Trope Talk: Pure Evil

Today let's talk about those paragons of villainy sometimes referred to as "disney evil"; those beacons of menace, those icons of charisma, those unrepentant monsters that DEFINE the meaning of malice. Who's your favorite Pure Evil villain, and what's your favorite part of their villainous breakdown?

EXAMPLES (IN ROUGH ORDER): Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Sleeping Beauty, Gravity Falls, Avatar: The Last Airbender, 101 Dalmatians, The Killing Joke, Batman: The Animated Series, Transformers Prime, Maleficent, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Reboot, Dragon Ball Z, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

MERCH LINKS:

Find us on Twitter @OSPYouTube!

[shadowthekelpie]

The "I just wish I was loved as much as I love skinning puppies" joke has aged *phenomenally* with the Cruella trailer drop

[Its_just_mary]

“Murder soulmate” is the best term for arch nemesis I have ever heard

[lazyliongames]

Sympathetic villains:
“Am I the villain? Oh no”
Pure villains:
“Am I the villain? Yes, do I care? No”

[ethankrieger]

Jack Horner is the perfect example of a pure evil villain.

“Jack, do you really plan to shoot a puppy?”

“Yeah, in the face. Why?”

[laylaloves]

Harley Quinn's motivation: "I just wish he loved me as much as he loves skinning puppies."

[debraboutom]

And then we have a third category: The Doofenshmirtz. The incompetent yet friendly villain that has a ridiculously pitiable backstory to the point that it's comedic.

[tetzujin]

The Lich from Adventure Time is the perfect example of a pure evil villain. There was even an episode where Finn called him "so evil its boring" but the lich has the perfect rebuttal. He says "While the mortal world doubts and questions I know exactly what I am." I thought that was the coolest shit ever

[strytllr]

Jack Horner of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish fits this trope exactly. He’s a bad person, he knows it, and just does not care.

[quinnsinclair]

"What's the matter? I thought the Joker always wanted to make Batman laugh."

"YOU'RE! NOT! BATMAN!"

[danhelsting]

"Villains have to be complicated and or sympathetic"
"THIS IS A LIE!"
Thank you. I'm so glad to hear someone say it.

[domilontano]

"Why does everyone keep giving robots teeth?" These are the real questions of our era.

[bj.bruner]

Person: Pure evil villains are bad writing.
Tolkien: I'm about to end this man's whole career

[juliamenard]

You know the difference between a villain and a supervillain?
.
.
PRESENTATION!

[atk]

The simple motivation is why Megamind worked so well. His motivation was to fight a super hero. He didn't know what to do with himself after beating the super hero.
Pure evil villains exist to be thwarted. Megamind was almost aware of this in-universe.

[spectralspooky]

Honestly, having a villain that you genuinely want to see beaten is a breath of fresh air. Having so many "redeemable" villains or ones that make funny jokes makes them feel less intimidating.

[valentinkambushev]

Jack Horner from "Puss in boots: the last wish" is a good example of a purely evil villain. I feel like he was even created to mock the trend of redeeming villains and having villains with sad backstories.

[uptownfunk]

Optional Quality: being voiced by Mark Hamill

[notcloroxbleach]

I find it interesting when a character is pure evil, but they’re on the hero’s side. Like, “I don’t want to help I’m here for my own benefits and getting to hurt people on the other team.”

[Silverwind]

"You're an irredeemable monster!"
"Wha, wha, what took you so long, IDIOT?"

[gerstein]

"You're not gonna shoot a puppy are ya Jack?"
"Yeah in the face why?"