Dr. Arliss Loveless

"Why y'all look like you've seen a ghost? It's me, dear friends - alive and kickin'! Well, alive, anyway. We may have lost the war, but heaven knows we haven't lost our sense of humor! No, not even when we've lost a lung, a spleen, a bladder, 2 legs, 35 feet of small intestine, and our ability to reproduce - all in the name of the South! - do we EVER LOSE OUR SENSE OF HUMOR!?"

- Dr. Arliss Loveless to all his party guests and fellow ex-Confederate ministers. "I am not an animal. I am a visionary! I am a genius, and now, I AM ANGRY!! And after I kill you, I swear I'm GONNA BOIL YOU DOWN FOR AXLE GREASE!!!"

- Dr. Arliss Loveless to Jim West

Dr. Arliss Loveless is the main antagonist in the 1999 film Wild Wild West. He is an evil genius who was once part of the Confederate army during the American Civil War and the founder and leader of the Loveless Alliance, an organization of foreign Caucasian ministers and slave owners who seek to overthrow the United States government and divide the nation amongst themselves.

He is portrayed by Razzie-nominated Kenneth Branagh, who also portrays Viktor Cherevin and Gilderoy Lockhart.

History
In 1869, Army Captain James West, hides in a railroad water tower while spying on a group of ex-Confederate soldiers working under General "Bloodbath" McGrath. West follows them to a saloon where General Bloodbath McGrath is enjoying a loud party. McGrath is seduced by a large prostitute who attempts to hypnotize the general into divulging his plans.

West breaks in, but is stopped by the prostitute, allowing McGrath to escape. West fights off McGrath's men and finds himself with the prostitute, who reveals himself as U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon. In Washington, D.C., West and Gordon meet at the White House with President Ulysses S. Grant, who tells them about the disappearance of America's key scientists. Grant charges the two with finding the scientists before he inaugurates the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah.

The two head to New Orleans, pursuing a lead about Dr. Arliss Loveless, an ex-Confederate scientist in a steam-powered wheelchair since the literal loss of his body below the waist, who is hosting a party for the elite of Southern society. West mistakes a female guest for a disguised Gordon and makes an error that results in the guests wanting to lynch West. Meanwhile, Gordon roams the mansion and comes across a caged Rita Escobar, rescuing her. After trying to talk his way out of being lynched West is saved by one of Gordon's inventions, an elastic rope. He escapes with Gordon and Rita to The Wanderer where Rita asks to go with them to rescue her father, Professor Guillermo Escobar.

Later, Loveless hosts a reception to demonstrate his newest weapon: a steam-powered tank. The tank uses General McGrath's soldiers as target practice, angering McGrath. Loveless shoots McGrath and leaves him behind. Gordon, West and Rita arrive at the scene and find the dying McGrath. West then learned from a secret from one of Loveless's past crimes: Loveless was the real "Butcher of New Liberty" used the same manned tank to massacre a town called New Liberty, a settlement of freed African-American slaves, including Jim West's birth parents in Illinois. Loveless boards his armored train and heads to Utah with Gordon, West, and Rita in pursuit. Use steam powered hydraulics Loveless maneuvers his train behind The Wanderer. West disables Loveless's train, but not before Loveless uses a locomotive-mounted cannon to stop The Wanderer. Rita, afraid of being recaptured by Loveless, accidentally releases sleeping gas, knocking out West, Gordon and herself.

West and Gordon wake up as Loveless pulls away in The Wanderer, announcing he intends to capture President Grant at the "golden spike" ceremony. They find themselves fitted with the same metal collars from earlier in the movie. West crosses a ground level wire that triggers a nearby machine to release the lethal flying disks, forcing West and Gordon to run as the disks are magnetically attracted to the collars. The two leap into a mud pit from opposite directions, causing the discs to collide. After removing the collars, the two stumble across Loveless' private railroad track, which leads them to his industrial complex within his "city" in Spider Canyon. Here, they witness Loveless' second and most powerful weapon: a gigantic mechanical tarantula spider armed with powerful weapons. Later, Loveless uses the 80-ft spider-like machinery to capture Gordon and Grant at the inauguration ceremony at Promontory Point, while West is apparently killed by one of Loveless's bodyguards.

At his industrial complex, Loveless reveals his plan to destroy the United States with his mechanized forces unless President Grant agrees to divide the states among Great Britain, France, Spain, Mexico, and himself. Loveless demands that President Grant surrender, but he refuses. Loveless threatens to execute Gordon but is interrupted by a belly dancer, who turns out to be West in disguise; West escaped death when a concealed layer of chain mail in his jacket (another one of Gordon's inventions) stopped the bullet. West, disguised as a woman, uses an exotic dance to distract Loveless while attempting to free his captives, but Loveless escapes with the President.

Gordon and West, using a flying machine- inspired by an incident in the desert when they saw a wasp kill a tarantula, catch up with the spider and bomb it with nitroglycerin before crashing onto it. West is dropped into the engine room to fight the spider's crew, all of whom have bizarre prosthesis. West defeats the crew and Loveless himself descends into the engine room to defeat West.

Loveless, now on hydraulic mechanical legs, pins West to the floor and stomps on him until Gordon incapacitates the walking apparatus. Pleading for his life, Loveless drags himself back to his wheelchair as the spider approaches a canyon. Loveless attempts to shoot West with a concealed gun, but hits the spider's control lines, locking it up just before it plunges into the canyon. This sends West and Loveless almost over the edge, with the wheelchair getting caught in the railing. West deliberately pulls a lever that will release them, sending Loveless to fall to his doom, while West grabs a chain hanging outside the engine room.