What is it that makes a character a villain?

I guess that's fine for that specific definition, but the OP listed, like, three, and it seems like you responded at one point to this one, which actually seems very applicable to both Nurse Ratched and The Invisible Man.

And it's worth pointing out that nobody's using a standardized definition here. AFI's is okay, though, because it allows for things like perceived nobility, which definitely shouldn't disqualify a character. You implied earlier that Nurse Ratched wasn't a villain because she thought she was doing the right thing, but that seems to fit well within your later assertion (which I think is correct) that the breakdown of villains needs to include an "ends justifies the means" type of villain. She's certainly that, and that sort of villain invariably thinks they're doing the right thing, too. They're still villains, though.

I think in the case of the bully - Is it about power and control. But why do they need it? Why so insecure? And then in the case of characters like Biff, or Scott Farkus from The Christmas Story, or Stuntman Mike from Death Proof, or even the Cowardly Lion (who we assume is a villain at first) from The Wizard of Oz - Once their victims stand up to them, they become scared cowards. So it makes me think maybe they were victims of being bullied, so they bully others to make themselves not feel like victims.


In regards of Nurse Ratched - She worked in a place with dangerous men. She probably felt she had to be tough to survive. She was probably scared going into work every day, and had a "Get them before they get you" way of thinking. And in her mind, as well as all villains, she most likely did not see herself as a villain, but just a woman trying to do a difficult, stressful, and dangerous job.

I didn't say nurse Ratched wasn't a villain, I said the opposite, she was, but the anwer to the question by the OP was in the first post, and she didn't fit that definition of what makes a villain. While the later definition is applicable to her and the IM, it was an extension of the first post applying to that definition of a villain and not creating new definitions. All villains by their nature are control freaks even if their intent is to spread anarchy. They wish to impose their will on others.

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Some more traits some villains have - They're usually very self-confident, and they're fearless no matter what is going on. Even to their deaths, some go out as cool and cocky as ever, and laugh their heads off. I think that's why some people like to cheer for them, or perhaps not cheer for them, but are highly entertained by them and love to watch them. Also - Being cocky and showing no fear I think are traits we'd all like to have, especially during stressful times, so I think that's why some villains become really famous with audiences.

I agree, but it just seems like every villain had something bad happen to them.

Max Cady from Cape Fear (the remake) - He was sexually abused in prison.

Freddy Krueger - Abused as a child by his step-father, and bullied in school.

Jason Voorhees - Bullied as a child, and left to drown.

The Wicked Witch of The West - Her sister died.

Jigsaw - Dying from cancer.

Norman Bates - Abused by his Mother.

Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid - Has a physically abusive man as his sensi. That man's name...

John Kreese - Served in Vietnam, and could have been a P.O.W. at one point. Plenty of Vietnam vets had a hard time adjusting to life after the war, and Kreese was clearly one of them, which explained his anger and hate.


Then of course, there's characters like The Terminator, Jaws, Michael Myers, etc. Of course, it could be said that Jaws is a wild animal who doesn't know any better, and is just looking for food, and/or he is defending his turf. But I agree not all villains are victims, but I think plenty are, which explains their actions.

Nurse Ratched, for my money, is one of the best movie villains of all time. Plenty of villains think their actions are just; if not, the topic is rarely addressed. But even someone as blatantly evil as, say, Palpatine believed he was doing the right thing by taking over the galaxy and ruling with an iron fist.

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What makes Nurse Ratched a delicious villain to me, is the outward appearance and position of helping people, when her true intentions are sadistic and controlling. That hypocrisy always makes for a great villain.

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It's curious to note too, that some villains reserve a corner of their lives for things that are good and pure; such as a children, family, or friends that reside outside their underworld. And no matter how wicked or evil they are, they are devoted to these people and will allow no harm to come to them, no matter what.

Like what you said about the villain as a former victim. He harms people because that is the only way he can erase his painful past, and also to ensure that he is never victimized again. Maybe the small part of his life that is reserved for good, balances things out so he doesn't have to rationalize his villainy

"What is it that makes a character a villain?"

When you hate the guy/girl so much that you have to tell yourself in the middle of the movie that its only a movie.

My favorite villain is the one who is completly vicious but when he is cornerered at the end turn into a sniveling coward, but they don't do that too much anymore as they fight to the end.

Yeah, that reminds me of the Scorpio serial killler guy in Dirty Harry fame. At one point he kicks the crap out of Clint Eastwood. Then Clint turns the tables on him in the stadium, And like you say, the guy is reduced to a sniveling mess begging for his life. It's gratifying to see that when you have an especially evil villain.

That's true. My favorites are always the puppet masters; the ones who run things behind the scenes, right underneath everyone's nose, in order to gain power and control. Like these guys:

A Bad flaw, that may inflict damage to someone else or their self.

I think the most important thing is the actor.If he/she fits and understands the role and personality of a villain,the actor/actress can make a magnificient performance even from a boring character(example: The Joker).

I hope no one minds me bumping this thread. I recently rewatched the 2010 film "Predators" and it got the wheels in my head turning again in regards of the psyches of villains and anti-heroes.

In this thread we discussed common traits among villains. I'd like to add one - Villains are totally unpredictable. You never know what they are going to say or do next. And because most villains are selfish characters, they will do ANYTHING to accomplish whatever their goal is, and not care what it takes.

So when you have a film with a bunch of very well written villains together, played by good actors, mixed in with cool anti-hero characters who are also well written and wonderfully acted, it's bound to be an entertaining and fun film. It's always interesting for me to watch violent people react to being put in the same position that they put others in.


"Predator" and "Predators" are a lot alike, but the biggest difference is that the main group of characters in "Predator" were all heroes. i.e. They were all unselfish people who worked together and looked out for one another. The characters in "Predators" were the opposite.

You see, the development of morality is something that is completely necessary for societies to function. The fact is, every single person out there is dependent on thousands of other people for the products and services and things that we rely upon every single day. At the beginning of civilization, it started off with small groups such as tribes taking care of each other and it slowly coalesced and turned into a nation. If we didn't band together that way, the human race wouldn't have survived.

In the case with the human characters in "Predators", they only worked together for that very reason I stated above. i.e. They only helped each other only when they had to, and were really helping each other for their own selfish means, but anyone one of them would have been happy to kill the other to gain an advantage or if they became a parasite.

I mean, Adrien Brody's character "Royce" is suppose to be the "hero" of the film and twice, he uses his fellow humans as bait. Dutch would never do something like that. When Poncho hurt himself, Dutch helped him. Royce would have left him, or used him to lure the Predators.

The fact that Royce is suppose to be the head "good guy" and would do something like tells you what kind of people the characters all are. Royce was just the lesser of many evil's, and the other characters were so violent and crazy, Royce just seems like a good guy, but in any other film, he'd be a villain. He's just a little bit like Paul Reiser's character "Carter Burke" in "Aliens" with the way he just leaves people in trouble or uses them. But again, the fact that all these characters in "Predator" are bad people and are all grouped together and placed in a very bad spot is what makes the film different from the first film and makes it highly entertaining.