The Bad Guys

Name some of your beloved villains. I recently watched the series the Story of Yanxi Palace, and it had a whole palace full of great villains. The one that delighted me the most was the scheming eunuch Yuan Chunwan. He's going onto my list of beloved baddies. He got me thinking about villains in general.

Among other villains I love would be Michael Fassbender's Magneto, though arguably he plays him as an antihero and not a villain, which is what I like about him, because you can see where the man is coming from. Still, this actor has played a lot of good villains over the years like Macbeth, David, Azazeal, Epps, so I will go ahead and count Magneto too.

I also like the many intense performances of Ralph Fiennes as antagonists from The Prince of Egypt to Red Dragon to Schindler's List to Harry Potter, though the Malfoy family are my very favorite Harry Potter villains, still gotta give the devil his due.

My all-time favorite villain of any franchise is from a lesser known cancelled HBO series Carnivale. The character I like is Justin Crow, a fanatical preacher who can't escape his destiny.

I think N from pokemon is the best of the antagonists in the main series games. Greatest Disney villain to me is the Horned King from Black Cauldron, such an underrated force of evil, played by the magnificent late great John Hurt.

Are there naughty characters out there that you enjoy? Do tell!

-Aku (Samurai Jack)
His name legitimately means "evil" in Japanese, which is a huge bonus, given how high and mighty he is as a continuous presence and deadly nuisance to Jack's adventures in the future. Mako and Greg Baldwin both delivered some solid performances with this shape-shifting "extra thicc" menace.

-Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)
A very affable, albeit, deranged and maniacal triangle who has vast knowledge and godly magic. He took advantage of many smart people throughout the ages in order to break into the first dimension, tricks the Pines in order to fulfill his personal goals and might still be lurking somewhere to this sunny day.

-Fawful (Mario & Luigi)
A crazy scientific genius that has a lot of funny dialogue, all the while demonstrating just how diabolical he can truly be. He went from being a subordinate of Cackletta, even resenting his own lowly position, to a mastermind by overtaking the most powerful monarchies in the Mushroom Kingdom in order to use a malevolent artefact to rule the world.
In the remake of Bowser's Inside Story, not only does he get a unique battle theme that is an ominous remake of the Fawful and Cackletta boss theme from Superstar Saga, but he has three henchmen of his own named the Best Fitness Friends, who took advantage of Bowser Jr.'s pride to dismantle Bowser's seemingly infinite faction.

-Flowey (Undertale)
A maniacal flower that knows way more than he lets on, all the while serving as a formidable final foe with an ultimate transformation in 2 out of 3 Story Routes the player can choose throughout the game.
In addition to his unhinged insanity, Flowey is a shockingly tragic figure that lost had lost so much innocence and is virtually impossible to help.

-Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Who can forget the notorious Mad Titan himself that was carefully developed throughout a decade's worth of superhero cinematography? He even became an omnipresent meme online, thanks to a lot of relatable and memorable dialogue in both Infinity War and Endgame.

Although I just finished Final Fantasy 6 yesterday, the villain Kefka left a large impression.

Even without a huge backstory, he's very effective. Just a complete nutcase. There's nothing likable about him from the moment of introduction, since he's poisoning people, setting things on fire, escalating everything into violence. One example being when the empire was heading north to occupy Narshe, it's Kefka's idea to try to turn the occupation into "extermination".

It gave me these thoughts: There could be no way someone on this level of insanity really has loyalty to the empire. And I was correct, because the moment he gets the chance he usurped the emperor and throws him off a cliff.

Then there's also the difference from other villains. He did win. (Even if he did eventually go down a year later). Your party goes down in defeat and he gets to play "god" and destroy towns who aren't worshiping him.

During the final showdown, he just spends it mocking your party. I think one of the most memorable lines from that game is when he said they sounded like a "self help book". There isn't even much satisfaction when he's felled either. He gives no last speech or words, he just quietly goes.

It wasn't my favorite game I ever played, but I give them props for the villain, there were zero redeeming qualities for him.

David Xanatos from Gargoyles.

Outwits every other character in the story, richer than some countries, handsome guy married to an equally cunning wife, and always wins even he loses.

I hated Thanos a lot d: he made sense, sure, but nah. Not a fav haha.

Catra in She-Ra is relatable af and it's wonderful that she got the ending she got at last. Her story makes a lot of sense and you really understand her abandonment issues.