Best and Worst Villains in a Comic Book Movie?

[The Overlord]

Who are the best and worst villains in a comic book movie?

For Best I would say Joker from TDK and Magneto from the X-Men films.

For Worst I would say Blackheart from Ghost Rider and Dr. Doom from the Fantastic Four movies.

 

[Disruptor]

Worst: Hackman's Lex Luthor. I said it. He was/is a capable actor, but that Luthor sucked.

Batman Forever's Two-Face, again, Tommy Lee Jones, capable actor, but the take on the character was wretched.

Best:
Nicholson's Joker
Ledger's Joker

Both were great, and both had their downsides...Nicholson's ties to Batman's past and Ledger's seeming infallibility/great luck. But both set the bar for onscreen comic book baddies.

 

[C_Miller]

I thought Alfred Molina did a great job as Dr. Octopus. I'm not really a huge fan of Spider-Man 2, but I thought he really captured the character. And of course you have to mention Heath Ledger's Joker.

As for worst, I'm not saying this one is the worst, just want to add variation. I'm not pleased with how they did Two Face in The Dark Knight. The first half was great and the changes with how they made him Two Face worked, but he's a villain who deserves more than being an after thought in the Joker movie. And then killing him at the end in that way was lame.

 

[Greg Cox]

Well, the most wasted Comic Book Villain has to be Doctor Doom. The FF movies work as fun family films to some extent, but there's no denying that they completely dropped the ball with Doom. Turning a classic, larger-than-life super-villain into just another smarmy corporate type is like turning Goldfinger into a crooked accountant!

Two-Face in Batman Forever was pretty much thrown away as well.

I'll defend Gene Hackman's Luthor, though. Granted, he's different from the comic book version and probably too campy for modern tastes, but it's a funny and engaging performance in its own right. You can tell Hackman is having a ball and he's got plenty of good lines. He also plays off nicely against Christopher Reeve's sincerity and earnestness. Superman is straightforward and soft-spoken; Hackman's Luthor is a cynical smark-aleck. It's a nice contrast.

Hard to pick a best villain, but Magneto and the last two Jokers have to be up there.

 

[suarezguy]

Best: Catwoman and Penguin in Batman Returns, maybe Dr. Octopus and Stryker.

Worst: Agreed on Two-Face in Batman Forever and Dr. Doom.

 

[davejames]

I frankly find Jim Carey's Riddler just as annoying and painful to watch now as Two-Face in that movie. I was a big fan of his in the 90s, but now his act just looks more ridiculous than funny.

 

[Shazam!]

The correct answer for best is Ian McKellen's Magneto and the correct answer for worst is Jessica Alba as Sue Storm.

 

[Disruptor]

Sue Storm was a villain, huh?

 

[Shazam!]

In those movies? Absolutely

 

[captcalhoun]

either McKellan's Magneto or Fassbender's Magneto (or is he an anti-hero?) as best.

worst: the villains in Elektra. Jennifer Garner makes the movie watchable, but goddamn, the villains are piss-poor. so piss-poor i only remember Typhoid Mary and that's only cuz of her kissing Elektra.

 

[Satyrquaze]

Best: Ledger's Joker
Worst: Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze

 

[Mistral]

Best: Ledger's Joker
Worst: Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze

Agreed. Thought y'all overlooked Arnie's horrific work.

 

[JD]

My favorites would have to be Ledger's Jocker, Molina's Doc Oct, and McKellan's Magneto. I honestly can't think of any I would label as worst in the movies I've seen. There were some I didn't necessarily love, but I can't think of any I would call bad right now.
EDIT: Just remembered another one I liked, Tim Roth's Abomination in Incredible Hulk.

 

[Anwar]

I thought Ledger was a good villain as a random anarchist type, but not a good Joker.

 

[The Overlord]

I thought Ledger was a good villain as a random anarchist type, but not a good Joker.

Joker is written that way some times, Joker's pretty chaotic so his personality can change from time to time, explaining why he is harmless trickster some times and psychopathic monster other times.

Well, the most wasted Comic Book Villain has to be Doctor Doom. The FF movies work as fun family films to some extent, but there's no denying that they completely dropped the ball with Doom. Turning a classic, larger-than-life super-villain into just another smarmy corporate type is like turning Goldfinger into a crooked accountant!

Two-Face in Batman Forever was pretty much thrown away as well.

I'll defend Gene Hackman's Luthor, though. Granted, he's different from the comic book version and probably too campy for modern tastes, but it's a funny and engaging performance in its own right. You can tell Hackman is having a ball and he's got plenty of good lines. He also plays off nicely against Christopher Reeve's sincerity and earnestness. Superman is straightforward and soft-spoken; Hackman's Luthor is a cynical smark-aleck. It's a nice contrast.

Hard to pick a best villain, but Magneto and the last two Jokers have to be up there.

I don't care for Hackman Lex that much, but I am forgiving towards him because of when he was introduced. There was no corporate Lex in the late 70s, so you can argue that Hackman Lex is somewhat similar to the Lex in the comics at the time. It may have been nice to see some more of Lex's scientific ability from the comics, but I suppose it be hard to have a giant robot in a movie in the late 70s. I like Hackman's performance some times, but other times I find it bit too campy. Overall I like the first Superman movie more for Superman then anything else, I don't care for Lex that much in the film, but it doesn't effect the enjoyment of the film that much. He's not my favorite, but he's not the worse either.

However I really dislike the Kevin Spacey Lex, because he was introduced in 2006, long after the corporate Lex was introduced and frankly I thought his plan in that movie was really stupid. I get they were trying to pay homage to the Hackman Lex, but I think that character was no longer relevant by 2006. I think they should have had calmer, cooler, more control Lex then what we saw in Superman Returns, with a better scheme. I think if they have Lex again in a Superman movie, he should be more like the modern comics Lex and less like the Gene Hackamn/Kevin Spacy Lex.

 

[Broccoli]

Best: Ledger's Joker
Worst: Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze

Agreed. Thought y'all overlooked Arnie's horrific work.

Are you kidding me? Arnold was fantastic in a role designed to be incredibly over-the-top.

Now, whether it was written well, that's another story.

 

[Silvercrest]

EDIT: Just remembered another one I liked, Tim Roth's Abomination in Incredible Hulk.

I thought it was unanimous that Two-Face was the abomination.

 

[Mistral]

EDIT: Just remembered another one I liked, Tim Roth's Abomination in Incredible Hulk.

I thought it was unanimous that Two-Face was the abomination.

Pretty much.

 

[stj]

"It was acting!

Errol Flynn in The Rocketeer. (Well, officially Neville Sinclair.)
And Tiny Ron as Rondo Hatton made the best hench-villain too.

The competition for worst is ferocious, but for sheer stupidity Sebastian Shaw in X-Men First Class has got to be considered. Killing a kid's mother is the foundation for a partnership in conquering the world? His superpowers disappear so that he can be killed by a slow moving coin? Kevin Bacon is so compelling that you almost buy it, but no, not quite.

 

[Trekker4747]

Good: The Dak Knight's Joker
Worst: "Nuclear Man" from Superman IV.