THE WORST VILLAIN EVER
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- Опубліковано 3 січ 2024
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We all love to talk about the characters we consider to be the best, most evil, most effective villains. But what about the ones who are bad... at being bad?
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Have you thought about doing a video on tonal shifts? How a story could start out as a raunchy comedy, but then reveals its way deeper and actually heartfelt.
With maybe examples of how a story can benefit or become inconsistent from this.
The main reason for that villains is ratings and bigots not actually allowing villains to be really evil
@@annasolovyeva1013 What are you thinking bigotry means? Bigots are perfectly fine with villains being really evil, because bigotry IS part of a character being shown as evil. (namely, how they interact with women not being exactly the nicest or healthiest way to do so....)
@@Vaeldarga particular kind of bigots - fanatics, in this case, of morals and ethics, especially new ethics.
E.G. an author shows an obvious villain being racist and heroes fighting the villain. Fanatics accuse the author of racism.
@@annasolovyeva1013 fanaticism and bigotry are two separate things, though. There's casual, non-fanatical bigotry in many a "boy's club" or internet forum.
My general rule of thumb is that the more a villain brags about being evil, the less of a genuine, serious threat they're likely to be.
Honestly that completely checks out
What about Jack Horner kind of villains? I admit they are rare by now but they used to be the norm.
I AM THE EGGMAN
I really like when a character breaks that rule- that's when you get guys like Jack Horner, classic Eggman, and hopefully the villain I'm designing for a game I'm making
@@Ditidos
That is because western fiction started to lose its teeth. So the villains became less threatening, back in the 90s even cartoonish would end you given the chance, like Negaduck or any other disney villain.
The Joker is the perfect example of being both performative and genuinely evil. Many of his incarnations are by far the most cruel and vile villains in comics, but even the most serious depictions are shown to be motivated purely by a fascination with batman and a love of their rivalry more than anything else.
Because superhero comics were primarily for children in times past, the villains always had a sense of performative evil. As adult ideas began to transform the medium, a few stories illustrated this. There's a famous Batman panel showing Riddler being upset that Joker was actually KILLING people now. It was one of those referential things, where a writer is commenting on the state of his genre. Of course, Riddler would be revamped so that he would be a killer as well. Sometimes this retrogresses, as a writer remembers that certain villains do have personal limits, their own codes of honor.
I cannot remember which label it was under, perhaps DC in the Justice Society group, but an old hero tells a tale of when superheroing was like dressup with fights against villains more like competition to protect capitalism. Then one villain with a metal jaw decided it wasn't about money anymore and murdered and tortured wholesale. It was like an in universe tonal switch.
At this point, the Joker isn't a mentally ill person anymore, but evil in flesh. I honestly miss the times when he was just a mobster with a clown theme or just a mentally ill man. At least then Batman didn't look like an idiot for not killing him.
The Joker was initially ment as a goofy character for the younger audience. Then someone had the idea to make him more serious and through time, work and luck he's now in the position he is.
he and Batman really had the Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus vibe. just watch LEGO Batman for God's sake!
@@Badficwriter Disappointed that the line specific to this "evil-in-name-only" kind of character trope wasn't mentioned in the video: "I might be evil, but I'm not a monster!" The non-killing villain tends to think of killing as a waste: It's one thing to beat someone up and take their stuff, but if you KILL them then how are they supposed to spread your reputation around? Having a moral code as a villain is seen as at least being civil, better than having no morals at all.
Megamind is a great written story; subverting expectations that feels both natural yet unexpecting
This movie helped a lot of people who were losing themselves in a fake persona.
He's literally the kid that acts out because everybody already thinks he's a troublemaker.
@@alexjewett7455Well, he did live in prison as a child.
@@anondabomb As a gay trans person, I can't help but feel like that's a metaphor for a restrictive upbringing
Megamind is a masterpiece released too early to be appreciated.
The word "villain" used to just mean "middle class" in the Middle Ages, and later became synonymous with wealthy merchants who rivaled nobility. If you wanted to justify in-universe why an organization that calls itself a "Villainous Club" exists, they might be so old that the word meant something different when it was made.
It’s like when you call someone a bum.
What did the poor homeless guy ever do???
It was originally a "Divine Right" thing. villains were merchants who had money and might have even had power, but they weren't born into it like the nobles@@BlackCover95
hmmm now there's an idea I might just steal...
@@blindedjourneymanHaha. I already did before you. For the ninja archetype tho(those probs don't exist). Most people don't know that ninjas are just boring ww2 spies, not the hooded figure with ninja techniques they know😉
That's wonderful! Such a novel piece of information!
As soon as you mentioned being evil because it's fun, Doofenshmirtz popped up in my head
I thought of something actually terrifying…
A *poyo* -ing Kirby villain.
M A R X
S O U L
I would have been upset if he wasn’t at least name dropped
@@jasonbell8515difference is he was actually very successful his only mistake? backstabbing a god killing puffball. even by superstar he's used to stopping people like marx. if he'd just portalled kirby to a pocket dimension he might of won, alas he had to MAKE SURE he died rather than sealing Kirby away.
@@jasonbell8515tbh he was probably just hungry. he's just like that frfr
@@commercialairliner The fact that this is canon...
I feel like Dr. Dofenshmirtz is a perfect example at most he wants to inconvenience people but he always does good things some what unintentionally sometimes but he could always just not put a self destruct button on his inators but he does. He also thrives off of perry the platapus and trying to thwart him. I would go so far as to say he us an unwilling hero because he is so bad at being a villan it allows anything he involves himself in to fail almost thwarting his own evil plots or more sinister actually evil plots.
