Welcome to the first round of the Comic Book Movie Villain Tournament 2015. I'm whittling 64 formidable foes down to 1 single champion. Is 'Best Villain of all Time" as obvious as some might think? Who gets close enough for second or third? I'm not going by the comics this time. This is strictly based on movie performances, so there is a lot to consider. Like the fact that Heath Ledger's
Joker isn't the first CBM villain to get an Oscar nomination.
William Hurt and
Al Pacino also garnered noms for their criminals, too.
Bane and
Talia Al Ghul orchestrated the entire fall of Gotham City, getting farther than any Batman villain before them.
Magneto has shown longevity, by having more appearances than any other CBM baddie, ever adjusting to what comes his way.
Ozymandias, killed more people than any other person on the bracket. It will be interesting to see who gets the farthest not because of their reputation on the page, but by
what they did on the screen.
(
Lex Luthor, for instance is always undone by the buffoons he keeps in his company- a far cry from the mastermind in the books)
Modeled after NCAA's Basketball tournament, this bracket is divided into 4 divisions. Within those four are 8 categories, ranging from Beasts to Mobsters. All villains picked are seeded 1-8, and there are some duplicate characters like
Green Goblin or
Two-Face, but they have to be from different movie continuities. So no double duty for Magneto or
Mystique. I held a
preliminary to see who readers would prefer, and in a couple of close races, results as of this writing show Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence will be the versions making the cut! You can see the
whole bracket here.
*This tournament contains spoilers.
ROYALTY, RULERS, & GODS
Loki (
Thor, The Avengers) vs.
Gabriel (Constantine)
Asgard's trickster god, goes up against the deceitful angel half-breed trying to unleash hell on earth. Both played their enemies like a fiddle.
Xerxes (
300) vs.
Prince Nuada (
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army)
The Persian "god-king" who fancies himself immortal takes on the master martial artist and heir of Elfland.
General Zod (
Man of Steel) vs.
Ronan (
Guardians of the Galaxy)
Going intergalactic here. General Zod is genetically engineered to serve Krypton. Ronan the Accuser serves Thanos.
Zod (
Superman II) vs.
Malekith (
Thor: The Dark World)
This version if Zod has no army, but still makes a play at conquering Earth. The dark elf leader tries to conquer Asgard.
SUITS & GENIUSES
The Riddler (
Batman Forever) vs.
Obadiah Stane (
Iron Man)
Edward Nygma seeks to control the minds of Gotham. Stane becomes the Iron Monger, a new kind of weapon.
Ozymandias (
Watchmen) vs.
Alexander Pierce (
Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
Adrien Veidt masterminds a catastrophe to save the world. Pierce orchestrates the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. Both villains "won".
Sebastian Shaw (
X-Men First Class) vs.
Aldrich Killian (
Iron Man 3)
Shaw can absorb energy and uses to Cuban Missile Crisis to incite another war. Killian has his Extrimis powers and attempts to kill the President.
Lex Luthor (
Superman: The Movie) vs.
Richmond Valentine (
Kingsman: The Secret Service)
Battle of the billionaires. Luthor's real estate plot will leave the west coast in ruins. Valentine plans on "purging" the planet saving only it's key figures.
MILITANTS & COMMANDERS
Magneto (
X-Men First Class, Days of Future Past) vs.
Gen. "Thunderbolt" Ross (
Hulk)
The master of magnetism uses your weapons against you; First missiles, then sentinels. Ross brought the full force of the army against The Hulk.
Red Skull (
Captain America: The First Avenger) vs.
Col. Stryker (
X2: X-Men United)
The Hydra Nazi division seeks the Tesseract for power. Stryker's ops team plan on using Cerebro to kill all mutants.
Bane (
The Dark Knight Rises) vs.
The Shredder (
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Bane and his army successfully bring Gotham to its knees. The Shredder's foot clan terrorize New York City.
Ra's Al Ghul (
Batman Begins) vs.
General Ross (
The Incredible Hulk)
Ra's and the League of Shadows claims to have destroyed empires. Ross is working on a new super-solider program.
CRIME BOSSES
Frank D'Amico (
Kick-Ass) vs.
Big Boy Caprice (
Dick Tracy)
Big Boy's trademark kill: use of the cement overcoat, known as "The Bath". D'Amico's trademark kill: microwaves and snuff videos.
Richie Cusack (
A History of Violence) vs.
