Mastermind

Masterminds are highly intelligent villains and are characterized by a personality in which they will plan things to amazing lengths to the point of being one step ahead of everyone and always have a backup plan in mind. As such, they tend to be particularly skilled in fields like strategy, manipulation, deception, adaptation, conspiracy, leadership, advancement and/or organizing. These characters may often be non-action or even weaklings, but they should not be underestimated, as they can be extremely difficult to catch or defeat due to their incredibly complex schemes. They are usually referred to as "the brain behind it all" and just like master manipulators are, they rarely show themselves directly towards their enemy and love to deploy mind games to manipulate anyone, including the heroes. They are also often arena masters who are characterized for being the leader for any events such as competitions, Olympic-related events, contests, showdowns and more (examples include John Kramer/Jigsaw and Front Man, who hosted a Last Man Standing contest involving death called Squid Game, which is has an entire Netflix series of the same name). Most of the time, masterminds do have henchmen, guards, servants and/or (a) right-hand.

Masterminds are generally defeated if the hero or another character (whether evil or not) finds a way to exploit their arrogance or egotism (e.g. in Hannibal, Mason Verger was pushed by his assistant amongst the boars and then eaten alive by them), if the hero(es) are of similar intelligence (e.g. in Death Note, Near eventually cornered and forced Light Yagami to confess he was Kira the whole time), or by a huge stroke of luck (e.g. in The Dark Knight, Batman caught the Joker off-guard at the very end of the movie).

Examples of well-known masterminds include Lex Luthor, Norman Osborn, Joker, Riddler, Judge Holden, Shockwave, Emperor Palpatine, Mysterio, Sōsuke Aizen, David Xanatos, Dr. Eggman, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Satsuki Kiryūin, Hannibal Lecter, Light Yagami, Johan Liebert, Junko Enoshima, Walter White, James Moriarty, Emperor Zarkon, and Revolver Ocelot.

To qualify as a mastermind, such characters have to be rarely caught off-guard and must have a plan B, C, or D to fall back on should their original plan be foiled. They are the complete opposites of Dimwits, who are stupid and cannot make any smart decision. This means those two categories are completely different and a villain can never be both a mastermind and a dimwit. Those two categories must be kept separated. However, it is possible for them to be incompetent like schemers for example, albeit rarely. They are generally as such if they are a comical character whose failures are played for laughs while it is well-established that they are incredibly smart and logical. (e.g. Captain Hook,Wile E. Coyote, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Sideshow Bob, Dr. Neo Cortex, King Koopa, Wario, Vicky, Lord Hater and Plankton).

Also, manipulative Machiavellians, or skilled tricksters (e.g. It, Death, Art the Clown, Jax, The Yellow Rabbit, and Skitzo) are not necessarily masterminds unless they meet the aforementioned criteria and are proved to be successful in most of their plans (e.g. The Coachman, Dimentio, Kefka Palazzo, Bill Cipher, Absolute Solver, and Marx).