What makes a good villain? Or rather, what makes a villain bad? Is it his clothes, his propensity towards violence, his malicious intentions? Or is there something human underneath those stereotypical qualities that makes one a true villain?
I think what separates a villain from a hero, besides the obvious, is their willingness to accept the dark part of their souls most of us work hard to push down. That embrace of the wicked side of human nature is always fascinating to watch, but it helps if they fuck everyone’s shit up too. I’m talking about the guys who make life a living hell for our favourite heroes and anti-heroes. Because even Tony Soprano and Vic Mackey have had their fair share of enemies, and it’s only proper I do a salute to the best TV villains of all time!
Spoilers Below!
1) Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) - The Wire
In a brilliant scene on The Wire, Avon Barksdale’s nephew schools a couple of hoppers on the rules of chess, comparing the pieces to players in the drug game. “The king stay the king,” D’Angelo tells them. Avon, of course, is the king villain on The Wire. He may not have been as fierce as Marlo, or as business-savvy as Stringer, but he was a cunning master of the streets, orchestrating murders that broke double digits, all the while insulating himself from the law through a complex network of pagers and pay phones. He handles disappointment with anger, but knows not to let his temper get out of control, like how he coldly scolds Stringer for making a poor business decision, or how he summarily disses a poor basketball referee after making a bad call (“Don’t ever let no nigga’ get up in yo’ face!”). His reign on top may have fallen apart at the end of season three, but he pops up later in season five to remind Marlo he still has sway from behind bars. Avon stayed the king even when he was dethroned, making him the best villain on TV.
Most villainous scene: on the rooftop overlooking Baltimore, Stringer and Avon reminisce over the good times, but all the while Avon knows a hit is being set up on Stringer, and he’s the one that will let it happen. Probably one of the best betrayal scenes in TV history.
2) Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) - Lost
Probably the most difficult man on Lost to figure out, Ben’s motives were always murky. Was he really just trying to protect the island, or did he have his own agenda all along? As with all the other show’s mysteries, this one puzzled Lost fans the most. He lied more convincingly than any other character on TV. Some of my favourite Ben moments include his first appearance when he tried desperately to convince Sayid and the other castaways he was a man named Henry Gale, and when he tried to kill Locke, not once but twice!
Most villainous scene: his bluff to the mercenary team holding his daughter hostage that he didn’t love her right before they shot her in the head. Imagine the last words you say to your kid are “I don’t love you.” Yeah, pretty fucked up isn’t it?
3) Vern Schillinger (J.K. Simmons) - Oz
Pronounced Shil-in-grr. Get it wrong and you might get a boot up your ass (or worse). And that’s no joke. Vern Schillinger was the most reprehensible prison inmate in his six seasons on Oz, raping, killing, and ruining countless lives, including one Tobias Beecher. Poor Beecher would have to endure the wrath of Schillinger over and over again. It cost him his wife, son, father, and anal virginity.
Most villainous scene: while the anal rape was bad and all, there’s no overlooking his orchestrating the brutal kidnapping and murder of Beecher’s son. That may have been the most awful turning point on any series.
4) Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) - The Sopranos
Of course Tony was probably worse on balance, but Ralph had to be the most sadistic character on The Sopranos. Beating a poor stripper to death who happened to be pregnant with his child and blaming her for it tops the list. But karma being a bitch and all, he eventually got his comeuppance at the hands of one enraged Soprano. Heads would roll.
Most villainous scene: beating a girl to death is pretty much as villainous as it gets.
5) Cancer Man (William B. Davis) - The X-Files
Just who was that chain-smoking dude that always hung around Skinner’s office in The X-Files, you ask? Part of the appeal of that show was not knowing who to trust (remember trust no one?), and there was no one more untrustworthy than old Cancer Man (re-named Cigarette-Smoking Man). His identity remains a state secret, and his origin an old conspiracy theory/wives’ tale. But that’s what was great about him. You never really knew what he was about or why he worked so hard to keep Mulder and Scully from finding the truth (or keep them alive for that matter). And while the revelation that he was actually Mulder’s dad may have been too Darth Vader for some, I liked watching him appear in and out of Mulder and Scully’s lives every so often to pull their strings.