Madeline Madrigal (
Dredd)
Cusack's Irish mob connections precede him. He has reach and pull. Ma-Ma is a drug lord happy with skinning her enemies and throwing them down buildings.
Top Dollar (
The Crow) vs.
The Penguin (
Batman Returns)
Top Dollar oversees the crime sprees on "Devil's Night", which include rape, murder and arson. Penguin controls the Red Circus Gang, runs for office, and plans to kill the children of Gotham.
The Kingpin (
Daredevil) vs.
Howard Saint (
The Punisher)
Wilson Fisk doesn't just kill you, he kills your whole family. Howard Saint does the same, and Frank Castle paid the price.
TRANSFORMED MONSTERS
Doctor Octopus (
Spider-Man 2) vs.
Sandman (
Spider-Man 3)
Inter-franchise showdown. Both Spidey villains gave him a hell of a fight, yet remained sympathetic.
Venom (
Spider-Man 3) vs.
The Lizard (
The Amazing Spiderman)
The wall-crawler has quite a few monsters and beasts in his rogues. These are two of the nastiest.
David Banner (
Hulk) vs.
The Abomination (
The Incredible Hulk)
Bruce's father becomes something close to Absorbing Man, and has emotional stakes. Emil Blomsky transforms himself to rival Hulk in strength.
Dark Phoenix (
X3: The Last Stand) vs.
Deacon Frost (
Blade)
Jean Grey eviscerates humans and mutants left and right for 2 hours. Frost's vampire ambitions see him become the all powerful blood god La Magra.
WEAPONIZED FOES
Scarecrow (
Batman Begins) vs.
Green Goblin (
Spider-Man)
Jonathan Crane's fear toxin can drive anyone mad. Norman Osborne sports a glider, pumpkin bombs, and sleeping gas.
Electro (
The Amazing Spiderman 2) vs.
Dr. Doom (
Fantastic Four)
Basically an electricity battle. Pretty even. Max's advantage might be maneuverability. Victor's might be his mind.
Ivan Vanko (
Iron Man 2) vs.
Mr. Freeze (
Batman & Robin)
Both have brilliant minds. Victor has his freeze gun. Ivan is a mashup of Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash, but his primary weapons are those electric whips.
The Silver Samurai (
The Wolverine) vs.
The Winter Soldier (
Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
Bucky Barnes becomes one of the most efficient and effective fighters on this bracket. However Yashida's Samurai Sword can cut through any object, including Wolverine' indestructible claws.
PSYCHOS & FREAKS
Joker (
Batman) vs.
Harry Osborne (
The Amazing Spiderman 2)
Jack's Joker killed dozens onscreen, but the film goes so far as also Batman's parents! Harry's Goblin killed Gwen Stacy, bringing to life one of comic's most iconic images.
Kevin (
Sin City) vs.
Bullseye (
Daredevil)
The silent, but nimble Kevin killed countless women, mostly hookers. Keeps the heads. The twitchy, unstable Bullseye kills anyone who pisses him off. Never misses.
Two-Face (
The Dark Knight) vs.
Harvey/Two-Face (
Batman Forever)
Finally a same character one-on-one. Origins, coin-flipping, separate Batman universes make these two Dents completely different. But only one killed Robin's family.
The Joker (
The Dark Knight) vs.
Harlen Maguire (
Road to Perdition)
Heath's Joker is an agent of chaos, sending the city into a panic, and always staying one step ahead. Maguire is the creepy crime photographer and assassin on the trail of Michael Sullivan.
DEADLY FEMALES
Ursa (
Superman II) vs.
Faora (
Man of Steel)
Don't call them henchwomen, but both these fierce superpowered women are 2nd in command to Zod in their movies.
Catwoman (
Batman Returns) vs.
Mystique (
X-Men Days of Future Past)
Personifying 'sexy but deadly', these two females are scrappy fighters. Raven might have a slight edge on athleticism, but Selena seems to have 9 lives.
Artemisia (
300: Rise of an Empire) vs.
Talia Al Ghul (
The Dark Knight Rises)
Eva Green owns 300, as the naval commander that tried to defeat the Greeks. The fall of Gotham was Talia's plan all along, to take up the legacy of her father.
Viper (
The Wolverine) vs.
Poison Ivy (
Batman & Robin)
These toxic ladies use seduction to poison their adversaries. Ivy is a little more flamboyant, Dr. Green works more behind the scenes. Both define deadly.