Who's your favorite Villain?

[Derulbaskul]

I personally find two-dimensional, raving, complete monster villians to be no fun.

Give me complex, intelligent, scheming, unflappable, chessmaster, affably evil villians any day: (snip)

This is why I like Graz'zt.

Dolores Umbridge (sp?), from Harry Potter. Damn, that woman is evil.

She practically redefines evil (or, to paraphrase diaglo, "all other forms of evil are pale imitations").

 

[TarionzCousin]

I actually prefer my villains to be characters who believe that they are doing the world a big favor. They need to be able to fit in society and possibly even appear to be a good guy. When I run games, I often make the BBEG someone that does many good things for the community/world/universe.

The only one I can think of right now is a James Bond villain--and he's not what I would consider a good example: the media baron played by Jonathan Pryce in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Who else fits into this niche?

 

[the Jester]

I actually prefer my villains to be characters who believe that they are doing the world a big favor. They need to be able to fit in society and possibly even appear to be a good guy. When I run games, I often make the BBEG someone that does many good things for the community/world/universe.

The only one I can think of right now is a James Bond villain--and he's not what I would consider a good example: the media baron played by Jonathan Pryce in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Who else fits into this niche?

Ozymandius.

 

[Jon_Dahl]

Archibald Cunningham
Of all the villains I've seen, he is the one who I really loath... When you see him talking and smiling, you know that this rodent is the most despicable villain that you've ever laid your eyes upon.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdIKEzr20fA"]YouTube - Love is a dung hill.[/ame]

Rob Roy Movie - Archibald Defeats Will in a Sword Fight | Video « MOVIECLIPS

Ohh, I just hate that costume and that wig... And Tim Roth is such a great actor, truly he is.

 

[Cyronax]

Give me complex, intelligent, scheming, unflappable, chessmaster, affably evil villians any day:

David Xanatos from Gargoyles.

That's a great one. I love love that show to this day. For me over the years, I would say that my favorite villains are:

By conceptualized D&D tier:

Heroic:
- HBO's Deadwood: Al Swearengen. A twisted, conniving hostler and businessman; but a guy you can deal with in certain situations.

- Jaws.

- Biff, from the Back to the Future series.

- Starscream, the animated character in Transformers.

- The Nosferatu, portrayed by Willem Dafoe in Shadow of a Vampire.

Epic/Paragon:

- Loki. He's got his hands in everything. He's sometimes an anti-hero, but more often than not he's pure evil. Recently he destroyed Asgard, despited wanting to rule it, and was himself destroyed by Sentry in Marvel's recent SIEGE storyline.

- Doctor Doom. A villain who has so many plots attached to his name that he really can be all things to all people as far as villainry goes. I personally like his role in the Secret Wars. Once he achieves his goals (essentially godhood) he decided to abandon his pursuit of evil and the destruction of his enemies. (Doom sort of was the original Darth Vader, as well).

Link to awesome picture of a re-imagined scene from Secret Wars:

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/33806/1069712-104_spider_man___the_secret_wars_4_super.jpg

 

[Herremann the Wise]

My three favourite villains are:
- Darth Vader
- Dr. Hannibal Lecter
- and perhaps the greatest villain of them all: Iago from Othello.

Each so memorable and vicious in their own way.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Stormonu]

My favorite villain is definitely Strahd von Zoravich. And Scar, from the Lion King.

Oh, and I think this song I was recently introduced to fits this thread admirably:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5HXF7Ymij4"]YouTube - Voltaire-When You're Evil[/ame]

 

[Wepwawet]

Definitely Dolores Umbridge.
Most every other villain has something i can feel empathy with, or some justification for why they act like that and a chance to be redeemed.
But her... She's evil and too creepy, with all that pink, that sweetness, those big smiles and all those kitten plates

(I wanted to give XP to PCat and the others, but it doesn't let me)

 

[meomwt]

I think there are two stand-out villains.

One is The Joker - evil, mad and loving it. I haven't seen Hath Ledger's portrayal yet, but the BBC did an audio version of the Knightfall saga with Kerry Shale as the Clown Prince of Crime. His delivery of the line "I don't suffer from insanity... I enjoy it!" is chilling and fun at the same time. A worthy rendition of the Batman's nemesis.

The second is Davros from the Doctor Who TV series. A scientist crippled in a nuclear accident, he realises that his people are dying out and builds the Daleks to contain their eventual form. In doing so, he unleashes a terrible evil across space and time. His dialogues with the Doctor in his first appearance Genesis of the Daleks, in which they debate science and morality are wonderful. Later appearances saw him relegated to mouthpiece for his creations, but this was better later in the David Tennant story Journey's End when Julian Bleach imbued him with menace and hatred towards the Doctor, pointing out, at the end, how the Doctor abused his friends and turned them into weapons.

 

[Wepwawet]

Who else fits into this niche?

Jorge of Burgos, from the Name of the Rose. You know, the blind monk who wants to "protect" everyone from humour.
And expanding on that, most of the real-world inquisition and puritans.