Villain
Real life villains: Andreas Baader - Elizabeth Báthory - Bonnie and Clyde - Adolf Hitler - Charles Manson - procurer - Gilles de Rais - Jack the Ripper - serial killer
Related: gangsta rap - gangster
Opposite: hero
Crispin Glover as the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels (2000)
Phantom of the opera - The title character as depicted by Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1925 film depiction, the most famous adaptation prior to the musical version. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera [Feb 2005]
Lucifera
Definition
A villain is a bad person, especially in fiction. Villains are the fictional characters, or perhaps fictionalized characters, in drama and melodrama who do evil deliberately and work against the hero. As such, villains are an almost inevitable plot device, and more than the heroes, the villains are the crucial elements upon which plots turn. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villain [May 2005]
Fantômas (1913-1914) - Louis Feuillade
Movie poster for Fantômas (1913 - 1914) serial
The silent film pioneer Louis Feuillade directed five films based on the Fantômas series, appearing in 1913-1914. They are regarded as masterpieces of silent film and are often considered to be superior to the novels themselves. His later serial Les Vampires, which concerns a mysterious crime syndicate known as "The Vampires," is reminiscent of the Fantômas series in many respects, and generally considered superior to the earlier films. Both sets of films have been released on video. A number of subsequent series of Fantômas films have been made, including one series starring Louis de Funes.
The Fantômas novels and the subsequent films were highly regarded by the French avant-garde of the day, particularly by the surrealists. Blaise Cendrars called the series "the modern Aeneid"; Guillaume Apollinaire said that "from the imaginative standpoint Fantômas is one of the richest works that exist." The painter René Magritte and the surrealist poet and novelist Robert Desnos both produced works alluding to the novels or the subsequent films. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantomas [Apr 2005]
Satanik (1968) - Piero Vivarelli
Satanik (1968) - Piero Vivarelli [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Satanik ("Killing" in the original Italian edition -- see "Publishing History" below) is a terrifying and diabolical master criminal. Totally without mercy, Satanik mostly goes after other criminals, usually to steal their loot or whatever they're after. His real identity remains unknown. No one knows who he is. Satanik uses a special brand of flesh-like masks he designed to make himself look like any of his targets. He also uses darts filled with Mjanico, the "green death", an Amazonian poison which kills its victims slowly and painfully.
Diabolik
Diabolik
Supervillain
A supervillain is a variant of the villain character type common, often found in comic books and action and science fiction films. Supervillains often have colorful names and costume and/or other eccentricities and most concoct complex and ambitious schemes to accumulate vast power and suppress their adversaries.
Supervillains are often used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes. Their extraordinary brainpower and/or superhuman abilities make them viable antagonists for even the most gifted heroes.
By most definitions, the first supervillain was Professor Moriarty, the arch enemy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes, introduced in 1891. The first supervillain who wore a bizarre costume was The Lightning, from the 1938 film Fighting Devil Dogs, which preceded the first superhero, Superman.
Many supervillains are inspired by typical characteristics of real world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervillain [May 2005]
The supervillain stereotype applied to real life
The supervillain is a common archetype in western culture. Thus many media outlets portray real-life terrorist Osama bin Laden and dictator Kim Jong-Il in the way fiction writers often portray supervillains. The Nazis are also depicted as supervillains in a range of fictional works, including the Indiana Jones films. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervillain [May 2005]
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