Here are my 13 Favorite Villains from Science Fiction/Fantasy Movies:
1. Darth Vader (from Star Wars)- Probably the most quoted and mimicked villain of all time. He’s a classic. And James Earl Jones’ voice made that character cool.
Best Quote: “No, I am your father.”
2. The Borg Queen (fromStar Trek: First Contact) – I could have included The Borg as a whole to this one. But the Borg Queen had more interaction, besides just the same lines, “We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.” She gave a little reasoning behind the ruthless hive mentality. Half-human/half-machine. All evil.
Best Quote: “Watch your future’s end.”
3. Romulans (from Star Trek) – The Romulans are almost complete opposites of their distant ancestors, the Vulcans. As violent, emotional, and honor-bound as the Klingon race, Romulans are more racist and militaristic than their savage-like, sworn enemies. Their main goal is conquest. And they even went so far as to enslave some of their own race for profit, as explained by their deformed Reman sub-caste (being forced to live in darkness and subjected to radiation in order to mine their sister planet) in Star Trek: Nemesis.
Romulan Greeting/Farewell: “Jolan Tru”
4. Mystique (from X-Men)- beautiful, brutal, and blue. Mystique (aka Raven Darkholme) is a mutant and can change shape to mimic virtually anyone or anything. She’s been a terrorist, double agent, and worked for the good guys. But no one can really trust her. She always has her own agenda.
Best Quote: “People like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child.”
5. Lex Luthor (from Superman movies) – Superman’s arch nemesis is easily the most famous comic book villain. Driven by greed and a lust for power, the bald billionaire has fixated a vengeance on the Man of Steel. He is Superman’s opposite, devoid of morals and uses his exceptional mind to fight instead of brawn.
Best Quote: [to Zod and Company, at the half-wrecked White House] “Hi, everybody! The name’s Luthor, Lex Luthor. Possibly you’ve heard the name: the Greatest Criminal Mind Of All Time!”
6. Biff (from Back to the Future) – This bully is the villain for all 3 Back to the Future films, just in slightly different personas. He’s mean and strong, but quite dumb. So, when Marty (Michael J. Fox) out-smarts him, hilarity ensues.
Best Quote: “Why don’t you just make like a tree, and get outta here.”
7. Severus Snape (from Harry Potter) – Professor of potions, Snape definitely has it out for Harry. He has the classic appearance of a villain: the hooked-nose, greasy hair, and wan and peaked. Snape holds a grudge against Harry’s father, who used to pick on him as a youngster. Now, Snape takes out his spite on Harry and his friends. But he is probably the most complex of Rowling’s characters.
Best Quote: “Pity… Clearly, fame isn’t everything, is it, Mr. Potter?”
8. Baltar (from the original Battlestar Galactica movie) – The ultimate traitor, Baltar betrayed his entire race to the Cylons, whose main goal is to completely annihilate humanity. Acting as a liason between the Cylons and Colonials, Baltar agreed to lull the Colonials into a false sense of security so that the Cylons could stage a major attack. He thought he was making a deal to protect his own colony, while the Cylons would only attack the colonies. But the Cylons wiped out all 12 colonies, breaking their word to Baltar.
Best Quote: [When an approaching unidentified craft is spotted] “Possibly a Cylon welcoming committee?”
9. The Mice (from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) – It’s actually a spoiler for those who haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but the big reveal at the end was that the mice are the ones that insist on learning the question to the answer “42.” Earth, as it turns out, was the computer engineered to come up with the question. But since Earth was destroyed, and Arthur is the last remaining human, the mice want to dissect his brain to help reconstruct the question. The story and characters are zany and wacky, as only Douglas Adams can imagine.
Best Quote: “Still, the best laid plans of mice”
Arthur Dent: And men.
Frankie Mouse: What?
Arthur Dent: And men. The best laid plans of mice and men.
Frankie Mouse: What have men got to do with it?
10. Ra (from Stargate) – He’s a being with advanced technology who makes people worship him and kills those that won’t. I’d say that qualifies as a ruthless villain. With a sarcophagus that renews his youth and heals most injuries, Earth’s military decides the only way to take him out is with a nuclear bomb. Very cool.
Best Quote: (Not so hard, since he only had a few lines) “There can only be one Ra!”
