Just curious in terms of entertainment (movies, tv, comics) who did you cheer for? The good guys or the bad guys? Were you a fan of the Empire or the Rebel Alliance? Go go Gadget or did you hope Dr. Claw would get him some day? Who is cooler, Spiderman or Dr. Doom? This would actually make a good poll.
I was expecting a dissertation on the pros of the Empire/Sith. Good restraint, CC.
Some villains I have a soft spot for, due to their ability to deliver great monologues, chew scenery, and the way they carry themselves. Dr. Doom and Magneto immediately come to mind. Of course, a guy like Magneto has become increasingly grey and complex, and I think that's the best kind of villain. Not one-note guys like Dr. Colossus.
Having said all of that, I'm more of a good guys...guy.
I've never ever been a fan of the villain just to be a villain type of argument. I like my villains to have a reason for what they do.
for the most part the forces of evil in most movies are the forces of order, and the hero's the so called forces of freedom.
Some of my favorite Villains in no particular order
1) Palpatine/Darth Sideous - ok this might surprise a few because most would think Vader. But while Vader was a force for Rage, Revenge and Self Loathing, Palpatine was the true villain. Our of all of the characters in the movies he was the most honest guy out there, his deceit was based around truths. He was literally a force for change and anticorruption in a GFFA in fact the Galaxy was so corrupt that he used it to rise and take over. Evil scarred up and croaky as he was, his vision for what must have been an impossible galaxy to manage wasn't in itself evil.
2) Magneto - Look at his background, taken to an extermination camp as a boy because he was different, and then experimented on, of course he's going to lash out and go to war with the humans to protect the mutants. Of course he had a Machiavellian streak a mile wide but it was understandable. To me the X-Men were the true villains in this piece, they put their people in danger every day to protect humanity who kept trying to wipe them out, and put their hopes on humanity. Ak Pooey (That's spitting noise)
3) General Hummel - He was an easy bad guy to cheer for. He went to battle for his men who had been screwed over and abandoned and discarded. Sure people got hurt along the way, but man you can't make an omelet.
4) Jason Vorhees - He was left to drown as a child a deformed developmentally delayed child, by people who bullied him and didn't care about him. And when his mother tried to get justice she was left just as dead. Frankly we saw the greatest statement of him in Friday the 13th Part 7 when he is exposed to toxic waste and turns into a sobbing child. Deep down in the mind of the monster there was an abandoned lost child.
Plus Teenagers, I totally hate them
5) Kahn - Star Trek II - Kirk created his own villain here. At the end of Space Seed Kirk muses about visiting the society that Kahn built. Then he promptly grabbed Yeoman Rand for a quick trip around the nacelles and forgot that Kahn ever existed. A man that was literally thrown out of the garden of eden when the moon exploded and the whole planet was laid to waste (What Spock, to busy to do a scan of the old moon which exploded 5 years later?) Kahn watched his wife die and his people suffer all because Kirk was an ego centric. So of course Kahn became a modern day Ahab. We con't know if his rage and need for revenge would have faded if he killed Kirk. Plus he also made a nice planet where Kirk decided to murder a helpless Klingon Captain.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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What about bad guys within the bad guys? Starscream was awesome because he was always trying to take over as leader of the Decepticons. Never even tried to hide it. Just kept saying it to Megatron's face like a boss. And in the movie, it was awesome seeing Starscream just basking in the light with a crown and sceptre and everything, though Galvatron ensured his rule was incredibly short-lived.
What about bad guys within the bad guys? Starscream was awesome because he was always trying to take over as leader of the Decepticons. Never even tried to hide it. Just kept saying it to Megatron's face like a boss. And in the movie, it was awesome seeing Starscream just basking in the light with a crown and sceptre and everything, though Galvatron ensured his rule was incredibly short-lived.
Colour me a Starscream fan.
Ah the honest Iago's of the world. One of the best was still Tim Curry in the good three muskateers movie.