Yes that fits perfectly
In Milo Murphy's Law (another Disney series by the same show runners and set in the same universe), Doofenschmirtz does get to try to be Good, and try to learn from the titular Milo Murphy how to adapt to unpredictably bad situations. And Perry ends up having to go elsewhere, because Doofenschmirtz isn't being evil. This, along with some stuff to do with a couple of time travelers and an alien spaceship, results in a clone of Perry The Platypus with a human head being created. It's fun.
Was thinking about Doofenshmirtz from the very beginning, tbh
@@seanmcfadden3712
It's even earlier than that. In the episode "Last day of summer", which was a finale to the series (I think), he decides to stop being evil and is also dedicated an episode centered around him and perry after where he works as an intern in OWCA. It's a lot more than that, but you should just give them both a watch if you didn't see them already.
@@mpkki2499
I remember the finale now. Thanks for reminding me. (Is it still a finale now the show's being revived?) I haven't seen the OWCA episode yet.
The idea of a comedy villain becoming a genuinely evil villain by messing up everything for themselves like Dr. Horrible, is such an interesting story premise..
In the end he got everything he wanted,all it cost him was a penny.
how dare you be funny @@keithharrissuwignjo2460
@@keithharrissuwignjo2460lmaooo
@@keithharrissuwignjo2460 I assume you meant a Penny
Feels like The Spot but he didn't screw up and made himself the villain he was in Spiderverse by his own hands
Team Rocket from the Pokemon anime is an interesting example. They aren’t doing evil for themselves, it’s a job. They are low ranking employees. Ones that happened to find a high value mark, but low to mid level employees nonetheless.
The TRio also happen to be more competent at things not related to or even the opposite of villainy, but they always return to their ways because they are loyal to Team Rocket the organization. I think they fear splitting apart if they don't have their schemes to each contribute a part to.
I wouldn't call a Pikachu "high value." It's actually a fairly common Pokémon and the only reason Team Rocket thinks it's special is because it absorbed too much electricity and released it all at them. They were convinced that Pikachu was an exceptionally powerful Pokémon when it's really just above average at best. But it developed into an obsession after numerous failed attempts.
Yes, Team Rocket are examples of performative villains done right. You can also tell a lot of cool stories with them.
@@elitegamer9310I will submit that Ash"s Pikachu *IS* exceptional. In the first Pokémon movie, his Pikachu manages to take out 3 opposing Pokémon, including a Golem (rock/ground) with a single electric attack, which shouldn't be remotely possible. Ash's Pikachu isn't a standard Pikachu by any measure.
The so-called 'Punch Clock Villain'. Team Rocket represents one end of that spectrum. Red Death (Venture Bros.) is at the other pole.
Personally I'm a fan of the trope where the goofy ineffectual villian becomes a legitimate threat over the course of the story. Nothing like antagonist character growth.
when I read this, I immediately thought of Spot from Across the Spider-Verse and how he went from goofy to OP. It was so fun to watch
Like Polka dot man?
@@su18101 I mean he was op from get go he just didn't know how to use his powers once he learned well thats when things got bad
Would Wheatley from Portal 2 be a good example?
@@redmadness265 technically yeah. hes a twist villain thats SO BAD at his job that hes dangerous to everything and even himself. like an idiot running around with scissors
What truly anchors Dr. Heinz Doofenschmirtz as a sympathetic character is his relationship to his family.
Despite everything that goes wrong with his "evil plans to take over the Tristate Area", his arcs in the series are a master class in making a divorce with children work!
His story is literally a perfect story about breaking the vicious cycle of parental abuse. He was horribly mistreated by his parents, but he didn't use it as an excuse to be cruel towards his daughter. In fact, he tried his hardest to give Vanessa the childhood he never had.
isn't he not actually divorced
they just pretend to be for all kinds of things like tax benefits, additional holidays, better income, etc?
the whole song about 'the convoluted reasons we pretend to be divorced'?
@@shirothefish9688 Oh, yes. I can't believe I forgot that song! They do play it straight though.
@@shirothefish9688 I just looked it up again. The alternate dimension Doofenschmirtz and wife from the movie are still married.
@@shirothefish9688 Only 2nd dimension Doofenschmirtz, not the 1st dimension one.
I like the villans who tell you there entire plan before killing you and fail to do that
i saw a great Harry Potter meme that was a pie chart of what Voldemort does when given the opportunity to kill Harry. maybe five percent was "actually tries to kill Harry"
Villains like that want to be appreciated for the their efforts. If nobody ever acknowledged them, they feel a genuine sense of loss, like when a piece of history is lost forever.
Saddler, Wesker, hell, every Res villain goes on the list
@@Flinch9000 true
That's why I love Ozymandias from Watchmen
"'When?' Dan, I'm not a _Republic Serial_ villain. Do you really think I would reveal my masterstroke if you had any chance of stopping it? I did it 37 minutes ago."
Brain from Pinky and the Brain always seemed like an ethical villain. Plans every night to “take over the world” but he has a big heart and often ends up the accidental hero.
I remember the one episode where Brain took the night off and ended up giving encouragement to people who were in bad situations to stand up for themselves and demand better treatment, to the point where they said they'd be happy to have someone like him in a position of power.
@@jamesbevan9939What episode?
It is funny how often he switches to saving the world, because his scheme goes wrong and puts the world in danger or, in at least one case, someone else is already trying to take over the world themselves and Brain decides to stop them.
Isn't it literally stated that his motivation for ruling the world is that he believes he would be good at the job? His motivation is heroic in nature.
The two best episodes I remember were the "Megalomaniacs Anonymous" when he basically says he's trying to take over the world and feels like it's really the only think he's capable of or when Pinky becomes super-intelligent (by accident) and tells Brain that he's the one messing up his own plans
Gru didn't just see pop a balloon to upset a child. He came across an upset child, then proceeded to make that child s balloon animal, and THEN pop it.
“A good pirate never takes another person’s property!”
Okay, that one got me.