11. Imhotep (from The Mummy) – He removes peoples, eyes, tongues, and other parts to restore his own body. This stomach-churning monster could give anyone nightmares. But like the best villains, there’s a reason behind his madness: love. Imhotep has an affair with Anck-su-namun the mistress of King Seti I. They kill him, but Anck-su-namun then kills herself, intending for Imhotep to resurrect her later. But before he can complete the ceremony, Imhotep is captured and mummified alive. When he’s wakened years later, he comes back in a vengence to get back his former lover.
Best Quote: “Death is only the beginning.”
12. The Reavers (from Firefly/Serenity) – You name an immoral act, the Reavers have done it: kill, torture, rape, cannibalize. They are actually the results of an experiment gone-bad. But there is no use trying reason with or rehabilitating them. They are now pure evil insanity. If someone is capture by them, they usually commit suicide before the Reavers can do anything to them.
Best Quote: None. They don’t speak, only growl.
13. Agent Smith (from The Matrix) – machines now control the real world and only use humans as “food,” allowing them to live in a dream world, “The Matrix.” Agent Smith is an artificial intelligence and has special abilities while in the artificial world. He is one of the Sentinels, or agents, programmed to keep order within the system. When Morpheus contacts Neo, the Sentinels begin following him to track down Morpheus and his group of rebels. His vendetta soon focuses on Neo instead of Morpheus, when people begin believing that Neo is “The One.” (The one to free humanity.)
Best Quote: “Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure.”
GREAT list! So many awesome villains, so little time….
Great TT Angela!
I love Mystique and Severus Snape. Actually both probably for the same reason, you never know what their intentions are. And gotta say I love your quotes!
I love this–Agent Smith is definitely number 1. I haven’t seen Serendity/Firefly and after that description I’ll be sure to avoid it.
I have a soft spot for Snape though–or maybe Allan Rickman I’m not sure which.
Hee. I never really thought of the mice from HGTTG as being villains, but now that you mention it…
Michelle – The Reavers are only in a few episodes of Firefly.. and rarely seen. It’s an amazing show! You should give it a try!
Darla – I had to add a humorous villain in there!
The reavers from Firefly gave me the creeps. And they were the reason my favourite character died (sniff). I also really liked the Terminator from T2. Silent and deadly.
The quotes are awesome!
Great list! The reavers were such excellent villains.
But I love Biff quotes >G
Excellent list, as usual, and I agree with you on ALL of them. And since it’s so early I’m drawing a complete blank for an additional villan.
Have a great TT!
What a fantastic list! I love Imhotep. Happy TT!
Definitely have to agree with Vadar and Mystique. Haven’t seen some of these, though. i just can’t get into Star Trek
Outstanding list. I concur with most of your list, although there was a couple I wasn’t as familiar with. Great TT!
Great TT! I have a sweet little cousin who, ever since she was tiny, has always had a thing for the villians. Scar, Snape, Jafar, Cruella DeVil. Interesing personality quirk.
But…but…Snape’s not a villain! No!! He’s not!
You just can’t put him in the same category as Darth Vader. Nope. Nuh-uh.
My TT’s up: 13 Cozy Things I like to do in Winter.
Colleen – Come on.. They don’t get much more evil than that. Didn’t you read the last book?! Or maybe you’re just in denial…
I must admit that I like Mystique too.
So many great villans. I know all of them except the Reavers. *sigh* I have never seen Firefly/Serenity. I want to though big time.
The Borg is the one I am the most afraid of, the idea of stealing one’s indviduality freaks me out the most.
Love that picture of mystique, she is one of my faves.
The Reavers are seriously scary. *shudder*
Though the Borg queen was very slimy. ick. *g*
Awesome awesome list. And Vader is definitely at the top of mine. Though I have to say that I think the best quote is “All too easy.”
Happy TT!
Great list!! Totally agree on the Borg Queen, Ra, Biff, and the Reavers.
Reavers freaked me! I love Firefly and the movie just made me so happy:) The whole idea of the reavers just grossed me out and I couldn’t sleep for a week. EWWW!
Great villians if there ever were a list.
Come check out this weeks TT and get some cool music to go with your villians.
Where’s The Master? Or the big Planet of Evil from Fifth Element? The Strangers from Dark City were far creepier than Darth Vader, and Scorpius puts them all to shame? How quick would the Romulans surrender to His Shadow from Lexx?
Great Blog- just love all those villians…….
I love all those guys. I’m not sure which is my favorite. How about the Emperor in Star Wars?
Mr. Smith was the only thing I liked about the Matrix.
These are all great. But, the Reavers scare me!
