Doctor Doom, one of the most archetypal supervillains and his arch-enemies The Fantastic Four (in background). Art by Jim Lee.

A supervillain, or supervillainess, is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various mediums. Supervillains typically concoct complex and ambitious schemes to accumulate power. Supervillains are often used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes. Their extraordinary brainpower, superhuman abilities, or sheer ambition make them viable antagonists for the most gifted heroes. Cover to Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four #5. ... Cover to Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four #5. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics flagship superhero team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuting in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses of the term, see Villain (disambiguation). ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode, see Super Hero (Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode). ... “Heroine” redirects here. ... An ...

Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists and often have aspirations of world domination or universal leadership. Dictator is originally the title of a magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the state in times of emergency. ... Mobster is a slang term for a person who participates in organized crime, which is known as belonging to the Mob. In western stories and movies, cowboys as mobsters are known as outlaws. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... Alexander the Great Philip II of Spain Napoleon Bonaparte For other uses, see World domination (disambiguation). ...

Origins

By most definitions, the first supervillain was John Devil, a proto-Fantômas, created by Paul Féval, père in his eponymous 1862 novel, or Féval's nearly-immortal, machiavellian Colonel Bozzo-Corona, leader of Les Habits Noirs introduced in 1863. Professor Moriarty, the archenemy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes, was introduced in 1891. Dr. Fu Manchu, the antagonist of several popular novels of Sax Rohmer, is credited with popularizing many of the typical characteristics of the modern supervillain, including his sadistic personality, his desire for world domination, and his use of sinister lairs and themed crimes and henchmen. Rohmer's work had a strong influence on Ian Fleming, whose James Bond novels and their film adaptations further popularized the image of the supervillain in popular culture. A poster for an early Fantômas film. ... Paul Henri Corentin Féval, père (17 September 1817 - 8 March 1887) was a French novelist and dramatist. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article belongs in one or more categories. ... Professor Moriarty, illustration by Sidney Paget which accompanied the original publication of The Final Problem. Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character who is the best known antagonist (and archenemy) of the detective Sherlock Holmes. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859–7 July 1930) was a Scottish born author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... This article is about the fictional literature character. ... Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (February 15, 1883 - June 1, 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. ... Alexander the Great Philip II of Spain Napoleon Bonaparte For other uses, see World domination (disambiguation). ... Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was a British author, journalist and Second World War Naval Officer. ... Flemings image of James Bond; commissioned to aid the Daily Express comic strip artists. ...

The first supervillain who wore a bizarre costume was the Lightning, from the 1938 film The Fighting Devil Dogs, which preceded the first modern superhero, Superman. Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) is a 12-Chapter Republic Movie Serial starring Lee Powell and Herman Brix. ... Superman is a fictional character and comic book superhero , originally created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. ...

The first supervillain to regularly battle a superhero was Ultra-Humanite, who first appeared in Action Comics #13 (1939). The Ultra-Humanite is a fictional supervillain appearing in stories published by DC Comics. ... Cover of Action Comics #1, which featured the debut of Superman. ...

Personality types

Some supervillains have originally been good people, who turned evil because of tragedy or otherwise bad past. Others are just murderous sociopaths or otherwise pure evil. Some are simply thugs with superpowers. Different supervillain personality types include :

• The Dark Lord: Villains of nigh-omnipotence in their realm who seek to rule the planet, galaxy or universe where the events of the story take place. Examples include Sauron, Morgoth, Voldemort, Palpatine, Darkseid, Thanos, Apocalypse, Ganon, Makuta and many others
• The Evil Genius: Villains of supreme intelligence who use their brilliance to commit spectacular crimes and/or rule the world. Many such as Professor Moriarty, Fu Manchu, the Red Skull, the Shredder,Cutler Beckett, Hans Gruber, Count Olaf, Opal Koboi, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and most Bond villains are portrayed as outright evil and power-hungry. Few writers attempt to convey them with many redeeming qualities however recent times have shown more sympathetic evil genius characters. Comic book writer Stan Lee says it is more important that the reader sympathise with the villain that the hero. Some evil geniuses such as Doctor Octopus, Lex Luthor and Dr Doom seek revenge on the hero over a percieved slight, real or imagined.
• The Sociopath: Sylar, The Joker, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Hannibal Lector are criminally insane and incapable of controlling their murderous urges.
• The Fallen: The Green Goblin, Chase Young, Galbatorix, Arthas Menethil, Davy Jones and Darth Vader are good people who have fallen under some corrupting influence. The Biblical character of Satan is said to be a renegade Archangel.
• The Beast: Dr Jekyll, The Lizard, Professor Richard Lazarus and Sauron undergo therianthropic transformations and have no control over their actions.
• The Mercenary: Sandman, Electro, Venom and Deadpool are merely thugs with superhuman abilities who sometimes work as henchmen of smarter and more and ambitious supervillains.
• The Minion: Although powerful and intelligent villains in their own right, these supervillains work as henchmen of an even greater power. Examples include The Super-Skrull, Bellatrix Lestrange and Darth Maul. Some supervillains such as Sauron have worked in this capacity before going into business for themselves.
• The Demon: Neron, Mephisto (comics), Naraku, Dracula and Malebolgia are born inherently evil, have no will to change their ways and view all other life-forms as lesser and useless.
• The Born-and-Bread: Davros, the White Witch, the Goa'uld, the Wraith, Brainiac and Mongul are extra-terrestrials and their behaviour is either common or encouraged on their homeplanet.
• The Noble: Some such as Magneto, Zonedyke, Minerva Paradizo and Ra's al Ghul have grand-scale utopian goals but pursue evil means to achieve them.
• The Ultimate: Galactus, Imperiex, Unicron, the Ori (Stargate) and Chernabog personify forces of the universe and cannot be judged by simple standards of morality.

