You Can Only Name 100% Of These Villains If You're Very Good At Being Bad
- by Will Morgan
- – on
- in Movies and TV
Why does it feel so good to be so bad? Almost every piece of media that we consume is built around a hero, or an audience surrogate that we can identify with. A good guy. And in order for a good guy to even exist, there has to be an opposite force, a bad guy. The badder the bad guy, the more heroic the good guy can seem. Since almost everything has a hero and a villain, bad guys are a dime a dozen. But every once in a while a movie comes out a villain so diabolical, so rotten, so downright evil, that audiences simply flock to the theaters to see them ooze their vileness across the screen in hopes that they'll receive their comeuppance by the film's end. In some cases, audiences do not even car who the hero is. If they are going against this particular baddie, they are good enough for them to get behind!
If you are here taking this quiz, then congratulations, you are a baddie lover. You are a true connoisseur of the best of the worst and can appreciate a villain for their successfulness at their villainy. How well do you know cinemas best baddies? Are you a hardcore monster master? Or do you merely dabble lightly in the diabolical and the debaucherous? Let's see how many of these movie villains you can name!
What was the name of this Silence Of The Lambs baddie?
Sir Anthony Hopkins has that weird ability to give you the creeps and make you think he is going to kill you just by looking at you. I mean, he is probably not going to kill you. He is a respected actor that has been working for decades. If he was killing people left and right, you would have at least hear a rumor about it by now or something. He was at his most creepy playing this culinary character.
What was the name of the evil SS Colonel in Inglourious Basterds?
Quentin Tarantino is an absolutely amazing director and one of the finest American auteurs working today. But hey, he's not everyone's taste. But one thing that both his fans and his critics can come together and agree on is, the dude can cast a movie. Going back to Pulp Fiction, the guy made John Travolta cool again. Or rather, he reminded us that Travolta is cool. And he introduced American audiences to Christoph Waltz. Christoph Waltz absolutely chews the scenery here as this despicable Colonel.
What was the name of the clown from It?
Okay, I am going to need all of you to help me out with this one, alright? We all know that clowns are scary. That is almost a cliché at this point. In fact, let's get rid of the word 'almost'. But I can't remember, were clowns scary before the movie It? And no, I don't mean the one that came out less than a year ago. Be serious, here. The first one. The Tim Curry one. I'm going to say they were always kind of scary.
Who was Neo's nemesis in the Matrix?
Oh man, remember like 10 years ago when the Matrix had come out 10 years ago? Wow. Things get old fast. It was such a new and exciting film. It had action and cool new ways of shooting stuff and awesome goth costumes and weird acting and the kind of dorm room stoner philosophy that stoners in dorm rooms loved! It was all set to be the next huge film franchise! What happened? Well, the sequels happened. That's just too bad.
Who was the little evil goober in The Lord Of The Rings?
One of the most impressive aspects of Peter Jackson's seven billion hour epic version of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy was the digital effects used to bring this little monster to life. He had a split personality, you see. Sometimes he was all nice and cool and then he would snap and be a real mean jerk because he really like this ring. At least I think that's what was going on. It was a very long movie after all.
What was the name of that rotten lion in the Lion King?
This dude was one bad kitty. I mean, he killed his own brother! He let Mufasa fall off of that cliff when he totally could have saved him from being trampled to death by that stupid antelope herd. And then the big meanie let his poor nephew Simba feel the horrible guilt of thinking that he was responsible. And his plan of governance was horrible! Who in their right mind would think that allowing hyenas to roam free into the Pride Lands would work? This guy was a real jerk!
What is the name of the enemy of the X-Men?
This dude really hates those X-Men! Except sometimes he works with them. Sort of. Well, Professor X, at least. Like all things comic book related it is extremely complicated, way more so than it should be, and has multiple timelines, and the ones that are canon change depending on who is currently in charge. The coolest thing about this guy here is that he thinks he is a good guy. He's not doing stuff to be mean, he just has a different goal than those X-People.
What's the name of this American Psycho?
Even if you have never seen the movie or read the book American Psycho, you can at least probably safely guess two things about the main character. They are American and they are a psycho. Those assumptions hold up because this all American dude is freaking nuts. He's played by Christian Bale, who is suspiciously not American. He is a tightly wound coil that is so nerve wracking to watch because you can never tell when he is going to go off.
Who was this old school member of a gang of New York?
