One of Brain's scheme did succeed - he managed to take over all the world's televisions on Christmas Day and hypnotise the audience. However, he gave in to the Christmas Spirit and instructs everyone to have a happy day with their friends and family.
Big Thrones fans know that Littlefinger not only rose to power from practically nothing but also that without him the Clash of Kings war would have never happened. He is the reason the first Hand of the King died, and through his chaos plots also ensured Neds death as well. Did we mention the only reason Robyn Arryn (a sickly boy who has no military skills at all) was "Lord of the Vale" is due to Petyrs influence and need of a puppet in control of an army.
Early on in the making of GOT, many cast members were convinced that the show would end with Baelish on the Iron Throne. His plan only comes apart because of his love for Catelyn Tully (later Stark). When his 'perfectly laid' plans result in her death, he starts to fray at the edges; his love becomes obsession and transfers to her daughter Sansa - but Sansa is cleverer (and crueler) than he anticipated, which causes the plan to fall apart on him so suddenly that he can't create a backup.
Yeah, but we still cheered when Sansa & Aria saw right through his plot & slit his lying throat! When are people gonna learn you can't f@ck over a Northern girl?
Ha ha, funny. But don’t forget about the plan an alternative Team Rocket came up with in the Season 24 finale, “Gates of Warp” and “Showdown at the Gates of Warp”. It involved them locking Dialga, the Pokemon world’s god of time, and Palkia, the Pokemon world’s god of space, into an eternal battle. The result is Pokemon throughout the multiverse literally devolving into eggs, and by the time people figure out, it is too late to fight back. The next part (which didn’t come into fruition) was just as bad, as they planned on having the Pokemon stop fighting, taking all the eggs, and making the stolen Pokemon inside join Team Rocket. It was a plan so good, it took the protagonists literal praying to set things back to normal.
Ok, I love Avatar, but there is no way Ozai should be on this list at all, let alone at #2, especially when the list is missing someone like Anson Fullerton from Burn Notice, who was a government psychologist who figured out a way to run a completely secret agency comprised of people from all areas of the gov't, recruiting spies by arranging for them to be completely cut off and seen as untrustworthy by the gov't. It took the shows 6 seasons to even get through all the layers of protection he created for himself while being hunted by one of the smartest spies in the world.
All the more given that it wasn't even his plan. Sozin created the "use the comet's power for firebending boost and genocide our enemies" plan, Ozai just recycled it without adding much.
I'm glad to see Line of Duty on a list - I have no clue how that show hasn't broken containment outside of the UK because it is some of the best TV out there, on par with anything HBO has put out in the last decade or so. I know a lot of people were disappointed with the H reveal but I think it was satisfying - Buckles always appeared bumbling and incompetent and that made the audience and AC-12 underestimate him. In retrospect, knowing he played up his obliviousness as an act and was greasing the wheels with people in key positions to get higher in the ranks made a lot of sense, and he was involved in pretty much every season's major investigation in some way. Whether it was the original plan all along, they at least looked at who they could use for the H reveal and chose one that made sense, instead of going for a twist/shock ending.
The Following gets a bit unbelievable during the 2nd season when you find that John Carrol faked his own death (and the good guys start doing that too). I really enjoyed the 1st season, though; it's interesting for the show to have a cult where members talk about their first murder as if they're talking about how they lost their virginities, and it had some really surprising twists.
You know... what makes Darkseid and Thanos such threats isn't just their raw power and physical ability. These two have a lot of brains too and the resources of interstellar empires to spend on their schemes.
Thanos in the comics is one of the smartest people in the galaxy, despite being utterly unhinged (he's called 'the Mad Titan' for a reason). Thanos in the MCU is... not so much. Unfortunately, because Marvel Studios decided to 'tone down' Thanos' plan, in the MCU he's no longer an utterly insane schemer but simply a well-intentioned extremist who's too dumb to see the flaws in his own plan. Killing half of all life would AT BEST give the universe a couple more decades (since he claims it's on the brink of collapse already), and at worst would devastate whole ecosystems and drastically accelerate the end. If only they had stuck with his comic motivation. Thanos in the comics wants to destroy half of all life in the universe as a declaration of his love for Death, and if the universe collapses catastrophically as a result, he DOESN'T CARE. It doesn't work, because Death doesn't fancy him (she prefers Deadpool).
