The 8 Most Overrated Villains

As substitute author of this week’s list, I’ve decided to ruffle a few geek feathers.  In honor of San Diego Comic Con I’m going to countdown my list of the most overrated sci-fi/fantasy villains in cinema.  Now we’re not talking just plain bad, such as Battlefield Earth’s Terl or Nuclear Man from Superman IV.  The movies these villains starred in were all at least semi-successful and some are even considered classics.  Yet, for one reason or another, I find the villains therein to be thought too highly of.  You’ll agree…you’ll disagree.  We’ll all have fun.  Here we go…

 

 

#8. Hal 9000

Honestly, I find this entire movie to be a bit overrated. The fact that the “villain” is just a bright red camera lens with emotional problems doesn’t help. Yes, Hal kills some crew members. He’s devious. He cheats at chess. Though, in the end all it takes is the simple removal of a few memory chips and he forgets he was evil in the first place.

 

#7. Boba Fett

Hold your boo’s until the end, geek amigos. It’s going to get far worse than this. Fett plays little to no role in the actual capturing of Han Solo. He shows us nothing to believe he deserves the reputation he has gained as a bounty hunter. Eventually dying an unceremonious death at the hands of a BLIND man. Thank you Sarlacc pit.

 

 

#6. The aliens from Signs

M Night Shyamalan’s skills as a filmmaker land him on my list twice. This time for the brilliant race of aliens come to conquer Earth. You know…the planet that’s 70% covered in water. The one substance that seems to turn these aliens into the wicked witch of the west. Master interstellar travel? Check. Choose a race to conquer? Check. Get defeated by half empty glasses of water and a kid with a Louisville Slugger? Oops.

 

 

#5.The aliens from Independence Day

This is still a fun movie to watch. Once again though we are faced with an alien threat that must have slacked off in their research process. After destroying Washington D.C., New York, L.A., and multiple other cities across the globe. This band of geniuses mange to allow their entire fleet to be eradicated with a virus written on a 1996 Macintosh PowerBook connected via printer port.

 

 

#4.Mr. Glass

M Night’s second entry on my countdown. Mr. Glass fancies himself a super villain based solely around the fact that he has a disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Now i grew up with someone who had this actual disease and a super villain it does not make. When a strong gust of wind can crack you like an egg…you might want to rethink your profession.

 

 

#3.Sauron

In the Lord of the Rings novels, Sauron is a force of evil. Permeating the entire land. The evil that is inside of us all. In the movies…he’s a lighthouse with a giant flaming eye. He could of at least sent a few orcs out to Mount Doom…just in case the ring showed up there, right? As geek royalty Kevin Smith made fun of in his film Clerks 2. These movies were just a whole lot of walking. Ending with a couple hobbits doing just that and tossing the all powerful One Ring right into the lava of Mount Doom. I think they had to defeat some birds and a sad little goblin along the way. Congrats!

 

 

#2.Lex Luthor

There has got to be a better arch-enemy for the Man of Steel than this guy. I just don’t know how land grabbing real estate scams are supposed to be of any hassle to the Kryptonian. Whether it’s Hackman or Spacey, it always seems to be about dropping a coast into the ocean and reaping the benefits of his new ocean front property.

 

Finally…my number one and almost definitely most controversial overrated villain in sci-fi/fantasy cinema…

#1. Darth Vader

I know, I know, he’s the villainous face of the most cherished sci-fi saga of all time. He also looks like a walking vending machine. Does nothing but take orders from the real villains of the narrative, Grand Moff Tarkin and Emperor Palpatine. Spends most of his evil powers choking out his own stormtroopers and rarely kills anyone. Before you scream, “but he killed Obi Wan!” Technically he didn’t. Obi Wan Kenobi became one with the force right before Vader’s light saber would have cut him down. If we include the prequels, then he offs some defenseless sand people and murders a room full of children. Pretty heinous acts that are completely rendered moot by the constant emo whining of the character. Plus…I would NEVER hire this guy to oversee a construction project.

 

There’s my list.  Shred me to pieces in the comments section or tell me I was right on the money!  Either way it has been fun and Eric should be back with a new list for everyone next time.

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6 Comments

  1. Nice list. Boba Fett I’ve always agreed with. I love Bobba Fett but just taken from the films and with out being a Star Wars fanboy he’s def not worth the hype. I still get annoyed when he defeats jedi in the expanded universe. Technically the satlack pitt didnt kill him though. I also agree with the Vader to an extent. Its one of the reasons i use to defend the prequels. They have real villians who are up to no good and you see it. Also Darth Maul is the greatest Star Wars villian and the failed to utilize him longer. Who is Hal 9000¿ what movie?

  2. Hannibal Lector is a good over rated or misreprisented villian. I might say that about Sauron too. Hannibal Lector isnt even the villain from his two best stories. Buffalo bill and frances dollarhyde are. But lector gets all the cred. Sauron is misreprisented because he is thought of as this great evil conquorer. And he “was” in the time before the story begins. It should be noted that he is creating all of that evil with out doing anything. Imagine how hard it would have been to stop him if he’d actually taken a more proactive role in his rise to power. Kind of like the devil. Its mostly the minions and the realm he rules people fear. But he rules those minions. Giant eye is stupid though

  3. Boba Fett is given a big part in the Young Jedi Warriors books (because he doesn’t die in the mouthy pit!) and yeah, I read those. Shut up! I love Boba Fett, and I love the movies, but book BF is much better than trilogy BF any day.

  4. Hal 9000 is from 2001 A Space Odyssey. As well as it’s sequels. I should have made that clear. My apologies. I also realize that many of these characters are represented MUCH better in the literature surrounding the films. My over analyzation was based on the movie versions of these guys only.

  5. Boba Fett got a cool following by looking like a badass in the two movies he was in, but his true awesomeness as a villain came in the books and comics. In my opinion his legacy was also hampered by the fact that Lucas felt the need to try and shoehorn him into the prequels by making his dad the main clone.

    I don’t even know what to say about Vader. I am bum-fuzzled by the mere idea of him being considered overrated. I’m pretty sure he force-choke murdered more people than the entire rebellion managed to take out.

  6. 10. Leatherface
    9. Freddy Krueger
    8. Sephiroth
    7. Ernst Stavro Blofeld
    6. Randall Flagg
    5. Wicked Witch of the West
    4. Maleficent
    3. Venom
    2. Sauron
    1. Darth Vader

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