Professor Padraic Ratigan
24 Points, 1 List, #2 The Lurker
ProfileProfessor Padraic Ratigan is the central villain of the Basil of Baker Street book series and The Great Mouse Detective film. A criminal genius rat, Ratigan often tries to exude class and charm but underneath it all is a violent savage with a short temper. In particular, he gets extremely upset when labeled a “rat”, as he prefers to consider himself a mouse. He is the archenemy of the genius detective Basil of Baker Street, a mouse who has matched wits with him many times. In the film, Ratigan was played by Vincent Price (who claimed it was one of his favourite roles as he got two songs to sing in the film).
Eleanor Shaw Iselin
24 Points, 1 List, #2 Cole Stratton
ProfileEleanor Shaw Iselin is the main villain in The Manchurian Candidate. The wife of ultra conservative senator John Iselin, in reality she is the brains behind the campaign plotting to get her husband into power by any means necessary. She is also a communist agent and proves that “by any means necessary” isn’t just words, as she allows her own son brainwashed and turned into a sleeper agent assassin in order to further her own ends. Even without it, Iselin has a tight psychological grip on her family. Despite this, she has a twisted love for her son, perhaps even a sexual attraction towards him, and vows revenge against the communist operatives who were directly responsible for the brainwashing (she thought it was just going to be some rando). In the film version, Angela Lansbury played Iselin, earning her an Oscar nomination. I hear the remake isn’t actually that bad either.
Al Swearengen
24 Points, 1 List, #2 F-Zero
ProfileAl Swearengen is a pimp and entertainment entrepreneur in the TV series Deadwood and is based on the real world figure of the same name. Al runs the Cricket, a brothel and in the first season proves that he is not above murder to get what he needs, setting him up against Seth Bullock, a former gunslinger turned businessman. Al is a bit of an anomaly on this list as over the course of the series, he is never redeemed in the conventional sense but for the good of the community, Al ends up becoming community leader and though he and Bullock are often at odds ethically, Al turns from villain to antiheroic co-lead. As Deadwood is a show about the birth of a community, this makes sense as characters who have every reason to be opposed to each other are forced to find ways to work together, especially when George Hearst comes into town. Al is known for his ruthlessness but he is often very human as well, particularly when he got a kidney stone (don’t laugh, they were killers back then). That doesn’t stop him from being abusive and bullying to get what he wants however. Al is also known for his poetic vulgarity and sardonic humour and is a role played to a cocksuckin’ tea by Ian McShane.
The Grim Reaper
24 Points, 1 List, #2 CJones
ProfileJust, you know, Death. Death has been personified in many pictures and myths as a “Grim Reaper” a skeleton holding a scythe which he uses to harvest lives. Whether it be in video games, movies or just the mind, the Grim Reaper is a classic image of dread. Of course, there are also quite a few non-evil personifications of death such as Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, The Discworld book series and the Sandman series of comic books. None the less, should you see this guy/girl, turn the other way and run.
Kane
24 Points, 1 List, #2 Linszoid
ProfileI’ll let Wikipedia handle this one:
“Kane is a fictional character in the alternate history universe of Westwood Studios' and Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games in which he is a seemingly immortal mastermind behind the ancient and secretive Brotherhood of Nod society. Little is truly known about Kane; many of his followers draw a direct connection between him and the Abrahamic figure of Cain, which he does not go out of his way to confirm or deny. Considered a charismatic and brilliant sociopath by the outside world, Kane is seen by his followers as a holy figure and a messiah.
Kane's origins in the 1995 Command & Conquer series date back to the 1996 game Command & Conquer: Red Alert, in which he can be seen acting in an advisory capacity for USSR leader Joseph Stalin during an alternate World War II fought between the Allies and the Soviet Union. After Stalin's assassination in this timeline, Kane disappears from the political scene, re-emerging in the 1990s to lead the Brotherhood of Nod, a quasi-religious terrorist organization. Over the course of the next fifty years Kane's Brotherhood of Nod engages in an ongoing conflict with the Global Defense Initiative, a multinational military force backed by the United Nations. The conflict between the two parties is characterized by long periods of cold war between the two factions separated by periods of brief but violent military combat on a global scale. Typically, these periods of open conflict coincide with or occur during periods when Kane re-emerges to personally lead the Brotherhood of Nod, while the periods of cold war typically occur during times when Kane is absent from the Brotherhood of Nod. Kane's last appearance was in the 2010 game Tiberium Twilight, in which he and his followers were last seen entering the extraterrestrial Threshold 19 tower, from which they vanished from the Earth.”
White Goodman
24 Points, 1 List, #2 Fluncheon
ProfileWhite Goodman is the main villain of the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. The CEO and spokesman of his own company, Globo-Gym, White began as a fat slob and through willpower and determination became a fitness guru. However, it didn’t make him a better person beyond the physical (and even that’s just OK) as he is childish, bloviating and self-obsessed to an extent that he feels the need to denigrate others. When Globo-Gym’s weak competitor, Average Joe’s, enters a dodgeball tournament to get money to stay afloat, White creates a Globo-Gym team to take them out purely out of pettiness. White is played by Ben Stiller.
Baltar
24 Points, 1 List, #2 RVR II
ProfileWikipedia again:
“Count Baltar was a leading antagonist in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) television series. The character betrayed the human race to its enemy, the robot race of Cylons. He was portrayed by Canadian actor John Colicos.
Material deleted from the final broadcast of the episodes explains that Baltar had originally been a Colonial military officer, who led an expedition to discover new sources of tylium for mining. After discovering a particularly rich tylium deposit on Carillon, Baltar decided to go into business for himself, leaving the military. He falsified records, declaring Carillon too minimal for mining, and set himself up with the Cylons and Ovions, who were also mining Carillon.
