Able-Minded Villainy!

[artanis_neravar]

So, a friend of mine said to me that she'd never really seen a villain getting by on wits alone. No grandiose powers or large sums of money. Just him and his brain, thinking things through. But I figure they must exist, right? So, from ANY MEDIA, tell me Escapists...

What quick-witted villains do you know?

Dr. Horrible did it all with just his brain

 

[bliebblob]

the joker from the dark knight? Ok sure he had some minions now and than but he recruited them through wit (remember the broken poolcue scene?) and played them like puppets ( like the bankjob in the beginning).
In the end he devestated gotham city with nothing but a knife and wit.

Also: Breen had no powers or anything he just grabbed power through smart/dirty deals

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

I'm going to go with Hannible Lecter and The Joker. Most of the Matman villains, as was said above, at least, from what I know of them.

What about the guy from Speed? There are actually quite a few if you think about it.

 

[BlazeRaider]

Frugal Lucre from Kim Possible! gotta admit its impressive to even be counted as a villain when your pretty much a grocery shop worker.

 

[WorldCritic]

The Origami Killer from Heavy Rain comes to mind.

 

[jumjalalabash]

Kuja from FF9 maybe? He used intelligence, futuristic technology, and terrible fashion sense to get things done.

 

[BlazeRaider]

Frugal Lucre from Kim Possible! gotta admit its impressive to even be counted as a villain when your pretty much a grocery shop worker.

 

[Bad Jim]

Howard Payne from Speed. A retired bomb disposal officer (irony) who decides his pension wasn't big enough so he rigs a bus with explosives and ransoms the passengers. Not superpowered, not rich, just a man with an excess of bomb making ability and a lack of moral fibre.

 

[FalloutJack]

Kuja from FF9 maybe? He used intelligence, futuristic technology, and terrible fashion sense to get things done.

I'm going to have to discount Kuja there. Even if you exclude the technology aspect, he knows magic and blew up a planet.

In fact, the planet blowing up was a villainous breakdown. If he'd thought it through, he could've used the resources of Terra to find a way of extending his life.

 

[iLikeHippos]

People have already mentioned The Joker and Yagami Light, so I'm out of ideas... Seeing as they are the most brilliant villains I know of.

Still, I'd heartily recommend them.

 

[II2]

- Xanatos (Gargoyles)
- Light (Deathnote)
- Gohda (GitS: SAC 2)
- Ozymandias (Watchmen)
- Origiami Killer (Heavy Rain)
- Peter (Enders Game)
- Sick Boy (Porno and sortaTrainspotting)
- FEMA Director (Deus Ex)
- Frank Fontaine (Bioshock)

Both rounding up and with my own additions, to name a few.

 

[DevilWithaHalo]

Dude, if you have more, keep it up! I literally want to show my friend that villains aren't all overwhelming power and money.

Here's the question though (which has already been mentioned earlier), is the notion that the villain created their power or money prior to the hero coming in an acceptable candidate? If so, your list just exploded even further...

Let's take Lex Luthor for example. He's got wits, wits enough to make himself a VAST fortune with a massive multi-billion dollar industry that is world wide. He employes probably hundreds of thousands of people in virtually every city in the US and the major cities of the world. He aids exploratory research, defense contracts, medical research, housing, construction, etc. What's his primary motivations up to this point? Probably money. He doesn't really strike me as the man who wants to rule the world because then he'd have to deal with a lot more stupid in his life.

Then along comes superman. What does SM do? Starts breaking everything to do with Luthor corp. He damages biuldings, destroys months of research in a few seconds all in the name of... what? The good of the people?

So now Luthor has to start from scratch and decides two things; he needs to start cutting corners to keep his company in the black, which is usually interpreted into being a criminal. Second, he needs to get rid of an Alien invader who for all intents and purposes has decided he needs to act as the worlds moral compass and smashes things that disagree with him. So he funds even more money into ways to get rid of SM, who at his point as been a major menace.

What does SM do about it? Calls him a criminal, mocks him in his face and goes out of his way to make sure that Luthor is contanstly under survaillance and if anything isn't the way SM wants it to be; he destroys it. Then blames Luthor further for endangering the human race and causing all the damages...

...ok, I must have gone off on a tangent here... the point is that Luthor HAS to be crafty in order to even hope to compete with his fellow villa... I mean *hero*, the rediculously overpowered Superman.

A lot of villains worked in creating their vast villainous empires. All to have some holier-than-thou upstart come wreck their shit. As Austin Powers taught us, these guys had families man! And they were dispatched in the name of a pun??!!

If we can take a lesson from here, is to not do anything grand or helpful toward the betterment of your world and to fly under the radar. That way some jackoff doesn't show up and start breaking all your stuff.

 

[FalloutJack]

-Mr. Luthor!-

That's a gray area, if I had to say it. He's had times where he was not in charge of wealth and power, much like how Xanatos used his mind and cleverness to make himself a billionaire. Let's say there are ASPECTS about them that COULD apply, but that generally those who are about money and power and whatnot.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Having just watched the movies before finals, Hannibal Lector. Just brains and psychology.

Most Batman villains come to mind, him being powerless and a detective rather than a full on superhero. (You know what I mean.)

Ozymandias has come up, but I don't think he counts, he still had strength and speed.

Thomas Crowne comes to mind. Rather ingenious criminal mastermind, plays quite a few gambits throughout the movie.

 

[silvermorning624]

I am greatly surprised that Hans Landa, otherwise known as the "Jew Hunter", has not been given any recognition. Other than his position, which i am guessing he obtained by way of great cleverness, he used nothing other than his wit and intelligence. That was the truly great part of his performance, he was unspeakably evil yet devilishly clever.

 

[Tautology]

Look up Zenith the Albino and George Marsden Plummer from the Sexton Blake stories.

 

[Aetera]

Warren from Buffy? I hated that guy more than any of the actual Big Bads.

 

[Velvo]

Still gotta reiterate that Moriarty is one of the first super-villains in the history of literature.

Still the gold standard for intelligent villains. Sure he just showed up one day and his plots were barely mentioned and he only served as a tool for Arthur Conan Doyle to kill off Holmes (he came back later, yay for the first retcon!), but he was a total bad-ass in later stories!

Oh the dreaded air-gun! Speaking of which, Anton Chigurh.