Top 10 Darkest Villain Schemes
#10: Cruella de Vil’s Fashion Goals “101 Dalmatians” (1996)
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Some villains want to take over the world, some want to right a wrong that occurred to them. And some like Cruella de Vil just want to turn puppies into a new fur coat. It’s such a wildly absurd motive, but it's one that’s demented nonetheless. Cruella very clearly wants to harm these innocent dogs. And throughout the live action “101 Dalmatians” movie, she goes through so many hurdles to try and do it. Thankfully though, this abuser is arrested at the end of the movie. Glenn Close’s Cruella isn’t an overly complex bad guy with a sad backstory, she’s just a cruel woman with no redeeming qualities. And that makes her a truly haunting antagonist!
#9: John Doe Gets What He Wants “Seven” (1995)
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John Doe might have been shot and killed at the end of “Seven,” but did he really lose? This serial killer had been targeting victims who he thought committed the seven deadly sins. Throughout his schemes he ended up playing Detective Mills and Somerset like violins. And in a devastating reveal, Mill’s wife was yet another of Doe’s victims. This spurs Mills to kill Doe in an incredibly tense scene, but it was ultimately what John wanted anyways. It’s not often a villain can puppeteer the heroes like this. Doe’s murderous obsession with the 7 deadly sins and his desire to die to top off his grand scheme made him a villain simply a cut above the rest.
#8: Zemo Plays the Avengers Against Each Other “Captain America: Civil War” (2016)
After his family died during the Avengers’ fight against Ultron, Baron Zemo sought revenge. And Zemo’s nothing if not an opportunist. When the Avengers were split over a proposed piece of legislation that would regulate superheroes called the Sokovia Accords, Zemo struck. He used trigger words to re-brainwash Winter Soldier and set up an explosion that killed King T’Chaka. He also leaked footage revealing that Winter Soldier murdered Iron Man’s parents, leading to the nastiest fight between Iron Man and Captain America that we’ve ever seen. Zemo might’ve been imprisoned in the end, but he turned several of the Avengers into outlaws in the process. And it took until “Avengers: Endgame” for the team to truly be unified once again.
#7: Riddler Uses Batman “The Batman” (2022)
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Social outcast Edward Nashton shone a light on Gotham City’s corruption—and he even used Batman to do it! As the Riddler, he orchestrates several elaborate riddles for Batman to solve. It leads the caped crusader to break into the Iceberg Lounge, hunt the Penguin in a car chase, and beat up a whole lot of goons. One way or another though, it was all what Riddler wanted. Sure, he didn’t anticipate that Batman would reject him in the way that he did. But by then, his swarm of like-minded goons had already succeeded in bombing Gotham City, leading to a major flood. We arguably haven’t really seen a villain get one up on Batman like this since Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
#6: Tech Terrors “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2014)
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People like to say technology will rot your brain, but in “Kingsman: The Secret Service” that’s exactly what it does! When tech mogul Richmond Valentine promises to give users free internet and cellular service through his company’s line of SIM cards, it’s a deal too good to be true. Anyone with phones connected to these SIMs soon go mad and become violent. With everyone turned rabid, Valentine hopes to wipe out humanity and start over from scratch. Finding the perfect phone and phone plan can drive you crazy, but not this literally!
#5: Holding an Author Hostage “Misery” (1990)
There’s an old saying that you should never meet your heroes, but maybe there should be one about never meeting your fans too! Well at least the crazy ones. When Paul Sheldon is hurt in a car crash, he’s rescued by Annie Wilkes, a nurse who is a fan of his novels. But when she finds out that Paul killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain, she snaps! She holds him captive and forces him to write a new book bringing Misery back. She tortures and nearly kills Paul all in the name of the fictional character. Paul eventually stops her, but this encounter understandably traumatizes him. Annie’s a clear psychofan but also a pretty good representation of toxic fandom. Take a breather, Annie!
#4: Launching an Atomic Bomb “Goldfinger” (1964)
There’s going overboard, and then there’s whatever the heck this is. This James Bond villain had an insanely elaborate master plan in “Goldfinger.” With Operation Grand Slam, Auric hoped to raid Fort Knox and irradiate their gold supply, turning it worthless. That way his own supply of gold would inflate in value and send the economy into a tailspin. To attack, he didn’t just want to hit the armed guards with deadly nerve gas and have his troops tear down the fences. Auric wanted to hit the place with an atomic bomb! James Bond ultimately defeated him but could you just imagine if that worked? He’s no J. Robert Oppenheimer, but Auric Goldfinger could’ve been the destroyer of worlds during this movie.
#3: Ozymandias’ Plan for Peace “Watchmen” (2009)
Ozymandias may have been one of the smartest people in the “Watchmen” universe, but it doesn’t take a genius to tell that his world peace plan was bonkers. Ozymandias wanted to use his energy reactors to explode multiple cities, killing millions in the process. He reasoned that the tragedy would be enough to rally Earth’s nations together. Needless to say this put him at odds with several of the other heroes. A plan like Ozymandias’ isn’t just chilling because of the high casualty rate, but also because he initiated it before the heroes even knew about it. A world that no longer knows war is fantastic, but did it really have to be achieved through this?
#2: Thanos’ Culling of the Universe “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)
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To his credit, Thanos did exactly what he set out to do in “Infinity War” when he successfully snapped half of all life from the entire universe. It was surely impossible to think that the genocidal maniac would actually succeed in his goals. So it was shocking to say the least to find Earth’s mightiest heroes ultimately fail. Thanos won! Even though everything was eventually fixed in “Endgame,” the haunting effects of what he did still lasted years in-universe. Sure, his plan for erasing half of all life was crazy.. But his sheer dedication and ability to yield results cemented him as a force to be reckoned with.
#1: The Empire Begins “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (2005)
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We knew that the “Star Wars” prequels would eventually lead up to the continuity of the original trilogy. But knowing that still didn’t stop us from getting goosebumps when we saw the formation of what would be known as the Galactic Empire in “Revenge of the Sith.” The whole transition proved that Emperor Palpatine was a true genius. He worked his way into becoming Chancellor, orchestrated the Clone Wars to play both sides, and exploited multiple apprentices. All of which he’d eventually discard like broken toys! Palpatine also further extinguished both the Republic and the Jedi through the Order 66 protocol. If the long game which Palpatine played isn’t considered diabolical, we really don’t know what else is! Is there a nefarious plot we failed to mention? Let us know in the comments!
