BobSagat wrote:
Joker is a shit choice because he's a villain that only succeeds because of the stupidity of others. He's not really good at anything other than being crazy and even then he's outdone by plenty of other characters.
Griffith because he's such the perfect white knight even after making his deal with the devil. The deadliest thing about Griffith isn't even his own power, but his ability to inspire others to follow him. That and as an antagonist, he brings out the best most interesting qualities of the protagonist.
I agree that it's a problem with the character, I recently read a few issues of the current "Death of the Family" DC event and while Scott Snyder's aim is clearly to write a story where the Joker is a super terrifying genius, the only impression I get is that the Gotham PD and to a lesser extent Batman and his "family" are brain dead morons. It really stretches the willing suspension of disbelief, how pretty much everyone acts exactly how the Joker is predicting it, as a part of a scheme that'd require months of preparations logistics-wise. And appaarently no police guy would bother attempting to shoot a killer clown cause Gordon doesn't want him dead... right.
But that's a problem with supervillains and pop-culture villains in general. BL mentioned (well posted a pic of) Darth Vader and it reminded me how Palpatine is written to be this super-intelligent schemer in the prequels, but it's done by making all protagonists complete morons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 8K8#t=158sAnd I mean I love Griffith as much as the next guy, but it's not like the Crimson Behelith thing isn't ridiculously convenient to write, too. All his talents and manipulation are irrelevant, since once he obtained the Behelith he was destined to become a Godhand and after he became one he faces only opponents he overpowers while a Pope gets brainwashed via dreams to hail him as a Prophet to all of humanity, if he hadn't had the Behelith he would've ended up as a cripple for banging the King's daughter. To me "villain is awesome and succeeds because the will of the entire universe wants him to" is exactly as lazy as "villain is awesome and succeeds because the protagonists act like morons".
Blood Lord wrote:
The Joker... I find myself tipping my hat more to the people who played him, then the character himself.
That kinda proves he's an interesting character at his core though. If a character is badly designed and/or badly written even the best actor won't squeeze out anything enthralling out of him.
Tim Curry also played a murderous clown (or well, alien monster masquerading as a murderous clown, same difference) in "IT", and I think we can all agree he's a great actor, but the portrayal isn't exactly anything as timeless and interesting as Hamill's, Ledger's or even Nicholson's Joker, because the Pennywise character has a goofy design and corny lines.
I remember 5 years ago, pretty much every geek on the Internet who was into comics or their adaptations liked the Joker, then TDK came and since now almost every impressionable obnoxious teen at a major con cosplays as the Ledger Joker, I've noticed a lot people are souring to the character and I understand that, and I know a lot of you frequent cons.
The Joker
is overrated and currently the character is being oversaturated in pop-culture(same as Batman), but he is a very entertaining and versatile villain even without great actors potraying him.
He can be scary:
http://i.imgur.com/8GXWZWu.jpgHe can be funny:
http://i.imgur.com/JuKAWXB.jpg Or both at the same time(that's my favorite Joker design btw. Marshall Rogers did some great art):
http://i.imgur.com/dqidkGr.jpgPlus, as a kid, I remember I found the idea of Joker Venom scarier than any of the stuff Scarecrow pulled, when I was 9 I watched the Batman TAS adaptation of the Laughing Fish story, and the episode had a long and detailed depiction of the Francis character suffering under its effects with the guy laughing hysterically and grinning, all the while becoming more and more pale and chocking from unbearable pain, watching that as a kid was fucking creepy. And you know, a murderous villain should be terrifying.
Tuor wrote:
Too mainstream.
Here's an obscure guy
But this is why I don't like most "favorite X" type threads on the Internet, it often devolves into proving what a unique snowflake you are, while trying not to come across as hipsterish, so people try to pick something not too obvious, but also not too obscure to be unique and not get called pretensious.
Not to say this forum is like that, but if I just typed Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigaïlov (and I want to mention him later) you guys would probably think I'm trying to make an impression, even though Crime and Punishment is read as widely in Eastern Europe, as the Great Gatsby is in the US.
Anyway on-topic, can't bring it down to one
If it's just "super"villains: Lex Luthor especially his versions from Justice League Unlimited and Young Justice ( "the Return" is my favorite Justice League Unlimited episode solely because of Luthor's role and dialogue in it)
The Joker is also pretty high up there as should be evident already though I think I like Luthor more
Chrollo Lucifer from HxH
Griffith from Berserk
Solf J. Kimblee from FMA
Mayor from Hellsing got mentioned, he's pretty cool too
If supervillain protagonists also count:
the Comedian from Watchmen
V from V like Vendetta comic version
Hisoka from HxH
Kurotsuchi Mayuri from Bleach
If we ignore the "super" part and just name villains(hey Grey posted Vince Mcmahon, so I'm not the first):
Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men
Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds
Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigaïlov from Crime and Punishment
Mephres from Pharaoh
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Stanisław Lem wrote:
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