Didn’t you just love Firelfy and Serenity? My kid likes Slipknot and to me they look like Reavers. Very disturbing!
great villians, some of my favorites! loved hitchhikers guide to the galaxy! don’t know many who do! agent smith, very likely one of the scariest. i am a matrix fanatic. happy tt!
Fantastic list!
You gotta love a good villain. Without them the heroes are so boring. I might add Prince from Lexx or Scorpious from Farscape.
My Thursday Thirteen is up. It is #28 and it is about My 13 Trigger Foods.
Jeff – I hated the 5th Element. Can\’t say I\’ve ever watched Dark City. And Lexx wasn\’t a movie, as far as I know.
Dane – Again, Lexx and Farscape were TV shows.. not movies.. and TV shows I never got into at that. :/
Nancy – Ick!
I obviously have an affinity for Mystique.
Angela Dark City was awesome. A lot of people compare it to the Matrix, but it came out first. Very well done. I’ve watched that one a few times.
It looks super old.. don’t know if I’d find it anywhere. Maybe it’ll air on tv sometime.
Great list and yeah, Dark City is a good film, people do compare it to The Matrix but they’re different kinds of films, both good. You should be able to get a copy on DVD. Scorpius from Farscape for deffo and I’d also include Venom as another cartoon villain.
I would have added the underground people (Jason Robards and company) from Don Johnson’s first movie, based on an old Harlan Ellison story — A Boy and His Dog.
Great TT! Mine are up: thirteen culinary abominations from my childhood.
HEE! What a fabulous list! Loved the pics you posted, too. And LOL @ the mice! 🙂
Happy TT!
Great villians list. Met the Borg Queen, Alice Krige, at a convention once and talked to her for some time. She was lovely in both looks and personality. Very genuine.
Mystique kicks major booty!
I am learning so much from you!
A personal favorite Darth Vader quote is, “Bring them to me.” Actually I like everything he says. “He will join us or die!” “I’m on the leader.”…
Waah! You left Scorpious off the list! 🙁
Happy TT!
As the British on BBC America always say, “BRILLIANT!”.
Ra and Agent Smith would have been on my mind pretty early trying to come up with this list (I LOVE the movie Stargate).
But I forgot about Biff! I guess that means I need to re-watch Back To The Future I, II, and II.
Great list! I love the music they play when Darth Vadar enters the room! So….cool!
Darth Vader is my favorite. I have a t-shirt that I’ve worn thin and on my desk at work I have a button I got at the Hallmark store that plays the song he’s always walking around to. great stuff.
It’s interesting to see the process of Lex Luthor’s turn to the dark side on Smallvile. His evil side is really starting to show this season.
What about the Alien Queen from Aliens? Or the thing from The Thing (1982)? or The Joker from Batman? Or my number one pick, Khan Noonien Singh from the ST2: Wrath of Kahn.
The Alien was great.. but no great quote.. LOL
Joker was great too! I’m hoping Ledger does a good job with the next film.
But I’m probably the only Trek fan that didn’t love Wrath of Kahn. Kahn’s fake man-breasts made him too laughable than scary to me. LOL
Hehe…yea, there are some nasty guys here, but also those villians that you love to hate.
One of those villians that I love to hate is Ba’al from Stargate. He’s evil, there’s no doubt about it, but he’s witty and has an engaging smile. He’s another one who is in it for himself…even going so far as to team up with our SGC heroes if it benefits him in some way.
why isny sylar on there
GENERAL CHANG from STAR TREK VI THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY willing to frame two heros and trigger a galactic war gets vaporized, EMPORER PALPATINE, LUSTS FOR POWER AND CONTROL,KHAN NOONANfrom STAR TREK II and SPACE SEED wants revnge and blows himself and his followers up,MING THE MERCILESS ,FLASH GORDON wants to rule the entire universe,DALECKS and CYBERMEN, DR WHO ruthless and vile,ALIENS from INDEPENDENCE DAY wipeout whole cities and citizens GET BLOWN TO KINGDOMCOME,ALIEN from ALIEN monsters of the worse kind,LEGION OF DOOM from SUPERFREINDS they want to control the world or destroy it,DECEPTICONS ruthless,COBRA COMMANDER lust for power and control,SKELITOR evil,evil,evil,
BALTAR a traitor to the human race, JAWS from MOONRAKER his steel choppers,DR OCTOPUS his metal tenticles,SANDMAN he can change into sand and hide anywhere