a memorable villian from any type of media (books, games, movies, etc.)

[Aetera]

The Mayor from season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I loved that guy so much. He was a germaphobic, family values, polite, affable man who just happened to also want to transform into a giant snake demon and devour half of the town. The picture on the affably evil page of TV Tropes is of the mayor.

*talking to his vampire minions before going out to ascend to his demon form and devour the Sunnydale High graduating class*
"Remember: fast and brutal. It's going to be a whole new world come nightfall; don't want to weaken now. ...And boys? Let's watch the swearing."

He cheers up his pseudo-daughter psycho rogue Slayer by taking her out for a round of miniature golf. And it works.

 

[SoranMBane]

Video games:
GLaDOS, of course. Who else would it be?

Books:
Cluny the Scourge from Redwall. The antagonist from one of the first books I ever read that actually had a definable antagonist; of course I remember the evil, whip-tailed bastard.

Movies:
The graboids from Tremors. Maybe not so much "villains," since they're animals and therefore completely amoral, but watching the struggle between the inhabitants of Perfection Valley and these giant, man-eating worms was also a big part of my childhood, so they've stuck in my mind.

TV:
Invader Zim. A villain protagonist, maybe, but still a villain. And an awesome one at that.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Books:
Cluny the Scourge from Redwall. The antagonist from one of the first books I ever read that actually had a definable antagonist; of course I remember the evil, whip-tailed bastard.

I always enjoyed Slagar The Cruel more than Cluny. Cluny was just a lunatic, but Slagar has the distinction of being the only villain to appear in more than one story. He was a minor villain hired by Cluny in the first novel, but became the absolute vicious bastard in the sequel.

 

[Fogold]

Anton from "No Country for Old Men". Psychopathic in every meaning of the word, this man has a horrible inevitability about him, like he's a force of nature. The film's worth watching if you havn't already.

M. Bison from Street Fighter is a personal favorite. Evil to the point of silliness, and an epic voice actor to boot.

Both Mark Hamill's and Heath Ledgers Joker. Needs no introduction, you've probably seen threads comparing different Joker interpretations at least once on this site.

That's all I can think of just now.

 

[Mitsozuka]

Zur and Super Zur from Guardian Heroes. Christ I loved to hate that guy.



SUPER MEGA AWESOME SPECTACULAR FINAL... RETREAT SPECIAL!

 

[mikey7339]

Anton from "No Country for Old Men". Psychopathic in every meaning of the word, this man has a horrible inevitability about him, like he's a force of nature. The film's worth watching if you havn't already.

"What's the most you ever lost in a coin toss?"

 

[Ursus Buckler]

Comic

Spoiler

Ozymandias from Watchmen. The fact that he truly believes that he kills all of those people for the greater good, his intellect and the fact that no-one suspects him until he's too late... perfect example of an antagonist that is also a human being.

Movie

Spoiler

Captain Vidal from Pan's Labyrinth. Pure, untainted evil, completely impossible to defend. He performs the most callous and evil deeds that I have ever seen on screen- not only showing indifference to a woman that adores him for the child she's carrying, but shooting Ofelia in cold blood (spoiler alert).

TV
Herrick from Being Human, the head vampire in Series One. Evil, but not outwardly so, he understands the dark nature of himself and embraces it where others would fear it. Charming and deplorable, cold and calculating but not volatile in the slightest- the kind of guy that you want to slap, but can't find a good enough reason to justify why you do.
OR
The Trinity Killer from Dexter. Caring and genial member of the community on the outside, sinister, creepy menace on the inside. Oh, and reason for the single best ending of a Dexter series to date.

 

[Chased]

Prince Leopold from the film The Illusionist. Great fairy tale-eqsue movie, I highly recommend it. I felt somewhat sympathetic for the Prince as the movie progressed but you'll just have to see it for yourself.

 

[Koroviev]

Capitán Vidal from Pan's Labyrinth -- a true monster.

 

[Grospoliner]

Jon Irenicus. David Warner just sounds evil.

 

[mikey7339]

snip

Dude you should really put the Pan's Labyrinth spoiler inside [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] tags. I just saw that a week ago and woulda been upset had I read that before then.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

Movies:
Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.
Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello in The Departed.

Games:
GLaDOS from Portal.
Andrew Ryan from Bioshock.

 

[Terminate421]

The Joker is no doubt one of the best villains ever created in the history of man.

 

[Archroy]

It would have to be Cyril Sneer from the Raccoons.

 

[Genericjim101]

Games- Loghain in Dragon Age, mad with paranoia and grief over Orlais' rule of Fereldan driving him to protect the country he loved in his own warped manner.

Books - Humbert Humbert in Lolita, poor deluded wretch. He honestly believed he loved Lolita or was under some kind of bewitchment.

Film - The Joker in Dark Knight, sure some of what he said on the nature of good was a bit pop psychology but I liked how he redefined the act of killing someone as being a choice between saving one life or the other.

 

[IKSA]

Gotta say most first ones to wich came in my mind were Sepiroth and darth vader.