Always held a torch in my heart for the Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons. Tragic backstory that festered into villainy just trying to get back at the one he felt wronged by. It helps that he's absolutely adorable as a villain.
"Can that be a boy name?" 🥺👉👈
THE UNICORN BINDER THO
“I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through…”
@@broderickfoster2107 Love that line, especially coming from the T. Rex
It's funny how the only reason he's a villain is because Goob was kept awake by Lewis trying to finish his invention and then lost the game, creating an obsession that led to him feeling angry and alone
I love that you guys made an entire video about Dr. Doofenshmerts lol
Or bart Simpson oh wait bart is more loney bin Jim and lisa more jigsaw and Maggie is bart basically back up so I guess the Simpsons kids are actually villain
@@szymonnowak2146 puree evil is what I ate today
we cant help it
Megamind's line "Presentation!" will live rent free in my mind, and many others, till the day we die.
In such a case, did he ever really fail?
... oh wait, that was Minion cosplaying as Megamind.
Maybe not! There was a great opportunity to switcheroo when he fell through the brainbot swarm
@@JaneXemylixa damn, your right. that's going into my head-cannon.
I still think that Minion prepared a lot of the show, since he knows Megamind so well. Would've saved them time @@fang4223
Are you, uh, a real villain?
Well, uh, technically... nah.
Have you ever caught a good guy, like, uh, like a real superhero?
Nah.
Have you ever tried a disguise?
Nah, nah...
Alright! I can see that I will have to teach you how to be villains!
I hate that it took me a while to remember where this is from. We must never forget
He was number 1
* Saxophone solo *
14:12 fun fact! Perry is basically this dude’s therapist, just… *somewhat* silent, and it also helps him overcome the trauma he experienced at a young age, very wholesome despite it being the side-story to finneas and ferb-
Technically Phineas and Ferb are the side story in their own show - the framing device that lets the other stories get told!
@@tantamounted oh neat
Dr. Doof is basically Jessie and James from Pokemon, and Perry is Pikachu; Perry and Doof just happen to have a healthier relationship.
@@KB-zq9ny yes, and also Perry is doof’s emotional support animal/therapy animal, that’s canon
Megamind is such a favorite of mine. Especialy his definition
"Youre a villain allright. Just no super one!"
"Aw yeah? Whats the difference?"
"PRESENTATION"
*Proceeds to make a drone show while blasting guns and roses*
He himself knows swag is more important than evilness
The League of Super Evil is another great example of this. The show explicitly plays with the trope of the performatively evil villains of kids shows. The League loves talking about how evil they are and frequently engage in “evil” plots. These plots often backfire and actually help people instead. The League struggles to be taken seriously by heroes and other villains
Giovanni Potage from Epithet Erased is another good example of this.
He claims to be incredibly evil, but is actually repulsed at the sight of people being genuinely evil. Giovanni treats his boys (his minions) with respect and even cares for their safety, teaching them to put safety first before everything else.
He's literally only trying to be evil for the title and the fun of it all.
It doesn't matter what he claims to be, he's a Chaotic Good character through and through.
And even when he’s told that he can get a bunch of money and notoriety by selling to a specific criminal organization, Bliss Ocean, he refuses because they’re a group of terrorists and he doesn’t want to be associated with them.
He's a better dad than Martin!
Well said
Gio needs to adopt Molly frfr
"I'm part of the Banzai Blasters!"
"Isn't that a pyramid scheme?"
"that's how you know they're EVIL!"
TBH I feel like a lot of the villains you talk about in this video confuse “evil” with “chaotic neutral”
It's because G-rated shows and the like can't have REAL villains do REAL evil, because of ratings and entitled karens.
Murder? Genocide? Torture? Even... hate to any group of people?
Evil Evil... Everything is R at least... Even a thing as innocent as a hospital is properly... R. Modern starwars don't properly injure their characters anymore... Hell, Luke Skywalker is more villainous than most modern mainstream villains. I remember promary school books with everything above, executed in details and sometimes not even by the evil side.
Stories are so bland right now.
@AcademicDisappointment that might be either venom, or Deadpool.
@@AcademicDisappointment TBH Doof is the only one who could be argued to be CG from the start. A number of them (Gru, Megamind, etc.) certainly become CG by the end of their movies, but they definitely start out more CN with a slight CE lean.
@@AcademicDisappointment I'm chaotic neutral :3
As do many D&D players 😅
About as evil as that troubled kid who acts out because they clearly need attention.
This comment made me think of Rob from The Amazing World Of Gumball. He tries to be Gumball's nemesis to feel a sense of purpose, but only poses an actual threat in like, three episodes. (Gumball is also homoerotically obsessed with him in another episode but that's beside the point lol)
Sounds like that's basically what this class of villain is at its core; emotionally immature, socially overlooked, and desperately seeking attention, either from the world as a whole or a certain special someone... As mentioned in the video, all you need to do is replace "evil" with "cool."
One of my favorite examples of this trope is Veigar from League of Legends. So bad at being evil that he accidentally helps people around him and makes the world a better place.
Veigar isn’t really evil, he just tries to be evil and fails horribly, dispite being the strongest Yordle we know about.
My favorite example is from Giovanni from Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic. He is the quintessential “good guy” and he does his best to treat everyone around him with care. He does want to be evil, but the great thing about him is how he defines evil. Light spoilers here, he defines the best trait of a villain as “the willingness to lose.” The main antagonist of the story spends her entire time trying to be a villain, but Giovanni says she can’t. In his words, “As a villain it’s your job to try your best and and to fail. The bad guy doesn’t get to win. His job is to take the fall and look cool doing it. Everyone else gets to win, that’s kind of the whole point. If you’re a good bad guy then everyone has fun.” In his opinion, Giovanni is pure evil. Yet he does so so that everyone else can have fun. Just like the true good guy he is.