Most villainous scene: he didn’t speak once in all of season one, but in season two his character finally has something to say in a great scene in “One Breath” when Mulder puts his gun on CSM and he says: “Don't try and threaten me, Mulder. I've watched presidents die.” Badass!
6) Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer) - The Simpsons
Because really, what list of villains would be complete without him? Ok, so he’s not raping and killing people Oz-style like our Nazi friend above, but he so enjoys being mean and greedy. Burns is the classic villain, a caricature of an old-school industrialist, John G. Rockefeller meets Mr. Slate. Even his body is villainous, from his greedy sneer down to his mighty hump, Burns evokes such a displeasing demeanour; it’s like he can’t help but be evil.
Most villainous scene: I get a chuckle at just about every Burns moment, but today I was laughing hard at “Last Exit to Springfield” when Homer and Bart are watching a movie where the bad guy gives out an evil laugh. Homer: “There's nobody that evil in real life.” Cut to Mr. Burns giving the same laugh as a maintenance man is hanging by a thread about to plunge to his death. Hilarious!
7) Antwon Mitchell (Anthony Anderson) - The Shield
Vic Mackey went up against some mean hombres in his day, but Antwon Mitchell was arguably the most reprehensible. He was as a fierce a gang leader as they come, charismatic and deadly at the same time. He proved the most difficult gangbanger the Strike Team ever faced, a constant thorn in Mackey’s side. I might dismiss him had he just been another stereotypical bad guy, but his undressing at the hands of Monica Rowling in the interrogation room was genius, and we saw Mitchell brought to tears twice. Even monsters can be a little sensitive sometimes.
Most villainous scene: Mitchell shoots a teenaged girl who snitched on his operation in front of Shane’s eyes, than blackmails them into doing what he wants. “When I tell you to suck my dick, you say, ‘would you like your balls licked daddy?’” Ouch!
8) Luther Mahoney (Erik Dellums) - Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide wasn’t as gritty as some of the other cop shows to emerge last decade (i.e. The Wire and The Shield), but in the 90’s, it was a pretty hard look at the killing streets of Baltimore. One of the best story arcs in the show’s seven season run was the Luther Mahoney killings that began in season four and continued into season six where it would end in a bloodbath and the end of one cop’s career. Mahoney was the drug kingpin the Homicide detectives couldn’t pin a murder on. He was always slipping through their fingers, usually by intimidating or murdering witnesses. This proved too much for Kellerman, who gunned Mahoney down at the end of season five in cold blood, lighting the match for the much more explosive season six.
Most villainous scene: the one that stands out the most is Kellerman shooting Mahoney of course. Kellerman whispers in his ear they had set him up. Mahoney dies before the paramedics arrive, a crooked smile on his face.
9) John Cavil (Dean Stockwell) - Battlestar Galactica
The most vindictive Cylon the Battlestar Galactica crew ever faced, Cavil was hell-bent on destroying humanity once and for all, and he did everything he could to manipulate his fellow Cylons into following his every command. But even he couldn’t stop them from falling victim to their own blossoming humanity, eventually falling way short of his dream to seeing the end of the human race.
Most villainous scene: his dressing down of his “mother” (Ellen Tigh) in the fourth season, demanding to know why she gave him such a feeble body, with its limitations and weaknesses, is excellent. It’s the only time I can think of when a character actually got to criticize their creator for the flaws in their creation. Brilliant.
10) Mr. Freeze (Michael Ansara) - Batman: The Animated Series
The Joker may seem like the obvious choice here, but for me and most BTAS fans, Mr. Freeze was the villain we all really rooted for. For a kid’s show to create such a complex and tragic villain is almost unheard of. Mr. Freeze’s motives went beyond black and white notions of evil and encompassed so much more, grief, loneliness, and vengeance just being some of them.
Most villainous scene: at the beginning of “Heart of Ice,” Freeze holds a snow globe in his hand and promises the wife he lost vengeance against the man that killed her. At the end of that episode, he sits in a jail cell holding that same snow globe, asking her for forgiveness.
