10 Villains from Books and Comics

I’m late with this one. I was distracted by other things over the weekend, and then on Tuesday evening, I was too busy. I had this almost completed in my drafts, though, so I thought I might as well post!

Top Ten Tuesday is currently hosted by Artsy Reader Girl and has weekly topics for bloggers to respond to and share a love of all things books! I love thinking up my responses and the weekly blog hop to see what everyone else wrote!

The prompt was villains and was harder than you’d think! I don’t read a lot of books that have a villain character, so I ended up resorting to comic books to get to 10!

1. Marco Inaros in Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. He’s your worst charming, narcissistic, manipulative ex-boyfriend whose terrorist faction is a cult of personality. And he’s turned your son against you. There is another interesting villain in this series, but I think that’s spoiler territory if you’re not far enough in!
2. The A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin has a lot of great villainous characters! It could be its own list: Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsey Bolton, Roose Bolton, Walder Frey, Littlefinger, Tywin Lannister, Cersei Lannister. They’re all great because they feel like three-dimensional people with realistic motivations – especially for a Fantasy series like this.
3. Big Brother / The Party in 1984 by George Orwell. There is another, more specific villain, but they’re a spoiler if you’re not familiar with the novel! The Party is an oppressive danger at every turn, and nobody can be trusted. It’s a very scary book!
4. The Culture of the Soviet Union / Radiation in any non-fiction book about Chernobyl, but the one I’ve read is Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhy. I’ve just rewatched HBO’s incredible mini-series, so this is on my mind! Smooth black rocks have never been so scary, nor have the consequences of lies! And, it all happened in real life… Terrifying, and very sad. And a great example of the dangers of “doublethink” Orwell described in 1984.
5. Rufus / The System of Slavery in Kindred by Olivia E. Butler. It’s such a great book, and this is essentially the heart of it. Dana quickly realises that the son of the slave owner, the one who keeps drawing her back through time, is her ancestor. This gives her motivation to keep him alive, but also means she bears witness to (and is even a part of) the trauma that births her own family tree, and she cannot intervene to prevent it without risking her own future.
6. The Butcher in The Snow Song by Sally Gardner. I highly recommend this wonderful book! Set in a tiny and remote mountain village, The Butcher is a large and threatening presence in everything that goes on. He is one man, but a bully and everyone is afraid of him.
7. Killgrave aka The Purple Man, in Marvel comics, but specifically Alias and any Jessica Jones story by Brian Michael Bendis. If your nightmare ex-boyfriend had literal mind control powers that could force anybody to do anything, and a childhood that fucked him right up. Killgrave might not technically be an ex-boyfriend, but he acts like one. Somehow, it gets worse in later comics when he decides Jessica is the only one who can “fix” him and help him be good. Shudder.

These villains have all been quite depressing, so let’s round out with some comic book characters! (More fun ones than Killgrave!)

8. Mr Sinister in Marvel Comics (usually X-Men). He’s more “fun” than the previous villains in this list! He’s pure comic book camp from his name to his whole look to his insane, very specific obsession with engineering the progeny of Jean Grey and Scott Summers, and through the craziest plans. He employed the Marauders when they massacred the Morlocks. Also, he later has a group of henchmen called The Nasty Boys, which cracks me up. I love him.
9. Juggernaut / Cain Marko in Marvel Comics. I’m in the early 1990s X-Men right now, so he’s still technically a villain. He’s cool because he’s super-strong and invulnerable, and his power source is magical (no, he’s not a mutant!). His primary motivation is that he hates his step-brother, Professor X. And Prof. X does kind of suck, and I’d hate to have him have a brother too. Still, Juggernaut is a textbook bully, and he’s not terribly bright, so despite his incredible, unstoppable strength, he is usually just involved in some type of petty crime or scheme. I love it when he shows up and has a good scrap!
10. Doctor Doom / Victor von Doom in Marvel Comics. Firstly, what a name. I haven’t come across Doom much in my reading to date; in fact, I have only come across him in Secret Wars (1984), in which he quickly found himself a base named the Doom Base, decided all the other villains weren’t worth his time and pursued his own agenda. In which he did actually defeat the Beyonder! I need more Doom. He’s a true megalomaniac and a genius at science and magic, which is fucking cool.