Shao Kahn had a smart and effective plan in Mortal Kombat Conquest (1998-1999). He kept his greatest opponent and Earthrealm's protector, the thunder god Raiden, distracted with speeches inside a void while the Shadow Priests murdered Kahn's adversaries (including Earthrealm's champion, the Great Kung Lao). Once his threats were destroyed, Shao Kahn fought Raiden until he (Raiden) accidentally entered Outworld. With Raiden powerless in Outworld, Shao Kahn enslaved and tortured Raiden (including with souvenirs of the vanquished warriors), as well as commenced his siege of Earthrealm.
Here's the thing about Pinky and the Brain it is stated one is a genius and the other insane but they only hint at which one is which. A friend pointed out that Pinky is probably the genius and the Brain is the insane one. If you really think about it Brain is the one the messes things up usually with his ego. Also it is said that insanity is repeated the same thing and expecting a different result then constantly trying to take over the world kind of falls into that.
One definition of insanity is attempting the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Brains persistent attempts of world domination could be reflected in this. Meanwhile Pinky is content with spending time with his friend and enjoying the little things in life, while also pondering things like where they would find rubber pants their size.
I think a couple episodes show that Pinky is in fact, quite brilliant, I think even smarter than brain. But it only manifests in brief glimpses, so I don't know if he's supposed to be a crazy genius, or just has brief brilliance spurts, or plays dumb to make Brain feel better about himself or if it's just fun to be 'crazy', or its not really Canon and played for laughs. The plans by him that do work out point to the crazy brilliance but who knows, maybe the people in charge of the show already gave their answer and I don't know.
It’s also pretty tragic that Littlefinger’s only major mistake was not randomly guessing that everyone was under constant surveillance by a magical time traveler in a world he had no reason to believe was magical at all.
The white witch from Wizard of Oz, she could of sent Dorothy back anytime but she made her kill her sister by magically giving her a bucket of water, and made Dorothy show the Wizard was a fraud and she took control of the Emerald City.
Love the inclusion of Cavill and Swearengen, but surely Justin Crowe, Marco Inaros, and the Cigarette-Smoking Man deserve spots on this list. Maybe Gabriel Lorca, too.
I don't like that yall used a clip of Al killing the reverend (Deadwood) and implying he had him murdered. It was clearly a mercy killing and it weighed heavily on Al's conscience prior to. Everyone in town knew the reverend needed to pass and Al was the only one willing to take that burden onto himself. It was honestly one of the only selfless things he'd done on the show
No. Definitely not. Moriarty is the definition of 'informed ability'. Even Doyle didn't create much more than a one-dimensional caricature. Doyle's Moriarty was created for the sole purpose of killing the Detective... and couldn't even do that one thing properly.
Wait, Cavill was actually included? Was just expecting him to be included in pre-roll footage because they always talked about the plan, but clearly never actually had one beyond the bombardment of the colonies...
One of my favourite TV Villain plans would have to be from Arrow Season 5. During the season, Adrian Chase aka Prometheus, does many psychotic things to Oliver Queen to break his spirit and use his past to torture him. All leading to a final showdown on the same island that created the Green Arrow, that was completely covered in bombs by Prometheus. Prometheus than lured Oliver to the island by kidnapping his friends and family, and tried to get Oliver to kill him. Why? Because if Prometheus dies, then the whole island would explode, taking Olivier and his loved ones with him. When Prometheus failed to get Oliver to kill him, he then killed himself and triggered the explosion.
Yeah Fring wasn t a lowlife drug smuggler / dealer when he met with the cartel. Watch the damn series. I swear I liked the videos of whatculture but there seems to be little to no quality aside from Jules.
**please note: _it is NEVER stated as to which one is "a genius" and which one is "insane."_ re: Pinky and The Brain _...Pinky is smart enough to dismantle the madness wreaked by Brain._
For firelord Ozai, I wouldn't call that HIS genius plan. He just recycled his grandfather Sozin's plan practically verbatim. Sozin was an evil genius, Ozai was only a megalomaniacal psychopath who basically brought his own doom by turning both his son and his brother against him.
In Doctor Who. Great villan yes. Missed opportunity for the 50th to actually be within the doctors timeline. A whole season inside the Doctor and the 50th as the capper! Oh well!
Ozai plan to torch the Earth Kingdom isn't that smart, since at the time he already pretty much had it conquered; plus the the fact he would be killing a lot of his own subjects as well. An better ATL villain would how Azula infiltrated Ba Sing Sa disguise as an Kyoshi Warrior and was able to take over the Earth Kingdom capital. Or maybe even Admiral Zhou's plot to defeat the Northern Water Tribe by killing the Moon Spirit, thus removing the art of water bending from the world
Mr. Morden : What do YOU want? Vir Cotto : I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price.
