User blog comment:Alwaysmore2hear/Nominate Your Essential Villains for the 2018 FANDOM 100/@comment-28898825-20180928001939

Here are a few I can think of to nominate, by genre: Historical/ war drama: Colonel William Tavington, 'The Patriot.' He was one of the most sincerely evil characters I could ever recall seeing in any media. He has such astounding cruelty and sadism (He has no problem brutally slaughtering not just the colonial soldiers he was fighting against, but also regular civilians, including children), yet maintains such a sophisticated demeanor while doing it all. Pretty much from his first appearance in the movie, you find yourself genuinely wishing to see Benjamin Martin kill him and bring his reign of terror to an end. He also gets extra cool- points for the fact that he was based off a real- life villain, the infamously brutal British colonel Banastre Tarleton. Adventure: Captain Harrison Love, 'The Mask of Zorro.' Another military villain, but in a slightly different sense from Tavington. Captain Love gets on the list partly for the fact that he was one of the baddies who first helped spark my interest in villains in the first place, yet few other villain aficionados even know who he was. He was a pretty complex villain; He's handsome and charming and even rather noble in his demeanor (i.e. when taking down Joaquin, he says, "I want you to know I consider this an honor," and later during the dinner with the Dons, he makes the remark that "I've always found heroism something to aspire to, not sneer at," and you can tell he was telling the truth with both statements), and yet he is also shown to be a completely insane, heartless, demented beast of a man who keeps his enemies' heads and hands stored in water jars as trophies and convinces Don Montero to arrange to have all the slaves working in the hidden gold mine killed. The more the movie progresses, the more Captain Love lets his more monstrous side out, up until he finally meets his well- deserved end in the climax. He truly deserves recognition in this list.

Animated television: Bill Cipher, 'Gravity Falls.' I am genuinely surprised that such a twisted, sadistic, psychotic, truly evil villain could be featured in an animated show for kids (And one released by Disney, to boot), yet he works perfectly. He's funny, captivating, and terrifying all at once. He could be best described as what would happen if an insane serial killer suddenly gained near- godlike magical powers. He genuinely loves inflicting pain and misery on everyone around him, just for giggles. When he possesses Dipper's body in 'Sock Opera,' one of the first things he does is inflict pain on it in various ways, such as throwing it down flights of stairs and slamming its arm in drawers, all just because, as he puts it, "Pain is hilarious!".

Superhero movie: Dr. Octopus, 'Spider- Man 2.' While Thanos from 'Avengers: Infinity Wars' proved to be a great example of a cinematic supervillain who was evil and yet genuinely well- intentioned, the first and in my opinion best example of this kind of villain was Alfred Molina's performance as Dr. Octopus. We see his backstory as a kind, sociable, incredibly well- meaning scientist who wanted to help and serve mankind, we see the accident that scars him in many different senses, and we see the way his mind is taken over by the tentacles' AI and he comes to believe that turning to crime and engaging in villainous acts to keep up his research are justified by his still- noble goals. From someone who acted as a friendly mentor- of- sorts to Peter Parker, to someone who holds Peter by the throat and tells him "Bring me Spider- Man, or I'll peel the flesh from (Mary- Jane's) bones." That kind of transition, and his then still managing to redeem himself, is the mark of not just a great villain, but a great character in general.

Comic book: Mr. Sinister, 'X- Men.' Easily one of the X- Men's most monstrous foes, Mr. Sinister truly lives up to his name. He does so many hideous things through his experiments, destroys so many lives, and worms his way into the lives of so many X- Men, and truly loves every second of it. He is the best sort of "Behind- the- scenes- puppetmaster" villain; Merely learning that he's the slime behind some fiendish scheme is enough to instantly make things a hundred times more intense. Horror: Freddy Krueger, 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.' Not much needs to be said about him; He's one of the most popular horror film villains (And cinematic villains in general) of all time for a reason, as he blends scares and humor so perfectly. He helped launch New Line Cinemas, and a whole generation of slasher films.