Edit: I accidentally put hero earlier when I should have said villain. Sorry.
That's a very interesting way to look at Donnie
You got the book?
If that's how he classes evil, then what term does he us for people who murder and commit other acts of real horror?
@@peytonmac1131 That’s actually an interesting point. At one point another villain (as in an actually evil person) wants to take an artifact that Giovanni stole just to auction it off. Giovanni actually complains about him and says he isn’t a “real villain” (or something along those lines). Giovanni acts the same as someone who says stuff like “this is why jazz is dying” and says that truly evil and horrible things aren’t actually villainous acts
@@jirachi5588 isn't that the True Scotsman fallacy?
I love both Megamind and Dr Horrible and I think their stories are just 2 different paths of the same premise. Imagine if Roxanne died and Megamind turned truly evil. Tragic. Someone write a fanfic now lol
🎶 doofenshmirtz evil incorporated 🎶
Literally all i could think of throughout the video
"After hours..." 🎶
"A Platypus?
PERRY THE PLATYPUS?!?!"
"Ah Perry the platypus what an unexpected suprise."
@@dansattahDoofinshmirtz in his wife's sports sedan!
The characters of "Gentle Criminal" and "La Brava" from My Hero Academia season 4/5 are EXCELLENT anime examples of the "sympathetic villain" trope. Gentle only ever wanted to be a hero, but when his demeanor and intellect proved not up to the task, he changed his M.O., and vowed to become the most notorious criminal in the world. This was PURELY to "be remembered" by people, not for personal financial gain, to the point where he intentionally left the "stolen goods" behind at every crime scene he robbed, rather than taking them to spend himself. The challenge was in committing the crime and succeeding, not in the material rewards of the crime itself.
makes his redemption so much better.
There's also Solitaire in Dead Mount Death Play. The kind of villains that are more like just another of Japan's idols. They're doing it for the attention of their fans.
@@VaeldargWasn’t his motive to trick actual magic people out from hiding?
He also thought himself an anti hero/villain getting back at people
And now we have Giovanni Potage from Epithet Erased as a second example for wanting to be a villain but is actually a hero in denial.
A fellow Epithet Erased fan! I immediately though of him along with doof
With the help of his trusty sidekick(/Daughter)He will be unstoppable!!
This is such a cool channel I wish books were real
This is such a cool comment I wish words were real
@@Finntastic_Guy46290this is such a cool reply I wish letters were real
This is such a cool place I wish UA-cam were real
Real
This such a cool joke i wish laughing was real.
Some of my favourite "Villain in Name Only" characters who weren't mentioned in this video.
• Jesse, James, and Meowth - Pokémon anime series.
• Giovanni Pottage - Epithet Erased
• Lord Hater - Wander Over Yonder
• Crow - Nefarious (video game and webcomic)
King Koopa - SMB Super Show
Crow is really underrated
Rob - The Amazing World Of Gumball
Dr Two-Brains - Wordgirl
Well lord hater is actually truly terrifying when he snaps. He is actually overpowered as all hell
Seeing the Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything in a Tale Foundry video makes me so happy 😂
I'd never thought I'd see a video with both Plankton and Doofenshmirtz (likely butchered the spelling of that). Spongebob and Phineas and Ferb were both big parts of my childhood, so the nostalgia levels were high on this video
Doofenshmirtz sounds right.
@ Ok, thx
you're actually one of the few commenters who spelled it right, lmao
@@rmb6037 I guess I'm honored, then. It was a lucky guess, lmao
"Made up accent"? It's... usually a pretty bad impression of one, but the "pirate" accent is specifically a West Country accent - most likely sparked by Robert Newton's performance as Long John Silver, and the fact that there was historically a lot of smuggling happened in Cornwall
Really glad I'm not the only person who did a double take at that.
Made up as in the association with pirates is made up, not the accent itself.
I think Dr Nefarious from Ratchet & Clank is the rare middle ground of being a goofy villain who is fun but is a genuine threat to the protagonist. He has many MANY quirks and running gags that are genuinely funny, like when he occasionally malfunctions and a campy soap opera plays from his head or the fact he’s so over the top, deliciously hammy and loves being evil, yet his goal to turn back time before he lost to his arch nemeses not knowing that doing so will destroy the universe, or his plans to build a dimensionator to conquer only to release a more evil counterpart of himself, I think those are what I consider makes Nefarious one of the best villains ever. He’s threatening but he’s fun. He’s has his quirks but his plans and motives pose dangerous consequences if he succeeds thus raising the stakes to a high degree.
TLDR version: he’s my favourite villain as he blends silly with genuine threat and I wish more villains were like that.
A hero is a hero, but everyone loves a good villain
There is no good hero without good villain
"those mustache twirlers and lab coat wearers", you basically described me 😂
This video should have been called “your thinking of doof and we will make you wait for him”
I was thinking of Dr Horrible!
Probably my favorite archetype of these “in name only” villains are the ones where they actually can be a massive threat if they wanted to. But are bogged down by something, in a kids show it’s normally be the hero of show, but it can be anything like in one my favorite shows “The Venture Bros.” Most villains are kept down by their own emotional issues that they’re projecting by essentially playing dress up though also in that show the villains and even henchmen do actually kill (a lot) and the “heroes” are not really any better if not worse.
I love these types because it normally gives room for the established villain to at some point just be in the living room of their arch nemesis for casual reasons leading to some really hilarious scenarios.
That show was great all around (from what I've watched, I know I haven't gotten all the way through).
The episode where Rusty was getting competency training from Dr. Henry Killinger and offered an Arching license (contract? something like that) was BRILLIANT.
Flip yeah, Venture Bros. getting mentioned.
one of the best adult swim shows to this day.
