Bad Guys/Villains we didn't root for

[Drtooth]

There are some bad guys who I like better than the stars, like Boris and Natasha, Dr. Evil, many of the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villians (particularly Krang), some of Darkwing Duck's enemies (Megavolt, Quackerjack, Steelbeak), King Koopa, Dick Dastardly and Muttley, Wile E. Coyote, and some others. And I often want them to win.

And there are other villians I like but usually don't root for. For example, I like Elmer Fudd better than Bugs Bunny, but I usually don't want him to defeat Bugs Bunny (there are the occasions when I feel sorry for him, most of which are in non-Bugs cartoons like Doggone People).

Krang is the one thing about the old series I love more than the new series, the movies, and the original comics combined. Other than that, I really think the old version of Baxter Stockman was weak, and some of the toy monster mutant types were just added in to sell figures. Really. The new series Baxter Stockman was the best villain in that show. Especially Insane in the Membrane, which has become my favorite episode of anything now.

As for Elmer, I never viewed him so much as a villain as an antagonist. He isn't inherently evil (unlike Yosmite Sam), but he is a hunter, and a force against Bugs Bunny. Though, much as I love the wascally wabbit, he seems to deserve it now and then.

Now, it's hard to say a villain I don't route for, or at least prefer to the heroes or even like just as much as the others. Villains are usually the most interesting characters in the show. You think I watch PPG for the girls?

Now, off the top of my head, any villain in a Muppet Movie ('cept Piggy in Oz). Going up against any Muppet is true evil in my book. I'm not a huge fan of Glee, but that evil sports coach needs to be punished at the end of every episode ( where's Dokurobe when you need him?)... I really hated the pipe organ in the Beauty and the Best Christmas cheapquel, even though he was voiced by Tim Curry... come to think of it, I really disliked that whole movie. Dr. Wily in the video game only, especially when they do that hackneyed spaceship disappearing reappearing schtick... come to think of it, does ANYONE root for the bad guy when they're playing opposite him in a video game? But as far as Captain N and the Mega Man cartoon series are concerned, he's one of the best characters. Why, Scott McNeil's Dr. Wily is the ONLY reason to watch the Mega Man cartoon.

Oh, and anyone who was trying to kill King Kong in that movie. Sorry, but I consider King Kong to be the hero of the picture.

 

[D'Snowth]

The Chad was the best part of that movie. *Laughing Out Loud*

"Starfish? Where are you going Starfish? Are you going swimming? Are you going swimming right now Starfish? Is it the boat? Is it the dock? Is it the Chad?"

 

[scottishpiggy]

Oh wait, I just happened to think... Sweeney Todd seems to have a HUGE following, particularly amongst emos and girls.

Oops. Seems I fall in this bracket To be fair, I love Tim Burton movies in general.
And Im not Emo. Oh no. Im goth. Get it right! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[Drtooth]

A couple more I remembered. I HATED the Nude Beach Planet scam artists in Bender's Big Score. Even Robo-Santa teamed up with the heroes to destroy them. I'm only going to buy his action figure cuz I found it somewhere cheap, and you have to get the entire 3rd series to build Robo-Santa. And he comes with the torso.

And I really am NO fan of Lord Dregg and Mung from the last 2 seasons of TMNT. Krang and Shredder were endlessly hilarious, even on a bad "look what mutant we created and now want to sell toys of" episode... Rat King was both freaky and funny, given how the script treated him. Fly Baxter was fun, though not half as cool as his 2k3 series counterpart. There were a couple really lame characters that were in one episode. But Dregg was the most generic space villain there is. No fun personality, and just a general evil force that wanted to conquer the planet. Boring.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

Is this confined to only movies/tv shows/cartoons, or can it be about real world villians?

 

[ryhoyarbie]

On the subject of 80's/90's cartoon villians, I always enjoyed watching Negaduck and wished there was an episode or two part episode where he tried to destroy F.O.W.L and meeting and trying to take out Steelback in Darkwing Duck.

It's hard to not go for Shredder and Krang in the 80's Ninja Turtles series. Those two crack me up.

 

[minor muppetz]

Other than that, I really think the old version of Baxter Stockman was weak, and some of the toy monster mutant types were just added in to sell figures. Really. The new series Baxter Stockman was the best villain in that show. Especially Insane in the Membrane, which has become my favorite episode of anything now.

I wonder if Baxter Stockman really deserved what he got from the events of his first appearance. As far as I know, that's the only incarnation of Baxter Stockman to have only good intentions for inventing the mousers (from what I've read, the comic book had him invent them to rob banks, while the 2000s series had him invent them as a cover for robbing banks). In his first appearance, after Baxter goes home from working with Shreddar, Shreddar sends his foot soldiers to kill him for knowing too much. Baxter ends up getting tied up and eventually tells the turtles about Shreddars plans (after being threatened). Afterwards he goes to jail, and the turtles use his van and equipment for their own use.

Now, did Baxter really deserve all that in his first appearance? He didn't neccessarily become evil then... He joined Shreddar as a means of getting his Mousers produced. The only real bad thing he did was refuse to reveal Shreddars plans and hide-out (until he was threatend). Since Shreaddar pretty much betrayed him and such, he could have stayed good and out of jail for that episode, and maybe become evil in a later appearance.

 

[Drtooth]

Really... you gotta track down the episode "Insane in the Membrane." The episode where Baxter tries to clone a new human body, which rapidly deteriorates causing him to hallucinate and try to kill April while having flashbacks of his mother, It was never shown on American TV... but it was completely produced. It was one of the best episodes of the series too.

The Zooks from The Butter Battle Book. I guess the Zooks aren't really more-or-less bad than the Yooks, but they (or at least Van Itch) appear to be wickedly evil (though I usually enjoy those kinds of villians). But most of the story is focused on the Yooks, who I think are supposed to represent the readers country/nationality/whatever. And they always seem to one-up the Yooks, always being able to have a bigger and more powerful weapon (though the ones at the end are pretty much equal).

You realize of course, the entire book was a commentary on Reagan era Cold War policies and the whole arms race, right? So I'd say that seeing any one side as the bad guys is a little black and white. The point is that both sides were ready to drop dangerous, deadly, ungodly weapons on each other at a moments notice. So I'd say it's a book about how extremely gray things are.

And if you don't believe me about the Reagan thing... there's this Dr. Seuss documentary that aired on PBS some years back.

 

[Son of Enik]

For me, hands down, has to be Spacegodzilla from 1994's "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla". As a longtime fan of Big G and his movies, this was the only monster that opposed him that I found nothing to like about. Other of Godzilla's foes were either so campy they were cool or had interesting back stories, but Spacegodzilla was just a big mean monster that was a cross between a crystaline alien life form and the monster Biollante (from 1990's G vs. Biollante). An odd pick to be sure, but this is the one that has always got under my skin.

 

[minor muppetz]

You realize of course, the entire book was a commentary on Reagan era Cold War policies and the whole arms race, right? So I'd say that seeing any one side as the bad guys is a little black and white. The point is that both sides were ready to drop dangerous, deadly, ungodly weapons on each other at a moments notice. So I'd say it's a book about how extremely gray things are.

Yes, I know now, after reading about it on wikipedia. But at the time I first saw it I didn't understand the Cold War similarities (can't really remember if I even knew about those wars at the time). And at the time I first saw it I viewed the Zooks as bad guys.

And it is a bit interesting... At the end both sides hide underground for safety while the main Yook and Zook face each other to drop deadley weapons that can wipe all others away... But if everybody else was underground for safety anyway, what difference would it make which side dropped the weapon first?