97 Fun Facts About Villain

Which character tops the American Film Institute's 2003 list of the 50 greatest screen villains?

Hannibal Lecter ranked first, ahead of Norman Bates and Darth Vader, even though he ends The Silence of the Lambs a free man, phoning Clarice Starling from a tropical hideout.

Thomas Harris's cannibal psychiatrist first appeared, in a small role, in which 1981 novel?

Red Dragon introduces the doctor already behind bars: FBI profiler Will Graham, who was badly wounded catching him, has to come back and ask for his help to hunt another killer.

Which actor won an Oscar as Hans Landa, the SS colonel nicknamed the 'Jew Hunter' in Inglourious Basterds?

Christoph Waltz rescued the film: Quentin Tarantino feared he had written an unplayable part and felt he could not make the film without it, until Waltz walked into the audition.

Norman Bates was loosely based on which real-life killer?

Ed Gein was arrested in Plainfield, Wisconsin, in 1957, when Robert Bloch was living in a nearby town; Bloch said he learned only later how much his invented Norman Bates resembled the real man.

Who physically played Darth Vader in the original trilogy, with James Earl Jones as the voice?

David Prowse wore the suit in all three films and spoke Vader's lines on set, but his West Country accent was judged wrong for the villain, so James Earl Jones dubbed every word.

Which actress played the Wicked Witch of the West in 1939 and introduced her green skin?

Margaret Hamilton's witch got her green skin from MGM: in L. Frank Baum's book she has no such colouring, only a single eye 'as powerful as a telescope' that sees everywhere.

Nurse Ratched was created by Ken Kesey in which 1962 novel?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest grew out of Kesey's night shifts as an aide at a veterans' hospital, where he got to know the psychiatric patients; Louise Fletcher won an Oscar as Ratched on film.

Which song does HAL 9000 sing as he is shut down in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Daisy Bell was chosen because it was the first song a computer ever sang, at Bell Labs in 1961; Arthur C. Clarke had seen the demonstration and gave the tune to his dying machine.

HAL 9000's name is rumoured to be a dig at which computer company?

IBM is HAL with each letter moved one place on, but Arthur C. Clarke insisted it was a coincidence: the name stood for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer, and the company had in fact advised on the film.

Which 1928 silent-film character was shown to the Joker's creators as visual inspiration?

Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs, played by Conrad Veidt with a permanent grin, is a point all three of the Joker's feuding creators agreed on: Bill Finger showed the others Veidt's photograph in 1940.

Heath Ledger's Oscar for The Dark Knight was the first acting Oscar for what kind of movie?

A superhero film had never earned an acting Oscar before; Ledger had died six months before The Dark Knight opened, so his family went on stage to accept the Supporting Actor award for him.

In which Harry Potter book does Tom Riddle rearrange his name to spell 'I am Lord Voldemort'?

Chamber of Secrets has the teenage Tom Marvolo Riddle shuffle the letters of his full name in front of Harry; translators had to rename him so the trick still worked in other languages.

Which Hogwarts teacher did Voldemort possess in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?

Quirinus Quirrell, the stammering Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, carried Voldemort's face beneath his turban until Harry's touch burned him and his master fled, leaving him to die.

Sauron was originally the chief lieutenant of which first Dark Lord?

Morgoth, first named Melkor, corrupted Sauron and made him his chief lieutenant; when the Valar finally defeated Morgoth and cast him into the Void, Sauron escaped and in time took his place.

Which actor gave Gollum his motion-capture performance in Peter Jackson's films?

Andy Serkis shaped Gollum so fully that the animators built the digital creature around his face and voice, and he finally appears in the flesh as Sméagol in a flashback in the third film.

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, what did vengeful parents do to the child killer Freddy Krueger?

Burned him to death: a court had freed the child killer on a technicality, a wrongly signed search warrant, so the parents cornered him in his boiler room and set it alight.

Who turns out to be the killer in the original Friday the 13th (1980), rather than Jason?

Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees, blames the camp's counsellors for letting her son drown; Jason himself takes over in Part 2 and finds his hockey mask only in Part III.

Michael Myers' white mask in the original Halloween was made from a cast of which actor's face?

William Shatner's face was the mould for a shop-bought Captain Kirk mask, which the film's designer turned into the blank white face by widening the eyes, stripping the eyebrows and sideburns and spraying it white.

Which family member does six-year-old Michael Myers murder on Halloween night 1963?

His sister, Judith: the 1978 film shows the killing through the eye holes of the boy's clown mask, and fifteen years later he escapes Smith's Grove Sanitarium to stalk Laurie Strode.

