Villains and Ruffians

[TheInvisiblePony]

So, I figure I'd come to the board with a rather specific inquiry for all y'all who're interested. Personally, I believe that antagonists can cause some of the most dramatic tension in literature/film/insert other medium. Sure, you can get struggle without them, but nothing really comes close to a confrontation between rivals in my humble opinion.

Now, it should go without saying that some villains are just more villainous than others, and some ruffians are just more ruffious than others. The same could be said for their styles. My question is, who is your favorite antagonist villain of all time? Who do you just love to hate, and hate to love?

For myself, I'd say my favorite antagonist is Oz, from the play Wicked. I don't know why, but something about the man who just gets swept off his feet and gets carried away for caring for the world intrigues me. He's not evil, persay, just a man trying to do what he thinks is right when he's out of his depth.

Oh, and for contrast's sake, no characters from MLP, please. There are already plenty of threads for that in particular.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Ahhhhhh you know what Wicked is! That musical is just awesome. Okay, now to actually answer the question...\

Huh, I don't think I actually have a favorite villain. Now I need to puzzle over this!

[Penumbra]

Joker hands down. Not just because he's funny (in a sadistic kind of way) but what he represents.

The absolute epitome of chaos rivalled only by the epitome of justice. The relationship between characters such as Batman and Joker stretch far beyond 'a bad guy doing bad things and a good guy doing good things'.

Why I always liked Batman and Joker is because they are just humans doing what they are good at. Because of this, the philosophy of right and wrong is played out by those two. In a cheesy sort of way there is a bit of Batman and Joker in all of us. They are the constant conflict of what we see as good and evil. Either try and understand that society is broken, but know that it doens't make structure pointless, or just do whatever because nothing matters. You're the worlds biggest Joke.

The other thing I like about the Joker is how utterly backwards he is. (Well Penumbra, that's pretty obvious) I know, but think how opposite he is to Batman. Where Batman is all Dark, angsty and scary, Joker is bright, joyful and happy. Where Batman desired to become the night because his parents are deeeeaaaad, Joker does what he does because he wants to. All the traits you'd find in a good guy are shown with Joker where the opposite is found with B-man.

The 'opposite but the same' relationship can be found in many stories. Such as Sherlock and Moriarty, L and Light, Doctor and Master. Even some of Batman's other villains are just opposite parts of him. Penguin uses his fortune to obtain more money, Batman uses his to fight crime. Mr. Freeze uses the love for his wife to find the willpower to do evil, Batman uses the love of his parents to do good.

Both the heroes and villains mentioned work outside of the law, are extremely talented at what they do and will never back down. I don't believe that this has ever been represented better that Batman and Joker. Joker gets my vote for being the single most evil person to ever be thought of. He has no restraint, no breaking point and no way he'll ever find your misery boring. Chaos for the sake of chaos.

tl;dr

Joker. For the lulz.

[Needlemouse]

Scorpius, from Farscape. 'Nuff said.

[TemplarFrost]

I would have to say my favorite is Vaas Montenegro from Farcry 3. He's so friggin' insane it's quite hilarious.

[Huscarl]

Saren Arterius. Absolutely brilliant villain. What made this character so interesting is that he wasn't necessarily evil, he had his mind twisted and he truly believed what he was doing was right. He basically wanted to save billions upon billions of people in his own perception, while the protagonist (Commander Shepard) is a huge obstacle for him, and wishes to destroy everything he has worked for.

On face value, you might see Saren as a typical one dimensional villain. Though when taking into account his point of view, what he truly believed to be right thing to do, makes the protagonist of the series the antagonist... This all gears up for sympathy for the antagonist for the ending of the game, when he (SPOILERS) realizes that he was just a puppet for a higher power.

Brilliant antagonist, brilliant game.

[TheInvisiblePony]

Joker hands down. Not just because he's funny (in a sadistic kind of way) but what he represents.

