Crime paid off for these supervillains
Lord Dominator: “Oh, it’s magic
“I’m the Bad Guy” from Wander Over Yonder
to watch a planet
shrivel up and die
Oh, it’s thrillin’
to be a villain
I destroy their hopes
and then I watch. Them. Cry.
Cause I’m the Bad Guy“
What good is a superhero without a supervillain? Superheroes may stop disasters and catch random crooks, but without something truly menacing they’d just be people in silly tights waiting by the phone for something to do. Lucky for them, the world is filled with people who choose to use their astonishing powers for personal gain.
Fiends who rob and kill the innocent, who attempt world domination, and who just want to see the world burn. Supervillains. While there have been many supervillains, there are some who make the others seem like schoolyard bullies. It’s time to list the greatest villains.
List Criteria:
- They must be a supervillain, not an anti-hero (so no Catwoman, Magneto, Winter Soldier, etc.)
- They must have been adapted in a movie or animated series (no video games.)
- They will be judged by their deeds and how well they are adapted. (Acting similarly to the comic versions, unless the adaptation does something better.
Scene Select
#10 Supervillain: Kilgrave
Played By: David Tennant
Series: Jessica Jones
Kilgrave: “Before I met you, I got everything I ever wanted. And I didn’t realize how unsatisfactory that was until you left me to die. You are the first thing – excuse me, person – that I wanted that walked away from me. You made me feel something I never had before. Yearning. I actually missed you.”
Jessica Jones “AKA Top Shelf Perverts” (Season 1, Episode 7)
Kilgrave is a vile, manipulative monster. He has the ability of complete mind control and uses that power to do whatever he wants. He could make someone kill their family with a smile before jumping off a building. When Jessica Jones managed to escape from his control, he did everything he could to make her come back. He made her life a living hell, all out of “love”.
So why is he so low on the list? First, he has no real ambition. Throughout his run on the show, he does everything for the sole purpose of getting Jessica to love him once more. With his powers, he could control the Avengers, rule the world, do whatever he wants! Fortunately, all he wants is some random woman back under his control even if she is hot.
Unlike many supervillains, Kilgrave is not a physical threat and manages to get captured multiple times. He doesn’t do much aside from killing a few random people and threatening more. A sympathetic story and great acting simply can’t make up for a villain who isn’t a serious threat to humanity.
#9 Mister Freeze
Played By: Michael Ansara, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Series: Batman
Mr. Freeze: “Think of it, Batman. To never again walk on a summer’s day with the hot wind in your face, and a warm hand to hold. Oh, yes…I’d kill for that.”
Batman: the Animated Series “Heart of Ice (Season 1, Episode 1)
Victor Fries was a brilliant scientist whose wife was diagnosed with a terminal, incurable disease. Victor cryogenically froze his wife. When his boss tried to pull the plug for wasting company resources (maybe the boss qualifies as a supervillain), Victor attacked him and was knocked into a shelf full of chemicals.
The mixture left him unable to survive outside of a subzero environment. Desperate to avenge his wife, he created a suit that allowed him to survive and a freeze ray so he could show the world that revenge is a dish best served cold.
While originally a C-list villain, Michael Ansara’s performance in Batman: The Animated Series turned Mr. Freeze into an A-lister overnight. So when Joel Schumacher brought this tragic and normal-sized villain to the big screen in Batman and Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger was in that suit.
Arnie spent most of his screen time spouting one-liners like “Chill”, “Stay cool, bird boy“, and “What killed the dinosaurs? The ice age!” And to think he was one of the better things in that movie.
#8 Red Skull
Played By: Hugo Weaving
Series: Captain America: The First Avenger
Red Skull: Tomorrow, HYDRA will stand master of the world, borne to victory on the wings of the Valkyrie. Our enemies’ weapons will be powerless against us. If they shoot down one plane, hundreds more will rain fire upon them! If they cut off one head, two more shall take its place. Hail HYDRA.
Captain America: The First Avenger
What happens when Adolf Hitler decides to turn a bellhop into the ultimate Nazi? You get Red Skull. Trained by the best scientists, soldiers, and spies Nazi Germany had to offer, Red Skull was Hitler’s greatest operative. He soon realized that the Axis was going to lose the war. He gathered the Nazi’s greatest soldiers and scientists with a goal of making sure that they would survive and conquer the world. His goal: that no matter how many heads you cut off, two more would rise. Hence the name: HYDRA.
Hugo Weaving did a good job portraying Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. The supervillain is an evil counterpart to Cap and may have survived the movie. It’s not really clear if he died. Even if Red Skull survived, Weaving has said he isn’t interested in playing him again.
#7 Supervillain: Ozymandias
Played By: Matthew Goode
Series: Watchmen
Ozymandias: “Do it? Dan, I’m not a Republic Serial villain. Do you seriously think I’d explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”
Watchmen
Adrian Veidt was perhaps the most successful hero in the Watchmen universe. But as World War 3 neared, he realized something had to be done to stop the war. He gathered the world’s foremost psychologists, artists, scientists, and others with a single goal of saving the world. But when The Comedian discovered the horrible way war would be prevented, Adrian killed him.
Viewers don’t learn until the end that Adrian planned to create a Cthulhu-esque ‘alien’ that caused the population of New York to go mad and die from sheer terror. He then explained to the heroes trying to stop him that his monster would give the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. a common enemy and save the world.
The movie was faithful to the graphic novel, but studio execs changed the ending so that the world would turn against one of its heroes. Matthew Goode does a good job portraying Ozy as an almost Machiavellian figure, doing what he must to save the world whether or not it wants to be saved.
#6 Ultron
Played By: James Spader
Series: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ultron: “Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers… you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword, and the Earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me – it means nothing! When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world… will be metal.”
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Created by Tony Stark to replace the Avengers, Ultron became his greatest mistake. Programmed to save the Earth and empowered by the Mind Stone, Ultron decided that the best way to save the Earth was to exterminate humanity. In an attempt to create a perfect body for himself, he designed Vision, which Tony would later upload his A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. into.
James Spader did an excellent job humanizing a genocidal A.I. Perhaps a little too excellent, as the logical, threatening A.I. at times was just a little too humorous.
So that is the list of Supervillains numbered 6 through 10. Who do you think made the list of top 5 bad guys?
Our supervillain countdown continues with #5 through #1 — the Best of the Worst.
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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