Iirc the whole villain vs hero thing in venture bros was kind of like the people who rules the worlds plan to keep super powerful, insane, chaotic people from being too disruptive and just mass murdering people by giving them a choice to be a hero or villain and then focusing their destructive energy on one assigned “nemesis” at a time
What's the plot of The Venture Bros?
Three great examples of this that I think fit perfectly into this archetype:
Robbie Rotten, Waluigi, Gentle Criminal.
I'm fairly familar with the first two, but who is Gentle Criminal?
@@jordanhunter3375 He's a character from My Hero Academia. Basically wants to be perceived as this big time, mustache twirling, thief super villain, but just can't get it right completely because he's not actually a bad guy. His heart isn't into it, he just thinks that's the best career path for him basically (From what I recall, been a while since I saw his episodes)
his ability makes stuff bouncy, even the air. somehow this power was not deemed suitable to become a pro hero, so he became a villain as the logical conclusion because it's the power given to him.
he still has high moral standards. it's all about the aesthetic and his goal is to become famous and get attention. he even created a "youtube" channel just for uploading videos of his evil deeds, with editing, commentary and everything.
Waluigi is more mischievous than evil
I don't think a good villain has to have complex backstory. Overly Sarcastic Productions did a Trope Talk on the Pure Evil Villain which fits in with the villain who just revel in being evil.
Jack Horner vibes
Eh no. It's good for kid's media and comedy but even truly awful people don't think they're evil as much as they don't care about who they hurt. Evil is putting oneself above others in its truest sense
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 While that's true in real life, it's not necessarily true in fiction and you can't tell me that a good (you know what I mean) Pure Evil villain isn't bloody entertaining to watch.
@@Canadamus_Prime Eh they can get repetitive. I definitely like asshole villains though, but a morally black character can still be interesting and complex
But they also said pure evil villains on their own are kinda boring
From what I heard about pirates it goes like this:
If you saw a pirate ship you had two options, either give up or run.
If you couldn't run you gave up because pirates didn't mess around, if you tried to fight back they would punish you if you failed by brutalizing you in front of everyone in the most horrific ways.
If you gave up, unless you encountered particularly violent pirates they would take your cargo and valuables and go, because they didn't particularly care about you, though they may also take some of your crew.
However the second kind of pirates you could encounter no one really talks about, these were pirates that flew a red flag and their intentions were simply violence, giving up did nothing, they intended to hurt, destroy, and steal.
Your only options were to fight and hope you won or run and hope you got away.
Neither were nice and you wouldn't want to encounter either of them because it either ended with you dead or everything they could carry being stolen while you were at sea, which would make it kind of hard to get back to land.
There is a little detail people forget when depicting pirates, they are in for profit.
That's why it was good for them to have a reputation of being lenient with ships that just gave up and cruel to those that fight back. Because if they fight back, it's likely that there will at least some repairs necessary, which cost money and time. And even for pirates time is money. Not to mention that they could get hurt or killed.
But mostly it's simple economics.
For most of them.
The crew capture thing is not even a pirate thing. Forced enlistment was legal Navy's bread and butter back then. Helll civilian merchants were in on the game to the point it was a farce of a horrifying nature. Add in a lot of 'pirate attacks' were another country's sailors harassing a non allied countrys. Burning a port makes more sense when it is to reduce the Spaniard control in 'your' waters.
Though the sadistic wack jobs still exist in every era so some would still be the Red flags, provided they were not allready in a Navy.
There after one piece That's why they're so violent
For I moment I thought you were going to be dissecting what you thought was the worst written villain in the history of media, so you can imagine my happiness when you opened up describing what is essentially Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb.
Edit: AND THEN YOU ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT HIM!!!!! You, you are amazing. Thank you and God bless!
I recently came up with an idea for a villain like this! Picture an intergalactic sci-fi adventure show, where the main baddie is actually just a little kid treating everything like a game. He has all these weapons and a mech suit to make himself look intimidating and evil, but he still has morals that he never breaks (i.e. killing people.) I can easily see what dynamics he may have with other characters, such as having a brother who acts more like a serious villain than he, or the princess and leader of the rebellion being his favorite playmate, someone who understands him more than others and knows deep down, he's just a kid. It's a concept I would love to expand upon if I ever get the chance to run a sci-fi themed tabletop campaign with my friends.
This is a lot like The Lego Movie!
They have been doing a lot of villain videos lately and I’m here for it :D
this channel is truly a guide to be a perfect writer
Bondrewd has to be the most pure form of villainous evil I've enjoyed in the past decade.
Ain't that the villain in that weird shota manga?
I'm reminded of Garou from One-Punch Man.
He keeps going on about how he's going to become the ultimate evil and an unbeatable monster, but when asked by the Monster Association to kill 100 people, he finds it distasteful and wonders "What does killing people have to do with being an evil?"
We find out that in his childhood he first of all just found monsters cool, and felt it was unfair that they never got to win in Saturday morning cartoons. But he was also unpopular, and always got assigned the "monster" role during hero play, being mistreated by the popular kid. The popular kid was adored while mistreating him, while he got punished and bullied for fighting back. He learned that in this world, heroes are popular and always win even while being jerks, and the monsters always lose, even when just fighting back. So he made it his mission to prove that the monster can win, and beat the unfair heroes.
Despite wanting to become the ultimate evil, he saves a little boy, who reminds him of himself, from being bullied, and later from monsters. When fighting a hero who becomes terrified of him during a fight, he starts to feel like a bully, and all these conflicting goals and emotions cause him an identity crisis.
He eventually finds an answer to what it means to become ultimate evil. He will become an entity so strong and feared, that humanity will forget all their other strives. People so grateful just to be alive, that all differences will be forgotten and meaningless. A world where class doesn't matter, and no little kid will be bullied. "What the world needs isn't biased justice, but absolute unbiased evil!"
Some evil monster he is, saving kids from bullies, fighting the corrupt hero association, and trying to create world peace.