Morden gave everybody exactly what they wanted... even Vir, who told Morden that he wanted to see Morden's head on a spike and wave at it. That moment, where Vir looks up with an impish grin and gives a tiny little wave, is one of my favourites in the whole show.
@@marquisofcarrabass That to is one of my favorite scenes in B5, but I do not think Morden gave anyone anything. In most cases, it was the Shadows that gave what people asked, if it served the Shadow's interest. In this particular case, it was Londo that gave Vir what he asked for. Either Vir told Londo about the encounter and what his answer to Moden was, or the head on a pike is just deeply rooted Centauri tradition for enemies of the state that Londo just did tradition, but did know full well Vir disliked Morden with a passion. Vir did state his dislike of Morden to Londo numerous times during the story.
Zettai Karen Children didn't make the list, but as was proven in an Omake of its parent Manga, no Bond villain can hold a candle to Shiho Sannomya! (She's actually supposed to be one of the heroic trio, but The Master/Missy *Doctor Who* would kack their knickers if Shiho told them too! 😱)
One of Brain's scheme did succeed - he managed to take over all the world's televisions on Christmas Day and hypnotise the audience. However, he gave in to the Christmas Spirit and instructs everyone to have a happy day with their friends and family.
Big Thrones fans know that Littlefinger not only rose to power from practically nothing but also that without him the Clash of Kings war would have never happened. He is the reason the first Hand of the King died, and through his chaos plots also ensured Neds death as well. Did we mention the only reason Robyn Arryn (a sickly boy who has no military skills at all) was "Lord of the Vale" is due to Petyrs influence and need of a puppet in control of an army.
Early on in the making of GOT, many cast members were convinced that the show would end with Baelish on the Iron Throne. His plan only comes apart because of his love for Catelyn Tully (later Stark). When his 'perfectly laid' plans result in her death, he starts to fray at the edges; his love becomes obsession and transfers to her daughter Sansa - but Sansa is cleverer (and crueler) than he anticipated, which causes the plan to fall apart on him so suddenly that he can't create a backup.
Yeah, but we still cheered when Sansa & Aria saw right through his plot & slit his lying throat! When are people gonna learn you can't f@ck over a Northern girl?
Obviously Team Rocket have the best plans out of any TV show villains, they just pretend to be not he brightest to mess with Ash 😏
Ha ha, funny. But don’t forget about the plan an alternative Team Rocket came up with in the Season 24 finale, “Gates of Warp” and “Showdown at the Gates of Warp”. It involved them locking Dialga, the Pokemon world’s god of time, and Palkia, the Pokemon world’s god of space, into an eternal battle. The result is Pokemon throughout the multiverse literally devolving into eggs, and by the time people figure out, it is too late to fight back. The next part (which didn’t come into fruition) was just as bad, as they planned on having the Pokemon stop fighting, taking all the eggs, and making the stolen Pokemon inside join Team Rocket. It was a plan so good, it took the protagonists literal praying to set things back to normal.
Which evil elite would be in "...a bad guy version of Mensa?"
It's just called "Mensa".
Ok, I love Avatar, but there is no way Ozai should be on this list at all, let alone at #2, especially when the list is missing someone like Anson Fullerton from Burn Notice, who was a government psychologist who figured out a way to run a completely secret agency comprised of people from all areas of the gov't, recruiting spies by arranging for them to be completely cut off and seen as untrustworthy by the gov't. It took the shows 6 seasons to even get through all the layers of protection he created for himself while being hunted by one of the smartest spies in the world.
All the more given that it wasn't even his plan. Sozin created the "use the comet's power for firebending boost and genocide our enemies" plan, Ozai just recycled it without adding much.
I'm glad to see Line of Duty on a list - I have no clue how that show hasn't broken containment outside of the UK because it is some of the best TV out there, on par with anything HBO has put out in the last decade or so. I know a lot of people were disappointed with the H reveal but I think it was satisfying - Buckles always appeared bumbling and incompetent and that made the audience and AC-12 underestimate him. In retrospect, knowing he played up his obliviousness as an act and was greasing the wheels with people in key positions to get higher in the ranks made a lot of sense, and he was involved in pretty much every season's major investigation in some way. Whether it was the original plan all along, they at least looked at who they could use for the H reveal and chose one that made sense, instead of going for a twist/shock ending.
The Following was criminally underrated
The Following gets a bit unbelievable during the 2nd season when you find that John Carrol faked his own death (and the good guys start doing that too). I really enjoyed the 1st season, though; it's interesting for the show to have a cult where members talk about their first murder as if they're talking about how they lost their virginities, and it had some really surprising twists.
