For the 3rd installment of my periodic series in which I select who/what I think are the 4 ultimate in a given category, I'm focusing on fictional villains. To me, the four characters below represent the vertex of villainy.Darth Vader
Hannibal Lecter
J.R. Ewing
The Wicked Witch of the West
What four fictional characters would you put on your Mount Rushmore of villains?
8 comments:
Excellent, well thought-out choices Malcolm. While J.R. may seem weak compared to the others, he epitomized the "love to hate" type of villain in the 70s.
Two others that come to mind as strong candidates for me are Lex Luthor and Tony Soprano. Lex being complex, and slowly building toward evil, at least in some incarnations, much like Vader's path was finally explored in the final Star Wars. Tony is a modern version of the love-to-hate villain, but more developed and nuanced than J.R.
Keep these coming!
Malcolm, I think of villains as the comic book villains who choose to be bad like Lex Luthor, Doc Oct, Catwoman, The Joker, The Riddler,Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, etc. Bellog in Raiders of the Lost Ark would also be one.
I'd've had to have included The Joker in mine...I do agree with Dr. Lecter, tho :-)
I'd agree with Hannibal Lecter, but wouldn't really pick the others (not in my top four anyway). Especially not Vader, since he basically reformed and ceased to be a real villain.
My Four would be:
#4 The Joker (either portrayed by Cesar Romero or Heath Ledger, or in stories done by Denny O'Neil or Alan Moore).
#3 Doctor Doom. Hey, He's friggin' Doctor Doom. Nuff' said.
#2 Mongul. Jim Starlin basically created a second version of Marvel Comics' Thanos for DC Comics. Most of Superman's villains annoyed the hell out of him but were only rarely truly lethal. Mongul, in his pre-Crisis of Infinite Earths form, could beat the holy crap out of the Man of Steel. No contrived Doomsdays either ... he could lay Superman out (along with Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Starman and part of the Legion) and, more importantly, he knew how to piss the big guy off. Find and read the story "For the Man Who Has Everything" by Alan Moore. The single word - "Burn" - says it all.
#1 The Daleks. Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, the menace and villainy of the Daleks trump everything on the table.
Your mileage may vary, of course :)
Would love to agree with you on Darth, but after the newest trilogy installments showing the rise of Darth Vader (and the fall of a decent script), plus the fact that he reforms himself takes him off the list. I'd put Palpatine on the list before Vader....but I won't.
Here's my list.
#1 on the list (and not a surprise to those who know me) The Joker. He is the epitome of evil in my opinion, especially as you see him in story arcs like The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum. Plus, Ledger's performance still gives me chills.
#2 on the list for me is Hannibal Lecter. Can't go wrong with him.
#3 is an entire race - The Predator. Sure, they may have allied with humans from time to time, but these are a race of ruthless hunters that will stop at nothing to collect their trophies.
and last, but not least, at #4 I have to say the trio of bad guys in the movie The Strangers. Not sure who has seen the movie or not, so no spoilers, but these folks are pure ruthless.
Malcolm, I don't know about 4 villains, but both Jack Nicholson's and Heath Ledgers Jokers were pretty villainous.
I like your list
I would add Voldemort to mine :)
He's a creep!
Jamie: What I loved about J.R. is that he was a multi-faceted character. In addition to the various aspects of his character that were revealed on "Dallas", I have a book I bought during the show's prime that provides detailed bios on each character. Fascinating stuff for a pop culture junkie like me.
Lex Luthor almost made my list. I've only seen a couple of episodes of The Sopranos. If I ever get a chance, I'll dive into it from beginning to end.
The next Mt. Rushmore will hopefully be this week!
Anon: Thanks for commenting.
Janet: The Joker was under consideration for my Mt. Rushmore. As you can guess, narrowing my list down to 4 wasn't easy. :-)
Rich: Even though Vader reformed, I can't discount his reign of terror during his time spent on "The Dark Side". :-) Although our Mt. Rushmores are vastly different, I love this stuff because I'm intrigued by what people choose and why.
Dane: Eps. 1, 2, and 3 were pretty much a waste of time. I still can't hold that against DV though. Maybe I'll watch "The Strangers" and see if they rank up there with General Zod, Ursa, and Non from "Superman II".
Pjazzy: Until I saw Heath Ledger's portrayal, I didn't think anyone could top Nicholson's rendition of The Joker.
Penny: Although I'm not into Harry Potter, I will take your word on the creepiness of Voldemort. Thanks for taking part.
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