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I was reading USA Today over breakfast today, and noticed that they declared our very own Darth Vader as the best (ie most evil) movie villian ever. Sorry Kahn.


If anyone cares, the rankings were as follows:
Darth Vader
Norman Bates
Bruce (ie the shark from Jaws)
Hannibal Lecter
Nurse Ratched
Hal 9000
Jack Torrance
Alex Forrest
The hillbillies from Deliverance
Freddy Krueger

Darth Vader beat Hannibal Lecter? That's no mean feat.

Cool, it's a pity the Emperor didn't make the list though, I've always seen him as more evil the Vader.

BTW I don't think that you could describe HAL or the shark as evil, the former was a computer following it's programming and the later was an anima.

HAL wasn't evil, what happened was the result of two conflicting orders.

The hillbillies from Deliverance, on the other hand ... *shudder*




"I can make a chicken smile ..."

Wait a second. Nurse Ratched? From "One Bird Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? How was she a movie villain? She was unpleasant, yeah, and was pretty rotten, but not what I'd call villainous.

Gil Hamilton wrote:HAL wasn't evil, what happened was the result of two conflicting orders.

No, he wasn't evil, just insane. That doesn't change the fact that he was definitely the villian of 2001.

Gil Hamilton wrote:Wait a second. Nurse Ratched? From "One Bird Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? How was she a movie villain? She was unpleasant, yeah, and was pretty rotten, but not what I'd call villainous.

She's the villain of the movie. She doesn't have to be out for World Domination to be considered villainous, indeed, the qualities you already pointed out - unpleasantness and rottenness - can be attributed to villains.

Don't forget - she was a total bitch, and IIRC seemed to enjoy controlling the ward and was harsh to the people in it. It's been awhile since I last saw it though.

Still, number five on the top ten is rather odd.

Regarding the Emperor being more evil than Vader, I'm going to guess that this poll is focused primarily on screen presence. Therefore it makes perfect sense that Darth Vader is number one, because he has one of the strongest screen presences as a cinema villian.

Hannibal Lecter is rather overrated, in my opinion. He's more creepy than anything else, and should have been lower down on the list. About the most geekiest villian there is, actually, because of his reliance of theatrics.

Gil Hamilton wrote:HAL wasn't evil, what happened was the result of two conflicting orders.

You don't have to be evil to be a villain.

The term "best" villain can mean many things. But Darth Vader was the best movie villain on numerous fronts, perhaps even more so because of his change of heart at the end. That, and his ruthless style in earlier films, gives him the top spot.

Stormbringer wrote:No, he wasn't evil, just insane. That doesn't change the fact that he was definitely the villian of 2001.

An antagonist and a villian are different things. For instance, Watto in Phantom Menace wasn't really a villain, but he certainly was an antagonist, as he was a contrary force to the main characters.

Stofsk wrote:She's the villain of the movie. She doesn't have to be out for World Domination to be considered villainous, indeed, the qualities you already pointed out - unpleasantness and rottenness - can be attributed to villains.

Don't forget - she was a total bitch, and IIRC seemed to enjoy controlling the ward and was harsh to the people in it. It's been awhile since I last saw it though.

She was a bitch, rotten, unpleasant, et cetera (which was completely accurate -- that's how asylums were run during that time period), but she wasn't particularly villainous.

Pretty cool.

Though the Shark from Jaws is Bruce?

Cool name.

Ghost Rider wrote:Pretty cool.

Though the Shark from Jaws is Bruce?

Cool name.

That's what the paper said, though it didn't elaborate on where it came from.

Gil Hamilton wrote:She was a bitch, rotten, unpleasant, et cetera (which was completely accurate -- that's how asylums were run during that time period), but she wasn't particularly villainous.

Maybe the fact that she wasn't a cartoony villain is why she landed there. She's the type of villain you can run into in your ever day life. Maybe she's your boss.

Vader probably told the editor to make him first or he would have force choked him!

Soontir C'boath wrote:Vader probably told the editor to make him first or he would have force choked him!

There's nothing wrong with being evil to win a most evil contest.

Well, was this specifically a "best" or "most evil" poll? Because the terms frankly aren't mutually analogous.

Soontir C'boath wrote:Vader probably told the editor to make him first or he would have force choked him!

Probably afraid James Earl Jones will use the "voice" on him - he needs to be nominated as the voice behind the fear and terror. Amazing actor

Wicked Pilot wrote:

Ghost Rider wrote:Pretty cool.

Though the Shark from Jaws is Bruce?

Cool name.

That's what the paper said, though it didn't elaborate on where it came from.

Apparently it was a nickname the shark prop picked up on the set.

and homaged to in Finding Nemo

We need an evil team.

Hannibal Lecter AND Nurse Ratched...together.

Enola Straight wrote:We need an evil team.

Hannibal Lecter AND Nurse Ratched...together.

How about Nurse Ratched and Alex Forrest together in an evil lesbian porno? There're people here who would go for that. You know who you are.

Norman Bates being second after Darth Vader is a bit too much. He is overrated. Darth Vader owns 11 mile long battleship and strikes terror throughout the galaxy and all Norman has is a motel.

evilcat4000:

the OP says:

Wicked Pilot wrote:... the best (ie most evil) movie villian ever.

So they should be rated on the quality of their evil, not the quantity.

Of course Vader would stand to win the quantity (most evil, not best evil) hands down as well, unless you include Tarkin in the survey.

Now what is the population of Alderaan again? ... What Alderaan?