Glad you put Dr. Horrible in there
I think a good example of this type of villain is found in the kids show "Word Girl". The villains are more in it for the fun. When another hero shows up and is not playing around, all of the villains are very confused.
Dr Two-Brains is my favorite.
OK I just want to say that your intro is just so so beautiful. It’s like animated as a Disney film and it feels so magical and all that.
Yes! I’m so happy Dr.Horrible was brought up, that’s all I was thinking about while watching “he would really fit for this video”
I was eagerly awaiting for you to talk about Doofenschmirtz, he's the quintessential "evil by name" villain, but he's also at the same time a genuinely great three-dimentional character, that's why I, and a lot of other people, love him so much.
OMG I SAW THE "a true pirate does not steal" ONE IN THE WILD, NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE SOMEONE ELSE MENTIONING IT BUT IT'S SO FUNNY
As the video started I immediately thought of the villain SNL skit. Imagine my joy when it was referenced as a "perfect example" 😂
I love this archetype of character. To use ttrpg terms, I think they most often end as chaotic neutral characters mistaking themselves for evil.
I was honestly expecting you would mention the monarch or the guild of calamitous intent from the venture bros.
THE MIGHTY MONARCH, accompanied by Miss Dr. His Wife and the best henchman of all time, Henchman 21 (HENCH FOR LIFE)
Red Death is the absolute Top Tier Villain.
@@lightborn9071 but then you have guys like the monarch
The pirate thing goes back to the pirate confederacy of the Caribbean, the idea of a bunch of criminals creating their own society Complete with laws, a hierarchy, and doing things like liberating slaves and providing a safe haven for the downtrodden is romantic and captures the minds of individuals. All of that is real and historical as well, but pepper in murder, destruction, and terrorism in there.
Probably one of the my favourite videos in a long time! Saw the inclusion of Doofenshmitz from a mile away!
Love the video. I wasn’t sure you were going to mention Dr. Horrible, who is my favorite example of this kind of villain precisely because he gets “everything he ever wanted,” but it leaves him empty and lost.
One of the more memorable "villains" in this trope for me personally happens to be Don Paolo from the Professor Layton series (specifically the first trilogy), the man goes to great lengths to get revenge on Layton that often fail (remote controlling a ferris wheel to chase after him and Luke, posed as an inspector to frame the professor for murder as well as _almost_ successfully pretend to be the professor's adopted daughter in the second game due to him being a master of disguise, and so on) but he very quickly is shown to not even be a major threat - even becoming an ally by the 3rd game with a tragic backstory of unrequited love turned envy and hatred towards the eponymous protagonist
I think the perfect example for a "villain in name only" is Liam Sera Banfield from the light novel "I'm an Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire".
In his past life he was betrayed, manipulated and used by others which is why he decided to become a villain in his next life.
The thing is: when he finally was reincarnated into his next life, his parents did already all possible evil things which are possible.
So, he couldn't suppress his denizens at all nor do any other evil deeds.
So, he decides to build up his domain to crush it later, however clueless and innocent as he is, he does actually a lot of good things and gets incautiously manipulated by his environment to do good things.
For example, he "bribes" a merchant, although he just basically invested in him. That means, the merchant himself isn't even evil and sees Liam actually as a good person because of his deeds.
Then at some point he raises taxes when his domains became more stable, however, the taxes actually helped his domain even further.
Now he reached even the point where he became so popular and a role model for the people, that his denizens demonstrated for him to finally produce a higher so that they could maintain their wealth and good life conditions and don't have to fear that some other corrupt noble would ruin their life again. 🤣
In short: he is actually a good mc who is convinced to be the most evil villain who had ever existed.
I can just recommand it. It's so damn funny and a bit wholesome too.
Also, there are a lot of interesting villains in the book series "The Keys to the Kingdom" by Garth Nix. I can really recommand it if you like fantasy stories with a grim atmosphere.
I'm also curious what kind of villains they are, because these villains are in fact neither true villains nor anti-heroes or good people. It's really complicated because they are actually both, the good guys and the bad guys at the same time which you find out in the end of the story. And no, they are NOT schizophrenic. It's more complicated.
The most interesting character in my opinion however is the overarching "villain" who does something evil in the end of the story but also gives the protagonist the tools to make this undone in the end.
I'm sorry that I can't be more specific about it because otherwise I would just spoiler too much to explain everything in detail. And I don't want that because I think this story is extremely underrated and deserves more attention.
So, if you have the time to read the books, I would be happy to learn what kind of villains these characters would be.
12:35 Ok, thank goodness. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for some reference or talking point about Doofenschmirtz thinking SURELY he fits this bill to a T and there's no way he'd be left out! I was starting to get a little nervous, but I'm glad to see he is indeed included!
15:11 I was also seriously hoping to see Dr. Horrible. Excellent! 👏🏻
I never thought I'd see Plankton of a Take Foundry video, 10/10
those are basically "heels" in pro wrestling.
another type of "not actually evil but identify as/with evil",and that is usually rebels against individuals or organizations who are "good" at least identify/look like good. we see people IRL using "satanic" and other type of identity that is commonly associated with evil when protesting against authoritarians. and in fiction, "evil for the sake for pissing off the holier-than-thous" would be an interesting idea. actually, it would be interesting for a rebel to repurpose a symbol of evil that is the "in-universe equivalent of the pentagram+swatstika" into a symbol of freedom against a tyrannical regime
Reminds me of AJ Crowley from Good Omens
@@seileach67 minus the plant terrorizing? Or would terrorizing plants qualify for evil?
