced to do all sorts of killing.

2. Sneak back to earth. Kill or terrorize numerous Tyrel corporation geneticists. Kills the CEO of the Tyrel corporation.

3. Fails miserably in his quest to extend his life span, but actually succeeds in convincing a trained and fully indoctrinated bladerunner that replicants are just as entitled to life as human beings.

4. He is the best character in the movie. Maybe suggest that he is, in fact, the film's protagonist. Despite being a murderer who enjoys messing with the minds of people around him, kissing dead chicks, and rarely blinking, he is a sympathetic character.

 

[haakon1]

A plug or two for Greyhawk

Name: Iuz

1) Track record: A demi-god who conquered his own country out of wildlands, was magically imprisoned with other minor gods, and was released by adventurers. In From the Ashes and later versions of Greyhawk, he's launched a major war and conquered several other countries, including a country full of knights (the Shield Lands), a country full of bandits and thieves (the Bandit Kingdoms), and lots of tough barbarians (of vaguely American Indian types in the Rovers of the Barrens, and vaguely Slavic in the Stonehold), through trickery and humanoids and demons, oh my!

2) Success rate: He's got a big empire, and there's no adventure where he's on screen to be killed, so far as I recall.

3) How close to winning they get: He's not even losing yet.

4) Style: Over the top, like a cross between a Roman emperor and a bad hair/death metal band. He's got a road made of skulls, lit by torches made from burning his enemies alive. Also, nobody says his name -- he's just The Old One.

--------------

Name: Iggwilv, the Witch-Queen

1) Track record: Iuz's mom, mother of a hot vampire daughter who's entombed in one of the cooler dungeons in Greyhawk. Wrote THE book about demonology.

2) Success rate: Well, her empire only lasted about 10 years, but she was still a cover girl in Dungeon, and she got mentioned in Dragon, many, many times.

3) How close to winning they get: Define winning. She doesn't have any petty human-type goals, so far as I can see. She doesn't seem to be dead yet, but she's not doing anything much right now, so she must be set for a Big Comeback!

4) Style: A not, dark-haired female spellcaster who wears black all the time (including a cape made from the skin of a demon, a gift from a demon lover). She captured a demon-lord to imprisons him and steal his power -- and have a demi-god kid with him. She's like a bad-ass Elvira!