Pennywise returns to prey on the children of Derry, Maine roughly how often?

Every 27 years or so It wakes, feeds on Derry for a year or two and then sleeps again, which is why the Losers Club fight it as children in 1958 and must return as adults in 1985.

Which actor played Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame?

Josh Brolin took over a role first played, for a few seconds, by stuntman Damion Poitier in the closing-credits scene of The Avengers; Brolin performed the Titan by motion capture.

In the 1991 comic The Infinity Gauntlet, why does Thanos wipe out half the universe?

In The Infinity Gauntlet Thanos kills half of all life as a gift to woo Mistress Death, the personification of death he loves; the films swapped in an overpopulation motive.

Which slaughterhouse tool does Anton Chigurh use as a weapon in No Country for Old Men?

A captive bolt pistol is made to stun cattle before slaughter; Chigurh kills a motorist with one in the opening minutes, then uses it to punch the cylinders out of door locks.

Magneto is written as a childhood survivor of which historical atrocity?

The Holocaust was added to his story in 1981 by writer Chris Claremont, turning a stock supervillain into a camp survivor determined that mutants will never suffer what his own people did.

Which Superman villain was drawn with a full head of red hair in his first comics in 1940?

Lex Luthor kept his red hair for only about a year: in 1941 an artist drew him bald by mistake, and the slip became the look of Superman's greatest enemy.

Holmes's 'Napoleon of crime' phrase was lifted from a Scotland Yard description of which real criminal?

Adam Worth, the American master thief who stole Gainsborough's Duchess of Devonshire in 1876, was dubbed 'the Napoleon of the criminal world' by Scotland Yard's Robert Anderson, a phrase Doyle gave Moriarty.

Count Dracula claims descent from which historical conqueror?

Attila the Hun is his proudest boast: the Count asks Jonathan Harker what devil or witch was ever so great as Attila, 'whose blood is in these veins', as proof that his people were born to conquer.

Captain Hook's dying words in J. M. Barrie's play are the motto of which school?

Eton's motto, 'Floreat Etona' ('may Eton flourish'), is his dying cry on stage, the mark of a pirate Barrie made an old boy of the school; in the novel he goes to the crocodile jeering 'Bad form' instead.

By stage tradition begun in 1904, Captain Hook is played by the same actor as which other character?

Mr. Darling and Hook were both played by Gerald du Maurier when the play opened in 1904, and the doubling stuck: even Disney's animated film gave the father and the pirate one voice, Hans Conried's.

Which actor played Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi (1983) and again in The Rise of Skywalker (2019)?

Ian McDiarmid was in his late thirties when he first played the ancient Emperor under heavy make-up, so sixteen years later he was still the right age to return as the younger Palpatine of the prequels.

Hans Gruber in Die Hard aims to steal $640 million in what form?

Bearer bonds worth $640 million are the real prize: Gruber's gang only poses as terrorists with political demands, so that nobody realises they are thieves cracking the Nakatomi vault.

In Die Hard, what name does Hans Gruber give when he poses as a hostage?

Bill Clay is a real name on the Nakatomi staff roster, which McClane checks before handing him a pistol that proves to be empty; the scene was written in after Rickman was heard doing an American accent.

Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie found the word behind Keyser Söze's surname in a dictionary of which language?

Turkish gave him 'söze', from an idiom about drowning someone in words, which suited a narrator nicknamed Verbal; 'Keyser' was borrowed from one of McQuarrie's former bosses.

Which actor played the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and returned in No Way Home?

Willem Dafoe returned to the role nineteen years after the 2002 film; in the comics the Goblin first took to the air in 1964 on a flying broomstick and only later traded it for his famous glider.

Erik Killmonger's Wakandan birth name is what?

N'Jadaka is the name he was born with; in the 2018 film the Wakandan king kills his father in Oakland and leaves the boy behind, so he grows up as Erik Stevens and returns to claim the throne.

The Alien creature in Ridley Scott's 1979 film was designed by which artist?

H. R. Giger adapted the creature from his own painting Necronom IV; to fill the suit, the casting team recruited Bolaji Badejo, a 6 ft 10 in Nigerian design student they had spotted in a London bar.

Which Hogwarts house was Dolores Umbridge sorted into?

Slytherin was her house; Rowling built her from a teacher she disliked on sight, whose taste for twee accessories, down to a tiny plastic bow in her hair, became Umbridge's sugary bows and frills.

In The Bad Beginning, how is Count Olaf related to the Baudelaire orphans?