The absolute epitome of chaos rivalled only by the epitome of justice. The relationship between characters such as Batman and Joker stretch far beyond 'a bad guy doing bad things and a good guy doing good things'.

Why I always liked Batman and Joker is because they are just humans doing what they are good at. Because of this, the philosophy of right and wrong is played out by those two. In a cheesy sort of way there is a bit of Batman and Joker in all of us. They are the constant conflict of what we see as good and evil. Either try and understand that society is broken, but know that it doens't make structure pointless, or just do whatever because nothing matters.

tl;dr

Joker. For the lulz.

You know, I was expecting someone to pick the Joker for more or less the same reason. He really is great, isn't he? I think, by far, my favorite flip-flop contrast between the two is the backstory. Or rather, the lack-thereof on one part. I've always found it funny how amazingly in depth we go into Batman's psych, and get literally hours worth of backstory distributed throughout the various movies and comics. On the other hand, how much do they really go into the Joker's history? Aside from his lies, you don't get a terribly big one. I mean there is the Red Hood and the chemical plant, but we still barely know anything.

Yeah, great villain. Easily one of the best.

[Snowshoe]

I would have to say my favorite is Vaas Montenegro from Farcry 3. He's so friggin' insane it's quite hilarious.

Unf, Vaas. Quite a good villain, and all the props go to the voice actor for making him believable, and making me truly hate the character.

As for myself, I've got a few. Iago from Othello, for being so tweaked, and so magnificently evil. He destroys the lives of so many people, just over a little case of jealousy. While not a true villain in a sense. HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic is awesome. He's an assassin droid, and the only thing keeping him reined in is you...if you so choose. He's also snarky and hilarious, for a droid. Benny from Fallout New Vegas, for being pretty charismatic and awesome, tied with Mr. House from the same game for being able to manipulate EVERYONE, even through TIME. A pity that they had such a terrible voice actor for Benny. Finally, Col. Landa from that one Tarantino flick about WWII that I can't name due to the board filter. Landa is probably my favourite of this list, for being incredibly charismatic, manipulative, and downright evil all at the same time.

[TemplarFrost]

Okay, here are a few more of my favorites...

• Hector - Iliad
  
• Crimson Dynamo - Iron Man
  
• Venom - Spider-man
  
• Deidara - Naruto Shippuden
  
• Vaas - Farcry 3
  
• Handsome Jack - Borderlands 2
  
• Darth Nihilus - Star Wars (Old Republic)
  
• Azula - Avatar: The Last Airbender
  
• Vegeta - Dragon Ball
  
• Aku - Samurai Jack
  
• Barrels - PewDiePie
  
• Black Hand - Green Lantern
  
• Bizzaro - Superman
  
• Dark Phoenix - X-Men
  
• Galactus - Marvel
  
• Makarov - Call of Duty
  

Holy cow... I could go on for ages!

[TheInvisiblePony]

Well, I managed to collect some thoughts and provide a few more villains I adore.

For starters, there's Don Paulo from Professor Layton. He's just so over the top, its wonderful. He plays off of so many villain traits, and he's so abrupt in his appearances its perfect. Then there's the pope from assassin's creed 2. I... don't really care for this one. I just find it hilarious the pope is the games main villain. I adore Jack Spicer and Wu-ya from Xiaolin Showdown.

And then there's one of my absolute favorites: Jubal Early from Firefly. He's so eccentric you don't expect to get anything grand from him. Then he turns out to a decent fighter, and a crack shot. Then he goes full despicable in an instant and becomes quickly threatening, all the while maintaining a facade that he's only acting horrendous because its his job.

[DarkspinePrime]

Magneto's complex history and depth of character make him one of the greatest villains to date.

[Snowshoe]

And then there's one of my absolute favorites: Jubal Early from Firefly. He's so eccentric you don't expect to get anything grand from him. Then he turns out to a decent fighter, and a crack shot. Then he goes full despicable in an instant and becomes quickly threatening, all the while maintaining a facade that he's only acting horrendous because its his job.