It has been suggested that Eye of Sauron be merged into this article or section. ... Morgoth Bauglir (originally known as Melkor) is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. ... Lord Voldemort (born c. ... Palpatine is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Thanos is a fictional character that appears in the Marvel Universe. ... This article or section may contain excessive or improper use of copyrighted images and/or audio files. ... Ganon ), also known as Ganondorf ) in his human form, the King of Evil, is a fictional character and primary antagonist of several games in Nintendos The Legend of Zelda series. ... Makuta, represented by a carved stone Makuta is a fictional character in Bionicle, a story and toy line created by Lego. ... Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice, a textbook example of an evil genius. ... Professor Moriarty, illustration by Sidney Paget which accompanied the original publication of The Final Problem. Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character who is the best known antagonist (and archenemy) of the detective Sherlock Holmes. ... This article is about the fictional literature character. ... Red Skull is the name of three Marvel Comics supervillains who are enemies of Captain America, other superheroes, and the United States in general. ... The word Shredder has a number of different meanings: A shredder (device) is a machine that tears up objects into smaller pieces. ... Lord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. ... Hans Gruber, portrayed by Alan Rickman, is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the film Die Hard. ... Count Olaf is the main villain from Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events series. ... Opal Koboi is a pixie from the Artemis Fowl series. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1921[1]) is an American writer, editor, was the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics, and memoirist. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Lex Luthor is a fictional character owned by DC Comics. ... Doctor Doom (real name Victor von Doom) is a Marvel Comics supervillain. ... Gabriel Gray, commonly known by his assumed name of Sylar, is a fictional character and main antagonist on the NBC drama Heroes. ... The Joker can mean any of the following: The Joker is a comic strip character, also included in movies and television programs based on the comic strip. ... Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. ... Dr. Hannibal The Cannibal Lecter is a fictional character appearing in four novels by author Thomas Harris and their film adaptations. ... The Green Goblin is a Marvel Comics supervillain who is an enemy of Spider-Man. ... Chase Young in his true form. Chase Young is a fictional martial artist and villain in the animated series Xiaolin Showdown. ... Galbatorix is the primary antagonist of Christopher Paolinis Inheritance Trilogy. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Davy Jones, 1967 Davy Jones, an actor and singer, was born David Thomas Jones on December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England. ... Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... Gustave Dorés depiction of Satan from John Miltons Paradise Lost Satan, from the Hebrew word for adversary (Standard Hebrew: , Satan; Tiberian Hebrew ; Koine Greek: Σατανάς Satanás, Persian: , Satanás; Aramaic: , ; Arabic: , , Geez: , Turkish: Şeytan), is a term that originates from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally applied to... Archangels are superior or higher-ranking angels. ... Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde[1] is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. ... Sandman (a. ... Venom is a Marvel Comics anti-hero, an enemy of Spider-Man. ... Deadpool is a Marvel Comics anti-hero, although he is sometimes portrayed as a villain. ... Bellatrix Bella Lestrange (née Black) is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. ... Darth Maul is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... It has been suggested that Eye of Sauron be merged into this article or section. ... Neron is also an alternative name of the Roman Emperor Nero. ... Mephisto is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Universe. ... For the Buddhist underworld, see Naraka (Buddhism). ... Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. ... Malebolgia is the name of a fictional demon in the Spawn universe. ... Davros is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, responsible for the genesis of the Doctors deadliest enemies, the Daleks. ... Jadis, the White Witch is the key villain of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published book in C. S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia series, and the second chronologically. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith are the original antagonistic alien species, first introduced in the pilot episode Rising. In the early seasons of the show they dominated the Pegasus Galaxy, the shows setting, and were an almost unstoppable and fatal threat. ... Brainiac may mean: Brainiac, a common modern term used to describe someone exceedingly smart in a certain field. ... Mongul is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain created by Jim Starlin and Len Wein. ... This article is about magneto, the engine component. ... Minerva Paradizo is a character from the Artemis Fowl series of books by Irish Author Eoin Colfer and is one of the main antagonists in Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony. ... ‹ The template below (Comics-in-universe) has been proposed for deletion. ... It has been suggested that Power Cosmic be merged into this article or section. ... Imperiex, also called the Devourer of Galaxies, is a fictional extraterrestrial supervillain featured in the Our Worlds at War crossover published by DC Comics. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Ori (pronounced OR-eye) are characters on the fictional Stargate SG-1 television program. ... Chernabog Chernabog is a fictional character who appears in the Night on Bald Mountain scene of Walt Disneys Fantasia (1940). ...

See also

• Anti-villain
• Archenemy
• Mad scientist
• Supervillainess
• Rogues gallery
• Evil Overlord List
• List of supervillain debuts
• List of supervillain teams and groups