Honestly, Roderick did most of the planning for season 1's events, and it's unfair to give the credit to Carroll.
First season was really good.
You know... what makes Darkseid and Thanos such threats isn't just their raw power and physical ability. These two have a lot of brains too and the resources of interstellar empires to spend on their schemes.
Thanos in the comics is one of the smartest people in the galaxy, despite being utterly unhinged (he's called 'the Mad Titan' for a reason).
Thanos in the MCU is... not so much. Unfortunately, because Marvel Studios decided to 'tone down' Thanos' plan, in the MCU he's no longer an utterly insane schemer but simply a well-intentioned extremist who's too dumb to see the flaws in his own plan. Killing half of all life would AT BEST give the universe a couple more decades (since he claims it's on the brink of collapse already), and at worst would devastate whole ecosystems and drastically accelerate the end.
If only they had stuck with his comic motivation. Thanos in the comics wants to destroy half of all life in the universe as a declaration of his love for Death, and if the universe collapses catastrophically as a result, he DOESN'T CARE.
It doesn't work, because Death doesn't fancy him (she prefers Deadpool).
Masquerading As The Blue Morpho and Kano The Monarch and 21 The Venture Bros
There was a serial killer over several seasons of Bones that was incredibly crafty. I can’t remember his name, though.
Shao Kahn had a smart and effective plan in Mortal Kombat Conquest (1998-1999). He kept his greatest opponent and Earthrealm's protector, the thunder god Raiden, distracted with speeches inside a void while the Shadow Priests murdered Kahn's adversaries (including Earthrealm's champion, the Great Kung Lao). Once his threats were destroyed, Shao Kahn fought Raiden until he (Raiden) accidentally entered Outworld. With Raiden powerless in Outworld, Shao Kahn enslaved and tortured Raiden (including with souvenirs of the vanquished warriors), as well as commenced his siege of Earthrealm.
Here's the thing about Pinky and the Brain it is stated one is a genius and the other insane but they only hint at which one is which. A friend pointed out that Pinky is probably the genius and the Brain is the insane one. If you really think about it Brain is the one the messes things up usually with his ego. Also it is said that insanity is repeated the same thing and expecting a different result then constantly trying to take over the world kind of falls into that.
Brain is totally the insane one.
One definition of insanity is attempting the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Brains persistent attempts of world domination could be reflected in this. Meanwhile Pinky is content with spending time with his friend and enjoying the little things in life, while also pondering things like where they would find rubber pants their size.
I think a couple episodes show that Pinky is in fact, quite brilliant, I think even smarter than brain. But it only manifests in brief glimpses, so I don't know if he's supposed to be a crazy genius, or just has brief brilliance spurts, or plays dumb to make Brain feel better about himself or if it's just fun to be 'crazy', or its not really Canon and played for laughs. The plans by him that do work out point to the crazy brilliance but who knows, maybe the people in charge of the show already gave their answer and I don't know.
Bless you for including Pinky on the list. Best mouse.
Buckles isn’t the end I want and need another few series of LOD! 🙏🏼🤞🏼
There is a theory that when the theme tune says "one is a genius the other's insane" it's Pinky that is the genius.
Aww my boy Littlefinger! Wow did they start writing him dirty and stupid after the 4th season! He was perfect until the 5th season. 😢😭💔
It’s also pretty tragic that Littlefinger’s only major mistake was not randomly guessing that everyone was under constant surveillance by a magical time traveler in a world he had no reason to believe was magical at all.
The Cigarette smoking man single handedly kept the Buffalo Bills from winning four Super Bowls.
Ryan O' Reilly in OZ. He had literally everyone doing his work for him.
How could you leave out Evil Morty from Rick and Morty?
The white witch from Wizard of Oz, she could of sent Dorothy back anytime but she made her kill her sister by magically giving her a bucket of water, and made Dorothy show the Wizard was a fraud and she took control of the Emerald City.
Amazing video of smartest villains in tv shows with good plans,fantastic job Ellie Littlechild from what culture tv.
Cant wait to see what little finger does in the book the tv series didnt do him justice but made him out to be a fool in the end
Awesome list.
Love the inclusion of Cavill and Swearengen, but surely Justin Crowe, Marco Inaros, and the Cigarette-Smoking Man deserve spots on this list. Maybe Gabriel Lorca, too.