Oh man, I totally forgot about Jubal. Best character ever.

"Am I a lion?" "What?" "I don't think of myself as a lion. You might as well though, I have a mighty roar."

Despite being hilarious, also manages to be downright evil. I wanted to punch him for what he did to Kaylee o.o

[Lerian]

I liked Bester from Babylon 5. He was a powerful enough villain for the cast, individually (A high powered psychic), and politically (part of governmental secret police), to be a constant challenge when needed but one they could not simply ignore or erase. I also liked his more human moments, (He pines/yearns for a lost love and laments the very society and organisation that gives him his political clout for example). I also like his casual arrogance and assumption of having power which plays to his advantage at times as many don't question him even when they could or should.

[Ciraxis]

And I will bring to the spotlight two of my favorite anime/manga villans. The first one being...

...a Dio Brando from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Ruthless, cruel, charismatic, jerk (it's understatement) and very very genre savvy. Also he killed many, many heroes (protagonist of part one even!) and even after his death he keeps haunting the story (in a way all plot after his demise is connected to him in one way or another). Also a badass vampire who despite the image above does not sparkle. I hate to love him

And another one being the Char Aznable fro Mobile Suit Gundam.

I don't even know where to begin writing about Char. He is essentially as influential to Japanese pop culture as Darth Vader is to Western. Had filled the many roles through the Universal Century - that of the rival, the mentor and finally something between evil dictator and well-intentional extremist (from his point of view, in truth he is delusional). What is most interesting in him in my opinion is his character development through the years and his very human flaws. Being petty and envious among them.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Oh oh, I think I've figured it out!

Slade, from Teen Titans.

[TemplarFrost]

Oh oh, I think I've figured it out!

Slade, from Teen Titans.

Cool pick!

Anyways, did you know that Slade's real comic book super-villain name is Deathstroke?

[Elderflower]

I have many and I could go on about this topic for a long time - I have a fondness for villain characters for many reasons!

For now, though, I'm sticking with Ozymandias (from Watchmen). Not only was he fabulous, he was also extremely well written with many facets to his characters. And major credit to Moore and Gibbons for making an omnipotent and omnipresent character that was actually omnipresent throughout the story - the colour scheme of Nostalgia perfume appeared through the entire story, especially during key moments (such as the Comedian's murder), and the ads were always popping up in the narrative as well. To keep this short: Ozymandias has a lot of awesome inter-textual qualities, he's ruthless and totally self-involved with faint traces of doubt that appear after he does some really horrendous stuff, he manages to get a one-up on Dr. Manhattan, and he's completely omnipresent in the fictional world of Watchmen as well as in the reader's world. Awesome!

[weesh]

Magneto's complex history and depth of character make him one of the greatest villains to date.

Agreed.

However, it is hard to think of a better villain than Darth Vader. If you ignore the new trilogy, he has it all.

Verbal in "the usual suspects" was outstanding as well.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Cool pick!

Anyways, did you know that Slade's real comic book super-villain name is Deathstroke?

Thanks!

And yes I did. Deathstroke the Terminator.

[Volt]

Oh, this one is easy as pie

Because really, their brotherly 'love' is so touching. Literally. Vergil is what comes to my mind first when I think of it.

[elsporko]

Giygue/Giygas from Mother/Earthbound is one of my favorite villains. The evolution of the character if simplistic yet fantastic. In mother Giygue is deafeated by the characters manipulating his emotions towards his adopted parents. In Earthbound you find out he has destroyed his physical body and emotions in order to overcome that weakness, resulting in an entity that can only be controlled by something called the "devil's machine" and when released is an uncontrollable source of power and emotion.

Another one of the greatest villiands of all time is Leland Stamper from Sometimes a Great Notion. Sometimes a Great Notion is one of the best novels of all time. Leland is amazing in how he is able to bring down a strong powerful character while still being sympathetic himself and unlike most antagonists he grows as a character and realizes how he himself is flawed.