Daniel Day-Lewis is a very good actor. He played this part nearly a decade ago, and he is British, but I still imagine him speaking exactly like this character while he's lounging around his house. Well, a combination of this character and Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood. So, in this movie he plays a really nasty guy that likes to do terrible things to people and Leo is plotting revenge on him and Cameron Diaz is making faces. Good movie.
Who was this big meanie of Oz?
This lady is basically the original bad guy! Well, except for the devil I guess. Still, they are pretty close. I don't think that I'm giving too much away when I say that this lady is a witch. She resides in the magical land of Oz which is all kinds of screwed up. It has munchkins and flying monkeys, gold sidewalks, and some sort of benevolent wizard ruler. One day a kid from Kansas and her dog invade Oz and murder this lady's sister with a house and she vows revenge.
What was the name of that dastardly dean in Animal House?
If there is one thing in this world that I love above all else, besides cats, it is that silly cliche of the stodgy old college dean that is hellbent on getting the party frat expelled from school and kicked off of campus. The dean is inevitably shown up and receives comeuppance and then looks to the skies and rage screams the name of the frat or sorority into the night. It is like a fine steak! So delicious! That cliche came from here.
Who was the nurse in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest?
If you have not ever seen the seminal film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest you really should. I know it's an old movie, gross. But it is still talked about even though it's old because it's so good. First of all, it's a great script based on a fantastic play. Milos Foreman is a genius director. It was Jack at the height of his power. It has you DeVito and young Christopher Lloyd. And it has Louise Fletcher absolutely killing it here as the nurse in question.
Who is this fella with no nose?
This may be kind of a confusing question for those of you that did not pay very close attention while watching all sixty seven of those Harry Potter films. See, they kept on calling this guys stuff like "He Who Shan't Be Named" and "You Know Who" and stuff like that. So if that made you bored and hungry and you went out to get a snack, you may have missed it when they finally revealed his real name! But hey, at least we got some popcorn, right?
Who's the guy with the snazzy haircut?
When those rascally Cohen brothers adapted Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men for the silver screen, they really hit a home run and a lot of that was due to Javier Bardem's portrayal of the walking embodiment of death with a pixie cut. The dude just looked so cruel yet so darn dashing with those cold, icy eyes and rocking bangs. He was the perfect inescapable force that was set motion leading to the ultimate demise of Tommy Lee Jones. They didn't even have to get to the scene.
Who's the whiney guy in the new Star Wars trilogy?
In case you haven't been paying attention to the entertainment landscape the pst few years, allow me to catch you up. Disney owns everything, including Star Wars, so every single movie that comes out now is either a Star Wars or a superhero movie. There is a new trilogy and a whole new set of bad guys, including one of the whiniest in Star Wars history, played by Adam Driver. Well, until he becomes a good guy in the next one and Rey becomes a bad guy. You heard it here first.
Who was the bad guy in Die Hard?
It is a shame that there are people out there in this world right now as you read this that do not consider Die Hard the hands down greatest action movie of all time. How cold there even be a debate? Of all time! Personally, I blame the millennials. I mean, first they try to ruin Chili's, then they go for Die Hard. Die Hard has Bruce "Perfect Action Movie Star" Willis and is the perfect freaking script. Alan Rickman is perfect. Everything here is perfect. Let's move on.
Who's the guy in the halloween mask?
This guy is pretty darn scary. If you grew up a very long time ago and saw the original Halloween movie and it's sequel on late night TV past your bedtime on a cool October night, this is the guy that would visit you in your nightmares. The guy is almost an indescribably evil. Even the wise Dr. Loomis could only muster a few word to describe him, referring to him only as "The Shape". Have I mentioned that the gentleman is rather frightening?
What was the name of this no good Terminator?
There was a bygone, forgotten era, I'm going to call it the 90's, when sequels to giant movies were a huge, almost cultural shifting, deal. When a sequel to Terminator was announced, I don't remember what happened exactly, I was very young, but I'm sure it was exciting. And the movie was rad! It featured the Arnold Terminator as the good guy this time, sent to save John and Sarah Connor from this liquid metal baddie. The special effects were revolutionary for the time.
Who was the psycho in Psycho?
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the best filmmakers of all time. His films are so influential and hitchcockian that he changed his name to match! Now, that is dedication! The film of his that the most people are probably familiar with is Psycho. Everyone knows it is the story of a crazy dude that is obsessed with his dead mom and there is a shower scene. But it is forgotten just how messed up it was at the time. Going in, and for the first quarter of the movie, audiences thought it was a thriller not horror.
Who's the breakable person in Unbreakable?