@@margheritaparacini7729 Hmmm, I'm thinking. Fanon says he does it to work out his trauma from being cast down, but does being traumatized excuse traumatizing others? Not really. But it's wrong but not EVIL, if you see what I mean, because if it was, then everyone of us who has ever lashed out in our hurt would have to be considered Evil, and when the definition is so broad as to include the majority of the human race, then it loses its meaning. So I would say that Crowley terrorizing his plants is a case of someone doing wrong but not fundamentally EVIL. Just my opinion though.
I was waiting for doof for this entire video. also hearing tale foundry talking about spongebob and despicable me completely seriously is a level of strangeness i am unable to describe
The stupendium has a song called “Fiend like me” and that just summarizes this entire thing perfectly. Also sidenote, I had been waiting for Doofenshmirtz since the start of this video and just got to him now!
Brother
The art, the animation, the voice, the visuals
This unexpectedly appeared in my recommendations, and the animation and visuals caught me eye immediately.
Im about half way through the video and im absolutely loving this video! Its so interesting and informative, it will likely be put into my playlist for material i use for story writing.
I love nothing more than a good villain, and i like parody villains too, so its brilliant!
I'm seeing more than a few similarities to the "outlaw, but totally not criminal" archetype, ala Mal from Firefly. "I aim to misbehave," and all that.
Omg another Firefly fan!!! That show was my damn childhood, man.
This reminds me of a show called "League of Super Evil" that aired around 2009. They aimed to take over their neighborhood and ultimately the world, but their "villainy" was always comically petty and relatively inconsequential. Literally their first "evil schemes" were holding a big backyard barbeque and not inviting any of the neighbors, then robbing the "Bank of Villainy" in order to redeposit enough money to open an account with them to get a free toaster. Really, they were often little more than just a public nuisance.
I love to watch your videos, while writing. They have such an inspireing atmosphere, helping my creativity to restock, when I am burned out.
9:00 pirates don't have 'Made up Accents'. It is based on the original; treasure islands actor who, to be an 'authentic' pirate, he based the accent on the blackcountry accent, found in the west midlands, England. This was done because a lot of real pirates were from various impoverished areas and thus, the 'blackcountry' accent, like most 'lower class' british accents, fits.
I was waiting basically the whole video for Doof to get mentioned, so when Tale Foundry began setting up for the Doof reveal, I hoped it was Doof and audibly chanted his name, then loudly cheered when I was right.
The Monarch and the Guild of Calamitous Intent is a good example as well.
I would say only the monarch or the villains with a low level, remeber the system of agresion, the level 10 like red death Is really scary
For megamind it wasn't so much that he liked the sound of being evil but more so that it was what society decided he was, just like how metro man didn't really choose to be a hero and instead was designated as one by the people, megamind was designated the villain and he just went along with it thinking that was what he was supposed to be
The villain in name alone is honestly pretty much the idea that spawned one of my currently biggest works. Like, the protagonist, Nathaniel, takes up villainy literally as a career path after being laid off, and immediately picks the villain alias "The Demon King of the Underworld". Sure, they somehow managed to make it big in villainy by some journalism and the fact the hero who came to stop his schemes was an up-and-coming hero who is basically the pinnacle of heroism (to the point where he's almost a parody of himself), but her schemes are mostly robbing banks (rent won't pay itself) and performance (helped by their illusion powers). He and Mighty Man sometimes even hang out after battles to make sure one didn't hurt the other too badly.
And then the fun part about such a trope, is when the real antagonist shows up, and you get to subvert expectations there as well because the antagonist, was the most powerful superhero before Mighty Man. And the fun part? His cruelty didn't start when he was overthrown. It just added another person to his off-list.
In essence, what I'm saying is, this is a very good trope and more people should play with it.
I love this idea!
This is why whenever I run a D&D game, I don't have the BBEG monologue, he jumps straight to trying to kill the player characters, unless they approach the problem in a way that would make him or her hesitate or otherwise wait to attack.
*screams* i legit was thinking you were gonna bring Doof into this I KNEW IT
Worst at being a villain, or worst in terms of action?
Thank you Tale Foundry. You always give such inspiration. You taught me about Xenofiction and anti-heroes and anti-villains and so much more. You have been a tremendous help in my writing and I want to than you for it. God bless you and your team.
I am so glad you made a video on this archetype. I wrote one of these for a small game my friends and I shipped a few years ago, and that experience got me hooked writing up more schemes of his in the years since.
What does a sentient, ice-cooled, super-ultra-high-spec gaming PC do with his free time? Why, he builds an underwater fighting arena (complete with a personal secretary handing out liability waivers at the front desk) to test any budding heroes who would dare stop him from freezing the world's oceans, all while he sits in the final stage of the gauntlet reading light novels, patiently waiting for a final showdown. Instead of fighting you personally of course, he wants a deluge of hench-bots to overwhelm you, but his second-in-command calls to tell him she gambled away all the money in a get-rich-quick scheme, thus, not having any money to keep the hench-bots he designed on payroll. With no other options, he'll fight the hero... "confidently"... and then a single punch to the ice encasing his superconductive components causes him to shatter apart completely.
The best part of these guys aren't even their schemes. It's the sheer confidence that comes with being a ne'er-do-well that masks their squishy personalities. Writing monologues, seeing how they react to a plan that's off-script; it's all about crafting a performance. This video encompasses everything I love about comedic villains!
In the novel Wicked the centeral character Elphaba started the novel aiming to do good, but after a longtime of misery and failure comes to identify being evil as failure. And that’s true for the musical as well.
Dr. Draken also comes to mind though not quite a perfect example
I think Senor Senior Senior and Senor Senior Junior are the quintessential examples from Kim Possible! They literally just become villains because they're bored and rich and want a cool lair.
I spent the entirety of the first 12.5 minutes of this video anticipating the mention of Doofinshmirtz so much that during the "describing but not quite mentioning" part that came right before the reveal, I was actually tensing every muscle in my body out of excitement. I'm very weird.
