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Villain Overview

The future holds nothing but surprises, Player. Get ready for them... If you can.
~ Carmen Sandiego
Catch me if you can.
~ Sandiego's most famous line and catchphrase.

Carmen Isabella Sandiego is the titular main antagonist from the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego series of games, as well as their cartoon and live action adaptations. She is the world's most wanted criminal, head of the criminal organization Villains' International League of Evil or V.I.L.E. for short, dedicated to commit the most impossible and/or inexplicable crimes. To her, committing crimes is just a game, a game which she plays very well.

Portrayals[]

Carmen Sandiego has nearly always been created through animation techniques in the games, either with various forms of computer graphics or traditional animation. The only instance where the character portrayed in live action (excluding photographs in early game manuals) is in the Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? game show.

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?[]

The first time the character's voice was heard is in Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe Edition during her trial after she is captured by the player. Her voice was featured regularly in the World game show though only during the phone tap skit.

In this show, her personality was slightly explored, other than being constantly exasperated by her crooks' incompetence and showing sarcasm. No voice artist was credited; however, later performers maintained the distinctive slightly dusky voice she was given on the said show.

Portrayal by Rita Moreno[]

The actress Rita Moreno voiced Carmen Sandiego in the animated series Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, at which the character was given much larger role. Moreno would later voice Carmen for the game Carmen Sandiego Junior Detective and planetarium film Where in the Universe Is Carmen Sandiego?.

Portrayal by Mari Devon[]

For both Carmen Sandiego Word Detective and Carmen Sandiego Math Detective, Mari Devon took over the portrayal of Carmen Sandiego.

Portrayal by Christiane Crawford[]

In both, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Treasures of Knowledge and Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums, the character's voice was provided by Christiane Crawford.

Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?[]

In Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?, Carmen Sandiego had little personality like in deluxe edition of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, but here, she was generally portrayed as a straight villain. Furthermore, her face was never fully visible and all images of her were posterized, giving her a stylized, unreal look. Although the actress portraying Carmen in the show was not directly credited, it has been confirmed that she was played by Janine LaManna in the first season, and later Brenda Burke until the show's cancellation. This is the first show in which Carmen was portrayed in live-action.

Netflix series[]

Sandiego appeared in the Netflix series portrayed by Gina Rodriguez, but appears as the main protagonist of the series, instead of a villain. She used to be an operative of VILE, rather than its leader, but betrayed them because she wanted to learn the truth about the outside world.

Biography[]

Little or nothing is known about Carmen's past. She was an ace detective for the ACME Detective Agency who found catching criminals too easy for her and decided that outsmarting ACME itself would be an even greater challenge. She left ACME and founded the criminal organization VILE, recruiting the world's most wicked criminals to work for her to commit the most unimaginable and impossible crimes.

Carmen steals only for the thrill and challenge, though some of her VILE minions seem to be more traditionally motivated. She often describes her schemes, and the protagonists attempts to stop them as being a game, which they ironically are. Carmen regularly gloats that she is impossible to capture, that her plans are infallible, and acts as though any efforts made against her are trivial. Sometimes, she asserts that it is impossible for anyone to understand her or her motives and seems to revel at how difficult she can make it for anyone trying to figure her out.

Personality[]

When the computer games first debuted, Carmen was not given much of a character outside of mentioned hobbies and preferred activities (other than theft of geographical landmarks). During the time of the game shows, she was given a slightly better insight in terms of character, but still not given much of a personality other than being an "evil for evil's sake" villain.

The most personality that Carmen has shown in any of her media was in the "Where on Earth" cartoon series. With the more profound analysis of her backstory, her character was expanded and became more of an anti-heroine. She chose to be a thief because it's her idea of a fulfilling life and for the mental challenges and thrills. Even while having major power over the V.I.L.E. organization, she mostly works alone in a major heist, while having henchmen do grunt work, provide background support, or simply clear the way for entry.

Despite being a criminal, Carmen follows her own principles regarding her crimes. The most important being that she doesn't kill or harm her rival ACME agents, because stealing wouldn't be any fun without people trying to stop her. She will actively help them if something goes wrong during a chase and their lives are put in danger because of it, or if a less scrupulous villain tries to attack them outright. Carmen will also never carry on with a heist if it puts someone else at risk.

Carmen has proven to be extremely hard to defeat on an emotional level and rarely ever cracks under pressure, even though it can indeed happen. While she treats every new heist as a game, there are times when the case becomes personal enough to make her get serious. Also, while not a traditional and superstitious person, Carmen does not believe in exaggerated coincidences or act disrespectful and vituperative towards other cultures. She might even use one of her crimes to solve personal problems involving these cases.

See also[]

Navigation[]

           Carmen Sandiego Logo Villains

Main Series
Carmen Sandiego | Carmine

Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Carmen Sandiego | Dr. Sara Bellum | Lee Jordan | Dr. Gunnar Maelstrom

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Carmen Sandiego | Contessa | Patty Larceny | Kneemoi | Double Trouble | Eartha Brute

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Carmen Sandiego | Jacqueline Hyde | Buggs Zapper

Netflix series
Professor Maelstrom | Coach Brunt | Countess Cleo | Dr. Sarah Bellum | V.I.L.E. (The Cleaners, Roundabout, Cookie Booker, Crackle, Tigress, Le Chevre, El Topo, Paper Star, Mime Bomb, Neal the Eel, The Mechanic, The Driver, Lady Dokuso, Otter Man and Moose Boy, Spinkick and Flytrap, The Troll, Madame Goldlove & Dash Haber)

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