You also had Grima Wormtoungue in Lord of the Rings, but how he got a job as a trusted adviser with that name is a question that they should be asking the HR department.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I don't usually choose sides, I choose characters and I'm a huge fan of "Villains done right." For instance, my hands down favorite bad guy was the Joker in the Dark Knight. A big issue I find with many bad guys are they're broken and flawed pieces or just incomplete characters ("Shrouded in mystery"). Joker was a full character and you could relate to him. He was seemingly logical in what he did and it seemed to make sense what he was going for (Not an angry, let's destroy things because I'm angry persona). New Bane on the other hand... was terrible. I hate it when you have to assume and fill in the blanks a bit on a character.
Hannibal Lecter (new and old variation) is up there for me as well. He's also a "reasonable" villain.
I dislike a lot of villains because they're just bad characters in general. I dislike a lot of protagonists because they're cookie cutter or illogical too. Overall, I like good characters, regardless of "good or bad". I tire at times at seeing a "3D hero vs a 2D villain".
5) Kahn - Star Trek II - Kirk created his own villain here. At the end of Space Seed Kirk muses about visiting the society that Kahn built. Then he promptly grabbed Yeoman Rand for a quick trip around the nacelles and forgot that Kahn ever existed. A man that was literally thrown out of the garden of eden when the moon exploded and the whole planet was laid to waste (What Spock, to busy to do a scan of the old moon which exploded 5 years later?) Kahn watched his wife die and his people suffer all because Kirk was an ego centric. So of course Kahn became a modern day Ahab. We con't know if his rage and need for revenge would have faded if he killed Kirk. Plus he also made a nice planet where Kirk decided to murder a helpless Klingon Captain.
I thought Benedict Cumberbacth was fantastic in the remake - also a very likable bad-guy - but then I'm a fan of his from Sherlock (where's he's really a bad good guy, if you get my meaning).
To quote some random bad guy in Wreck-It Ralph "just because you are badguy, doesn't mean you are bad guy..."
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General Hummel - He was an easy bad guy to cheer for.
Thanked just for The Rock reference. Fantasic character/portrayal by Ed Harris.
I'm either or, depends on the story generally. I think the one that stands out the most for me was Law Abiding Citizen. I was really rooting for Gerard Butler's character.
I thought Benedict Cumberbacth was fantastic in the remake - also a very likable bad-guy - but then I'm a fan of his from Sherlock (where's he's really a bad good guy, if you get my meaning).
To quote some random bad guy in Wreck-It Ralph "just because you are badguy, doesn't mean you are bad guy..."
I wasn't a huge fan of that movie at all. But I guess if I was going to classify it, that characterization was along the lines of Khan in Star Seed. Who hadn't been hit with tragedy and loss and grief.
He was a pragmatic leader who had been enhanced in order to as he said
Give the world order.
The Wrath of Khan was really Ahab obsessed with the White whale. A man so overcome with not only grief but the burden of leadership that he broke.
He was a supremely sympathetic villain because frankly any of us when confronted with that level of loss might follow that path down to its inevitable self destructive conclusion.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Bad guys / villains, I find are more complex and interesting, but I don't necessarily cheer for them. The Joker, Darth Vader, Khan are examples. The corresponding "heroes" are actually pretty boring and one dimensional in comparison.
I don't know about Hannibal Lecter though. I was neutral about him in Silence of The Lambs. I never questioned his origin or why he ate people. In the other movies he took on more of a Dexter type quality, a bad guy killing other bad guys.
Had to think about this. It's easy to get caught up in characters that are actually designed as villains, whereas I tend to cheer for the characters which are only a villain from the perspective of the protagonist. This usually makes for a more fleshed out character.
Bill the Butcher (Gangs of NY)
Tuco (Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
Little Bill (Unforgiven)
That sort of thing. The villain should have the strength and conviction of the hero, and in the rare instance when that happens, great storytelling ensues. Lots of great anti-heroes out there, too, but strangely the hero in those movies are generic or weak with more frequency than with the traditional hero/villain dynamic. Odd. That would take even more thought, which my brain is incapable of at the moment, to find a great hero to cheer for in an anti-hero movie. Anyone?