Towards the last years of The Thousand Yahren War between the Cylons and the Twelve Colonies of Man, Council of Twelve-member Baltar acts as a liaison between the Twelve Colonies and the Cylons, and arranges for a peace conference that would bring an end to the war, with the Cylons apparently conceding defeat. Unknown to the Colonials, however, Baltar has made a deal with the Imperious Leader of the Cylons: Baltar would conduct the peace conference to lull the Colonials into a false sense of security, while the Cylons prepared for a massive attack on the Colonial military and the Twelve Colonies. In return, the Imperious Leader promised Baltar that his home colony would be spared from the attack, and Baltar would be installed as its dictator. It is never stated which of the Twelve Colonies was Baltar's home. The original script states that he was from "Orion", but as this did not make the final version, its canonicity is debatable. Since the Cylons are dedicated to the complete annihilation of humanity, the Imperious Leader goes back on his word, and destroys all twelve Colonies in the attack.
A handful of humans flee in civilian ships, under the protection of the (apparently) sole surviving battlestar, the Galactica. In the meantime, Baltar goes before the Imperious Leader aboard his flagship, enraged that the Cylons had not held up their end of the bargain. The Imperious Leader coldly responds by explaining that every human being must be exterminated, and then sentences Baltar himself to death, reasoning that any being who would see his own race destroyed could not be trusted. As originally depicted in the theatrical version, Baltar is supposedly decapitated when one of his Cylon escorts holds him fast and the other draws its sword across Batlar's throat. However, when the film was presented on television preceding the television series, the scene was reshot so that the Imperious Leader instead orders that Baltar be brought away for public execution, presumably to a prison baseship or the Cylon homeworld. Soon thereafter, however, the Imperious Leader is destroyed when his basestar gets too close to the exploding planet Carillon.”
Randall Flagg
24 Points, 1 List, #2 Goflyblind
ProfileWikipedia again:
“Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by American author Stephen King, who has appeared in at least nine of his novels. Described as "an accomplished sorcerer and a devoted servant of the Outer Dark," he has supernatural abilities involving necromancy, prophecy, and influence over animal and human behavior. His goals typically center on bringing down civilizations through destruction and conflict. He has a variety of names, usually with the initial letters "R. F." but with occasional exceptions, such as Walter o'Dim, originally envisioned by King as a separate character, in The Dark Tower series and Marten Broadcloak.
Flagg first appeared in The Stand as a demonic figure who wreaks havoc after a plague kills most of the population. He makes his second appearance in The Eyes of the Dragon as an evil wizard trying to plunge the fictional medieval city of Delain into chaos. Flagg was a primary antagonist in King's epic series, The Dark Tower, who tries to keep protagonist Roland Deschain from reaching the Tower—the linchpin of existence—so he can claim it for himself and become a god. The Dark Tower expanded on Flagg's background and motivation, linking his previous appearances. Aside from King's novels, Flagg was featured in a television miniseries adaptation of The Stand, in which he was portrayed by Jamey Sheridan, and The Dark Tower film adaptation, in which he was portrayed by Matthew McConaughey. He has also appeared in Marvel Comics' adaptations of The Dark Tower and The Stand.
King initially cited Donald DeFreeze, primary kidnapper of Patty Hearst, as his inspiration for Flagg. Later, he attributed Flagg to an image of a man walking the roads in cowboy boots, denim jeans, a jacket, and most importantly wearing a hat (according to Stephen King himself), a notion which "came out of nowhere" when he was in college. Flagg's character and the nature of his evil have been the subject of considerable critical attention.”
Mr. Glum
24 Points, 1 List, #2 Psycho Goatee
ProfileVillains wiki:
“Mr. Glum is villain in the Savage Dragon comics and one of the main villains.
In the realm known as Dimension-X was a planet called Glum World that was inhabited by a race of diminutive red-skinned aliens. This world was ruled over by the dictator known as Ba-Goom. Eager to prove what a talented warrior he was, Ba-Goom decided to target Dragon for death. The hero had gained a reputation following his confrontation with Deathseed which made him the perfect selection for Ba-Goom to gain respect.
Ba-Goom teleported to Earth where he prepared to make his move against Dragon but his teleportation device was broken by the young Angel Dragon. Stranded on this planet, the alien made the best of his situation and befriended the child who dubbed him Mister Glum. Dragon dismissed the threats made by Glum and allowed him to live with him in the Dragons’ family home. ”
Evil the Cat
24 Points, 1 List, #2 Stethcantus
ProfileVillains wiki:
Evil the Cat is one of the villains from the Earthworm Jim series. He was voiced by Edward Hibbert in the animated show.
Simply put, Evil the Cat is evil given the form of a cat. Evil rules Planet Heck, which he modeled to shape his vision of evilness, with spikes, slippery cliffs, fiery pits, ghosts, lawyers and elevator music. Evil then decided to expand his distorted vision to the entire universe, making it to look like his planet. When Earthworm Jim came to his planet, while giving chase to Psy-Crow, Evil decided to take Jim's supersuit, since it would allow him to conquer the universe. Evil managed to get the suit, then tried to disintegrate Jim with his huge fireball cannon, but Jim retrieved the suit and killed Evil's nine lives.
Evil has a cousin named Flatigious, who runs The Circus of Scars. During the summer in Heck, they switch jobs, with Evil running the circus. Evil would meet Jim at the circus some time after his defeat, and attempt to kill Jim again, but to no avail.
In the cartoon series, Evil has a different goal in mind, trying to destroy the universe instead of conquering it. There, he has a minion called Henchrat who helps him search the universe for apocalyptic artifacts. ”