Who's the first to come to mind when I say - Villain?

[Venusian Broon]

My instant reaction was 'the lord of the manor', but that's because, for some reason I squinted/scanned over the title too quick and read the OP as 'Villien'

 

[Robert Zwilling]

Lex Luthor

 

[Lafayette]

Dr. Doom. Second thought Caligula from 'I Claudious'

 

[Lafayette]

I know, I know first thought, but in all honesty the dishonor should go to Lord Foul.

 

[ckatt]

Yeah I'm pretty sure Darth Vader is the correct answer to that one.

 

[Capricorn42]

Child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, one of Roald Dahl's finest creations (he wrote the script) and gave me many nightmares as a kid.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Darth Vader and Dracula

 

[paranoid marvin]

Paul McGrath?


(I'll get my coat)

 

[Bren G]

Here are the results of the 2021 Truly Unscientific Study of Fictional Villains.

Darth Vader is far afield of his canny contenders, Cruella Deville a distant second. The remainder equally distributed which shows a great diversity of choices and since there are many I hadn't heard of (Flowey?), some good targets for my reading list!

Anyone surprised either way by these truly unscientific results?

 

[alexvss]

The Lord of Darkness from Legend.

 

[MartinC]

The execs who cancelled Firefly after half a season? Am I showing my age and nerdiness?!

 

[Pyan]

Not at all. That would be Fox, the only TV company whose name is almost what SF fans call them when Firefly is mentioned.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Dick Dastardly

Darth Vader

In that order.

(I always thought the word villain had a pantomime quality to it which is why DD was the first to pop in my head. Then Madame Medusa and Cruella deVil)

 

[pogopossum]

Obidiah Hakeswill.
I made the point elsewhere that the worst villains are those who misuse great talent.
So Sauron would certainly qualify as would his mentor Morgoth.
My first choice above would not, but he is so wretched that he does qualify on any list of scum.
Napoleon from Animal Farm? Kurtz from Heart of Darkness? Ramsey Bolton, Emporer Palpatine?

 

[Astro Pen]

Lee Van Cleef as 'Angel Eyes'

 

[reiver33]

Hans Gruber, if only for his sheer enjoyment of crime

 

[Juliana]

I've always thought Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter is tremendously effective because we've all encountered her sort of petty villainy in our lives. The large-scale villains are easier to distance from, but she has a believable immediacy that hits very close to home.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Sauron.

 

[BAYLOR]

Kane The Mystic Swordsman
Gaynor the Damned
Lord Aroich
Nyarlathotep
Misquamacus
Darken Rahl
Golesh Heldane

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Of the ones I recognise, we seem to have a fondness for intelligent menace.

Cruel, rather than brutal? Like the aforementioned Servalan... ooh, Servalan