I don't like that yall used a clip of Al killing the reverend (Deadwood) and implying he had him murdered. It was clearly a mercy killing and it weighed heavily on Al's conscience prior to. Everyone in town knew the reverend needed to pass and Al was the only one willing to take that burden onto himself. It was honestly one of the only selfless things he'd done on the show
I don't think you'll find many villains smarter than Boyd Crowder in "Justified."
He talked smart but none of his plans finally gave him the big win he always lusted after. One of my all time favorite TV shows.
Joe Carroll made it to the end of the series which ran 3 seasons.
I really liked the Following when I was watching it. I dropped off but I heard it didn't end great.
Moriarty
No. Definitely not. Moriarty is the definition of 'informed ability'. Even Doyle didn't create much more than a one-dimensional caricature. Doyle's Moriarty was created for the sole purpose of killing the Detective... and couldn't even do that one thing properly.
The Great Intelligence won for about three seconds. There are plenty of more deserving Who baddies.
One is a genius, the other's insane. They never stated which was which.
Turns out my washing machine was out to get me. I don't want to talk about it.
Wait, Cavill was actually included? Was just expecting him to be included in pre-roll footage because they always talked about the plan, but clearly never actually had one beyond the bombardment of the colonies...
One of my favourite TV Villain plans would have to be from Arrow Season 5. During the season, Adrian Chase aka Prometheus, does many psychotic things to Oliver Queen to break his spirit and use his past to torture him. All leading to a final showdown on the same island that created the Green Arrow, that was completely covered in bombs by Prometheus. Prometheus than lured Oliver to the island by kidnapping his friends and family, and tried to get Oliver to kill him. Why? Because if Prometheus dies, then the whole island would explode, taking Olivier and his loved ones with him. When Prometheus failed to get Oliver to kill him, he then killed himself and triggered the explosion.
Same , also for me Reverse Flash and Deathstroke too.
Yeah Fring wasn t a lowlife drug smuggler / dealer when he met with the cartel. Watch the damn series.
I swear I liked the videos of whatculture but there seems to be little to no quality aside from Jules.
**please note:
_it is NEVER stated as to which one is "a genius" and which one is "insane."_
re: Pinky and The Brain
_...Pinky is smart enough to dismantle the madness wreaked by Brain._
For firelord Ozai, I wouldn't call that HIS genius plan. He just recycled his grandfather Sozin's plan practically verbatim.
Sozin was an evil genius, Ozai was only a megalomaniacal psychopath who basically brought his own doom by turning both his son and his brother against him.
Wish the big Baelesh plan hadn't come to such an abrupt, contrived ending.
In Doctor Who. Great villan yes. Missed opportunity for the 50th to actually be within the doctors timeline. A whole season inside the Doctor and the 50th as the capper! Oh well!
A lot of Brits here...hmmm.... But Brain's plans were almost always foiled by Pinky.
Ozai plan to torch the Earth Kingdom isn't that smart, since at the time he already pretty much had it conquered; plus the the fact he would be killing a lot of his own subjects as well.
An better ATL villain would how Azula infiltrated Ba Sing Sa disguise as an Kyoshi Warrior and was able to take over the Earth Kingdom capital. Or maybe even Admiral Zhou's plot to defeat the Northern Water Tribe by killing the Moon Spirit, thus removing the art of water bending from the world
Chest like a cheese grater?
Petyr- 🥐 of Lifetime 🧬
You missed babylon 5 and Mr morden
Mr. Morden : What do YOU want?
Vir Cotto : I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price.
Morden gave everybody exactly what they wanted... even Vir, who told Morden that he wanted to see Morden's head on a spike and wave at it. That moment, where Vir looks up with an impish grin and gives a tiny little wave, is one of my favourites in the whole show.
@@marquisofcarrabass That to is one of my favorite scenes in B5, but I do not think Morden gave anyone anything. In most cases, it was the Shadows that gave what people asked, if it served the Shadow's interest.
In this particular case, it was Londo that gave Vir what he asked for. Either Vir told Londo about the encounter and what his answer to Moden was, or the head on a pike is just deeply rooted Centauri tradition for enemies of the state that Londo just did tradition, but did know full well Vir disliked Morden with a passion. Vir did state his dislike of Morden to Londo numerous times during the story.
"Haetch"
Zettai Karen Children didn't make the list, but as was proven in an Omake of its parent Manga, no Bond villain can hold a candle to Shiho Sannomya! (She's actually supposed to be one of the heroic trio, but The Master/Missy *Doctor Who* would kack their knickers if Shiho told them too! 😱)
😍🥰😁👌