Way back in the day, audiences would not giggle uncontrollably when there was a preview for a movie and M. Night Shyamalan's name appeared. No, at one time he was downright respected. Unbreakable may in fact be his best movie. It features Bruce Willis learning how to be a superhero once he learns that he can not be broken. Oh, and sorry. I guess simply revealing that there is a bad guy in the movie is a bit of a spoiler. So spoiler alert for this 20 year old film.
Who operated the chainsaw in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
In 1974, Tobe Hooper made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for almost no money and no one who has seen it has eaten barbecue the same way ever since. The story follows some no good rotten hippie kids as they stumble on The Family. The Family has been in the meat business for years. Grandpa was one of the best at knocking the cows out with one good hammer whack to the back of the head. This is one scary flick.
Who is the bad guy of Wall Street?
Man, watching Oliver Stone movies you really get a feeling that he hates an awful lot of people. And one particular type of person that Stone really hates is "The Man". And it doesn't get much more "The Man" than a slimy and cheating Wall Street exec. Stone serves up the American dream and flips it upside down, He reveals the dark underbelly of capitalism and both shines a light on what was happening at the time and is prescient about the future.
Who was the scariest part of Blue Velvet?
Okay so, Blue Velvet is a classic. But personally, I have never gotten into David Lynch. Everything he does is just too lynchian for me. Blue Velvet may be the most lynchian of all. What starts of as a simple tale of maybe rescuing a damsel that may be in distress spirals out of control into a suburban nightmare. Dennis Hopper is at his most frightening and also, scarily enough, at his most believable, as the nitrous huffing evil boss of it all.
Who is the baddie in Se7en?
First of all, you know you are dealing with a hardcore movie here because they put the number seven inside of the word seven! Only the most hardcore of films would even think of pulling off a stunt like that! This movie had Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman walking around looking at gross stuff until they finally caught the guy making the gross stuff. Then he sent a box to Brad Pitt and Brad Pitt wanted to know what was in the box.
Who was the bad guy from the first Star Wars trilogy?
Listen, this is an easy one. So let's not make this one more difficult than it has to be on purpose, all right? You know what I mean when I say 'the original trilogy'. Also, you know what I mean when I say 'Star Wars'. I don't need to specify 'A New Hope' or anything like that. And let's go with the freaking name that like almost every single person that isn't trying to be cute would say when they see him, so not Anakin, okay? Don't be difficult, please.
Who is the guy from A Nightmare On Elm Street?
Horror movies are usually cheap to make, don't require a lot of stars, and are fun to go to, so they have the potential to become pretty profitable. That can lead to them becoming a horror franchise. Nightmare On Elm Street took just that path, and it's child murdering star becoming the lovable goofball that 80s and 90s audiences flocked to see. The standard operating procedure of the franchise didn't really get going until part three but once it did, it was unstoppable! Until until part six killed it.
Who was the hockey masked man from the Friday The 13th franchise?
Friday The 13th is the ultimate horror franchise. I don't even think the people directly involved remember exactly how many moves they are up to at this point. In the first movie, some negligent camp counselors allow a kid to drown and his mom goes on a killing spree. Movie two, the kid shows up and starts killing. As the franchise goes on he gains and losses and gains various supernatural powers and abilities. Not even his mask stays the same. The one constant is he hates teenagers!
What was the name of the lady that wanted to murder all of those puppies?
This lady was the villain of the classic Disney film 101 Dalmatians. She was not a queen, or a witch, or a sorceress, or even evil. No, she was just a rich lady. There is something to be said for a character with a simple motivation. She was a simple rich lady that wanted a Dalmatian coat. There were a lot of Dalmatians available, so of course she was going to try and murder them. IT's like, who would not do the same thing if they were in her shoes?
What's the name of the meanest Mean Girl?
Out of all the villains on this list, this lady may be the meanest. I mean, she has a burn book that contains horrifying facts to use against both her enemies and her friends! Despite this, or maybe because of this, she's the most popular girl at North Shore High School. I remember when I saw this movie the first time, she was so unbelievably mean, that I cried. Then I imagined that she saw me crying and made fun of me, so I cried even more.
Who is the Batman's ultimate foe?
The Tao explains that for somethings we need to have that things opposite in order to define it. In order to have beauty, we must have ugliness. In order to have calm, we must have chaos. In order to have love, we must have hate. And in order to have the Batman, we must have this guy. This guy has been played by multiple actors over the years, each bringing different takes to the characters eccentricities. More will come. He will be around as long as Batman is.