March 5, 2021
Are you scared? You will be. Here is a collection of the scariest and nastiest sci-fi villains of all time! To be honest, there are so many to choose from that the list really should be a mile long. But I've narrowed it down to a handful of the worst of the worst. Shall we start with her? That's right, the Borg Queen. I mean she is awful. So what are the criteria for being the worst
villain? How 'bout ZERO compassion? Couple that with the will to dominate. The Borg Queen has both. She is driven to crush all opposition, and she has one goal: to assimilate all lifeforms into the Borg collective. It is probably that combination of total power and also that the Borg Queen removes that precious thing called Free Will from all of the species that come under Borg control. Here's a great link to more about the scariest things about the Borg
Just remember, Resistance is Futile.
Thanos from the Marvel series
Since we're talking about universe-spanning power, how can we not put Thanos near the top of the list. This is a villain who eliminated half of the life forms in the known universe. It's not that he's insane, he's just complicated.
Fortunately, Thanos is defeated, but for the rare few who have not watched the movies, I won't spoil it. You can say that the villain is driven. Add that to the list of a will to dominate and no compassion. This evil antagonist will kill his own family to achieve his vision of what the universe should be. Power + obsession...it's the perfect combination to create a horrible villain.
Negan from The Walking Dead
Negan. The name gives most people who have seen this character in The Walking Dead—chills and the creeps. Over the many seasons of the dystopian zombie plagued series, villains have appeared and then been vanquished by Rick Grimes and company. Negan, however, is the most memorable. The man takes center stage and all eyes are on him. What's really interesting is that he has a small bit of sympathetic appeal. Some my say that it's more than a little, but like all of the characters on the show, Negan also lost family. It made him into the evil character that he is. There's no remorse, and it's all wrapped up in this quasi-moralistic philosophy that his rule will somehow save humanity. The other thing about this vicious villain is that he won't die.
Kahn Noonien Singh, Captain Kirk's mortal enemy.
When Kahn first appeared on the original Star Trek series in 1967 (Space Seed), he displayed all of the quirks of a psychopathic megalomaniac. The resurrection of Kahn the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn just sealed his premier position as the biggest, most vengeful Star Trek foe of all time. For the role that would make Ricardo Montalban so famous, he got paid $100,000 in 1982. Here is a link to some interested Kahn facts.
There are some movies that you can watch once and forget it. Star Trek II is not one of those, and the reason is Kahn.
Predator
"What the hell are you?" are the famous words uttered by the Predator after being beaten by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie. I mean, seriously, this alien bad guy is fantastic. The Predator is not going to dominate Earth, or the Solar System, but he sure as heck owns the jungle. The tense battle to the end between Arnold and the alien creature grabs you and won't let go. I think they should have stopped with this film. Of course, Hollywood wants to run a franchise into the ground, so they wouldn't let the Predator die with the small fusion bomb in the rain forest. The movie excels at creating an enthralling conflict; the alien and the human own the screen. No CGI required, the actors do the job of sucking in the audience perfectly well.
Darth Vader
Darth Vader shouldn't be on the list, but he is. Everything was going just fine, but then he found a conscience and threw the emperor down a well. A real, sci-fi villian would not have succumbed to family ties such as his connection to Luke Skywalker. In that regard, Darth failed. He was too nice.
However, let's not forget that he was the force behind the destruction of Alderaan. And, he did try to kill Obiwan, although that didn't turn out so well for the dark side of the force. Ultimately, a lot of the credit for Darth Vader being such a badass goes to James Earl Jones. That voice! Every time he spoke, waves of dominant power permeated the atmosphere. So we really have to put Darth on the list because of the genius of Lucasfilms building a character that is impossible not to watch. How many kids in 1977 wanted to dress up like Han Solo? I can tell you it was a tenth of the number who wanted to get a Darth Vader costume. That pretty much says it all.
Honorable Mentions
The Mutant from This Island Earth.
Just think Mystery Science Theater 3000.
They did a fantastic job on their parody
of this important sci-fi movie. And I am
required to add in at least one b&w alien
foe. Of course there are more, like the
monster from black lagoon. And don't
forget the alien from It Came From Outer Space.
While we're at it, include Dr. Zachariah Smith from
the original Lost in Space.
The Thing. John Carpenter's primo, scary-as-all-get-out film features a fantastic sci-fi antagonist. Can anyone even contemplate disagreeing with that?
Don't forget, of course, the creature(s) from Big Trouble in Little China. Another Carpenter film, and this awesome and unbelievably great film...did I say that already? Big Trouble also has Lo Pan. If you have never seen this film (also starring Kurt Russell), then hurry up. You'll love and hate Lo Pan, the mystical emperor and deadly enemy of an OTR truck driver.
His henchmen deserve a note also due to their awesome cosmic power. And don't forget the monster. Movies like this gotta have a monster
delivers, and Big Trouble works
from beginning to end.
Lo Pan
Don't forget the eternal adversary of Dr. Who, the evil Davros. Any villain that is called the "Creator" by his underlings must be pretty bad. He created the Daleks, some of the good Doctor's most enigmatic enemies. The Dalek's can time travel. They are fantastic as bad guys.
Here's a great link to the Dalek's:
And a great link to all things Davros:
I hope you enjoyed this brief excursion in the dark side, but more importantly, sign up for the blog and be sure to post your choice for wickedest, evil sci-fi villain on my Facebook page.
Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/sebastian.blunt.52/
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