As their third cousin four times removed, or else their fourth cousin three times removed: Mr. Poe picks him only because the will asks for the most convenient guardian and Olaf lives in the city.

Which AFI-listed villain is a mechanical prop nicknamed 'Bruce' by its film crew?

The shark in Jaws (1975) was a mechanical prop the crew nicknamed 'Bruce' after Spielberg's lawyer Bruce Ramer; it ranked 18th on the AFI's 2003 villains list.

Which Disney film's villain, 'Man', made the AFI's villains list without ever appearing on screen?

Bambi never shows the hunter who shoots the fawn's mother: the audience hears his gunshots and sees the animals flee, yet the AFI ranked him 20th among screen villains, one place behind Captain Bligh.

Which character appears on both the AFI heroes list and the AFI villains list?

The Terminator made both lists as two different machines: Schwarzenegger's killer from the 1984 film ranks 22nd among the villains, and the reprogrammed protector of Terminator 2 ranks 48th among the heroes.

Scar in The Lion King is loosely based on which Shakespearean antagonist?

Claudius, who murders Hamlet's father for the crown, is the model; the writers also slipped Scar the line 'You have no idea', a wink at voice actor Jeremy Irons's Oscar-winning role in Reversal of Fortune.

Eleanor Audley, the original voice of Maleficent, had earlier voiced which other Disney villainess?

Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's stepmother, came first in 1950; for both villainesses Audley also acted the part on film, so the animators could copy her gestures and expressions.

Why does Disney's sea witch Ursula have only six tentacles rather than an octopus's eight?

To save money: six tentacles were cheaper and easier to animate than eight, so the sea witch lost two; Pat Carroll then played her as a former Shakespearean actress reduced to selling cars.

The look of Ursula in Disney's 1989 film The Little Mermaid was modelled on which drag performer?

Divine gave her the eye make-up, jewellery and build; her voice was to be Elaine Stritch's until Stritch and lyricist Howard Ashman fell out over how to sing 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' and Pat Carroll stepped in.

Which two actors portray Agent Smith in The Matrix Resurrections (2021)?

Jonathan Groff and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II share the role, the latter as a program that is also Morpheus; Hugo Weaving was asked back, but his dates clashed with a stage play, so he appears only in old footage.

Scar's song 'Be Prepared' in The Lion King echoes propaganda footage of which real dictator's rallies?

Adolf Hitler: the hyenas goose-step past Scar on his high ledge in a sequence modelled on Leni Riefenstahl's rally film Triumph of the Will, an idea that began with a story artist's sketch of Scar as the Führer.

Which villain kidnaps Pauline in the 1981 Nintendo arcade hit that introduced Mario as a carpenter?

Donkey Kong began as the bad guy: Mario, then known as Jumpman, climbs a construction site to rescue Pauline from the giant gorilla.

Which bully torments Marty McFly's father in 1955 and becomes a gambling magnate in Back to the Future Part II?

Biff Tannen's rich, corrupt alternate-1985 self drew comparisons to Donald Trump, and writer Bob Gale said in 2015 that Trump had influenced the character.

Which rock star played Jareth the Goblin King, who takes Sarah's baby brother, in Jim Henson's Labyrinth?

David Bowie won the part after Jim Henson weighed up Sting, Prince, Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson for his Goblin King.

Which alien, originally cast with Jean-Claude Van Damme, stalks Arnold Schwarzenegger's team through a rainforest?

The Predator was recast partly because Van Damme, at 5 ft 9, looked small beside a cast of bodybuilders; Kevin Peter Hall, 7 ft 2, took the role.

Which Star Wars villain, born Ben Solo to Han Solo and Leia Organa, later kills his own father?

Kylo Ren kills both his father and his master, Supreme Leader Snoke, then takes Snoke's title for himself.

Christopher Lee played which former ally who imprisons Gandalf atop the tower of Orthanc in The Lord of the Rings?

Saruman's actor had a unique link to the books: Lee had once met Tolkien, the only person involved in the films who had.

Rachel McAdams played which queen bee, leader of the Plastics at North Shore High School, in Mean Girls?

Regina George was nearly played by Amanda Seyfried: the part came down to her and McAdams, and Seyfried was cast as Karen instead.

Dolph Lundgren played which boxer whose exhibition match ends in the death of Apollo Creed in Rocky IV?

Ivan Drago's punches were real enough to hurt: the two stars traded authentic blows on set, and one from Lundgren put Sylvester Stallone in intensive care.

Jim Carrey played which mad scientist, the arch-enemy of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, in a 2020 live-action movie?