Oh good it wasn't just me.
Was so waiting for you to mention Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and am so glad you did!!
Was also hoping for a League Of Super Evil reference.
Wasn't expecting the pirate example though, but it makes a lot of sense.
I am currently struggling with education problems, i am out of school and home school is getting repetitive, and you single handedly showed me a genius solution to my problem!
Not only have i gotten such a cool idea for a villain, but also the single hardest problem in my life right now was solved! Thank you!
This popped of because of Disney's "Wish", didn't it?
I think Team Rocket are a great example of this! They don’t want to harm anyone or rule the world, they just want to sell some random kid’s rat for their job. Plus they are shown throughout the series to be relatively kind and empathetic. They’re really bad at being bad
One of the ppl I follow that I am genuinely happy to follow is because you make me actually realize you already know this and expand your concept of and depth of a single word like this evil. Homie wants me to write a book and get my philosophy doctorate degree 😅
There is a good reason that Villain's and Hero's are compared to heels and faces respectively. When someone claims to be evil it usually means they want to be feared, so naturally not everyone who claims to be evil will treat it as a checklist. Pirates for instance often used the legacy of other pirates to scare ships into surrendering by raising the flag, and would treat those who didn't give them trouble with a cordial nature to encourage surrender in future victims. After all, things like gun powder costed money, and medical supplies were often hard to come by when you were an outlaw. The more nasty side of pirates were often seen by those who refuse to give into their demands, and only when they had the upper hand. So the questions with people who emphasize how EVIL are is "How far is a villain willing to go when people don't fear them?" and "What motive do they have for playing nice?"
This kind of villain can be ridiculously fun (and hilarious) imo. Really awesome video!
One of my favorite moments of this in comics involved a story where the Riddler of Batman notoriety getting released from Arkham Asylum to rejoin society. The Riddler didn't particularly want to go back to crime in this instance, but was overwhelmingly bored with mundane life and felt like nobody/nothing was challenging him anymore. Basically, guy missed Batman. He tries to get in touch with Batman through regular, non-criminal means. Batman doesn't have time and is annoyed at the interruption.
But again, the Riddler is extremely bored. So he buys an apartment, stages an elaborate threat with lives at stake. It's all terribly ominous and of course, wrapped in a riddle.
Batman shows up by crashing through the window only to find the Riddler with a nice dinner table set up. He's serving surf and turf in a kiss the genius apron. Lives at steak, you see. The only thing being killed that night is a lobster. And he's ecstatic that Batman solved his puzzle to make it there punctually.
I don't think he technically did anything illegal there--apartment was unoccupied. No one was actually in danger short of delicious crustaceans. Still, good for him lol.
When I think of something like that I think of Jack Spicer from xiaolin showdown. He was evil but he really didn't act like an evil villain cuz a lot of times he helped the good guys.
9:14 people tend to forget that pirates still exist and one of the things they do is kidnap whole ships of turist and ask for randsome.
glad you finally landed a role as the wild robot!
So what do you guys think, in my book im writing, the main villain is going to be wayyyy too powerful for the hero to ever defeat, so he goes back in time to essentially kill him in the cradle. But due to the nature of time, the farther you go back the harder it pushes, making it harder exponentially to go further back.
Hero eventually stops in the timeline, and finds the villain. Villain and hero are much more closely matched now, so theres a chance. They fight through a city, and eventually villain stops in front of a house an does everything to protect it. Claiming, "there are children in there!" The hero, only knowing the villain from his villainy, takes the bet that hes lying, because he has the PERFECT opportunity to strike him down, then and there. He takes the shot, villain attempts to redirect, but its too strong, and it hits the building, burning the family of a wife and three children inside.
Villain starts screaming, and something visibly breaks in him, and the hero having realized what hes done, is shocked. Villain attacks and wounds him. Hero is forced to retreat. He goes back to the future, because he cant strain anymore in this timeline.
Pops back into future, hero considers whats happened. Villain shows up.
Villain monologue of badassery,
"Do you know why I have done all this?"
"Why I kill all magical beings, and take their bodies and make them part of mine?"
"Because of you. That was my family you killed. My children. My happiness. My world."
"And because you burnt down my world... I will burn down this one, and every single one until there is no magic left, until no creature knows mana. Until no creature knows the disgusting villainy capable of you WIZARDS!"
Good villain? Y / N?
Good villain! Although, to quote Brooklyn 99, "Cool motive. Still murder."
YES
The bootstrap paradox villain origin makes for a good time travel story, but it seems contrived that our hero would fight through a city and simply not believe that there are civilians inside of that house. The concept's good, but IMO the details could use some touching up.
Two stories I think need to be discussed in this light: Venture Bros (its like half the point of the show) and Worm (Main Character is an interesting take on V.I.N.O.)
Taylor absolutely is a villain, though. She does Horrible things, for selfish reasons. The fact we see how she justifies them in her own head doesn't undo the widespread harm she causes.
She constantly goes "The ends justify the means", but then she cuts out people's eyes.
Not to mention just utterly sweeping under the rug various unpleasantries. She builds her post-leviathan empire on Coil's money. And she just ignores that this is being built on things like massive amounts of hard drug dealing.
Speaking of Coil, she kills him when he's helpless, and mentally distanced herself from it because she Knows it was wrong, and she later thinks to herself that she did Not have to murder him.
@@calemr You are correct. I was thinking more in terms that Taylor thinks of herself and presents herself as a Villain in Name Only, relying on the aesthetics of villainy to stay safe and achieve her noble aims. It is a wonderful subversion to later highlight how machievellian she is.
10:59, in Kim Possible, Dr Drakken repeatedly tries and fails to take over the world. But in one episode, his sidekick Shego actually manages to do that and she actually manages to establish a dystopia.
this is my favorite type of villain, the kind who does stupid stuff to outvillain others