Dr. Robotnik was called Eggman in Japan and renamed for the West by Sega of America; later games made Eggman a mocking nickname he embraced.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, Bill Nighy played which tentacle-bearded captain of the Flying Dutchman?

Davy Jones never appeared in the flesh: the character is completely computer-generated, built over Nighy's motion-capture performance.

Which former teacher in Stephen King's The Shining accepts a job maintaining the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado?

Jack Torrance ranks 25th on the American Film Institute's list of screen villains, though King's novel paints him far more sympathetically than the 1980 film does.

Helena Bonham Carter played which Death Eater who kills Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, in the Harry Potter films?

Bellatrix was first cast with Helen McCrory, who dropped out when she became pregnant and later joined the films as one of Bellatrix's sisters instead.

Donald Sutherland played which dictator, the president of Panem, in the first four Hunger Games films?

Coriolanus Snow looms larger on screen than on the page: the films expanded the role from the books, and Sutherland's performance won acclaim.

Which criminal mastermind confronts Sherlock Holmes at the top of the Reichenbach Falls in The Final Problem?

Professor Moriarty was invented as a way out: Conan Doyle created him chiefly as a device to kill Holmes and end the stories.

Which ensign in Shakespeare's Othello makes his general believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio?

Iago is the bigger part: with 1,097 lines, he speaks more than Othello himself.

Which one-legged ship's cook leads the mutiny aboard the Hispaniola in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island?

Long John Silver was partly inspired by Stevenson's friend William Henley, a writer and editor remembered for his big red beard and his crutch.

Which tyrannical headmistress of Crunchem Hall hurls a girl over a fence by her pigtails in Roald Dahl's Matilda?

Miss Trunchbull has an athlete's arm: the 1996 film makes her a former Olympic shot putter, hammer and javelin thrower.

Which actor won a BAFTA as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Kevin Costner hit Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves?

Alan Rickman thought the script was terrible, so he secretly asked his friends Ruby Wax and Peter Barnes to write him better lines.

Which actor played Harry, one of the two Wet Bandits outwitted by young Kevin McCallister in Home Alone?

Joe Pesci took the part only after Robert De Niro was considered and Jon Lovitz turned it down.

Which Doctor Who villains did writer Terry Nation base on the Nazis and script as having no legs?

The Daleks were written without legs because Nation wanted an alien creature that did not look like a man in a suit.

Giancarlo Esposito played which Breaking Bad drug lord who hides behind the fried chicken chain Los Pollos Hermanos?

Gus Fring was first described to Esposito as very admirable and very polite, so the actor chose to play him as a man with some kind of secret.

Which boy king of Game of Thrones, played by Jack Gleeson, dies of poisoned wine at his own wedding feast?

Joffrey Baratheon dies at the feast for his marriage to Margaery Tyrell, moments after forcing his uncle Tyrion to act as his cupbearer.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan played which leader of the Saviors, armed with a barbed-wire bat, in The Walking Dead?

Negan dubs the bat Lucille, the name of his wife, who was diagnosed with cancer before the outbreak.

Which Stranger Things villain, played by Jamie Campbell Bower, appears to children in human form as Henry Creel?

Vecna got the name from Dustin and Eddie, who borrowed it from a character in their tabletop role-playing game, the source of the Mind Flayer's name too.

Larry Hagman played which scheming oil baron, shot by an unknown attacker in a famous 1980 Dallas cliffhanger?

J.R. Ewing kept Hagman busier than anyone else in the cast: he was the only actor to appear in all 357 episodes of the original series.

Which Star Trek collective turns its victims into cybernetic drones and assimilated Captain Picard as Locutus?

The Borg first appear when the omnipotent Q hurls the Enterprise across the galaxy to challenge Picard's claim that his crew is ready for anything.

Ricardo Montalbán played which genetically engineered Star Trek villain who escapes exile to take revenge on Kirk?

Khan keeps his right glove on throughout the 1982 film: director Nicholas Meyer told Montalbán to wear it at all times to give viewers a puzzle.

Gert Fröbe played which James Bond villain who targets Fort Knox in a scheme codenamed Operation Grand Slam?

Auric Goldfinger took his name from the architect Ernő Goldfinger, whose modernist buildings Fleming disliked; the architect consulted lawyers when the novel came out, then settled for his costs and six free copies.

Mike Myers modeled Dr. Evil of the Austin Powers films mainly on which cat-stroking James Bond villain?

Blofeld went faceless at first: the early films showed only a close-up of his hands stroking a white Persian cat.

Joaquin Phoenix played which emperor who murders his father, Marcus Aurelius, to seize the throne in Gladiator?

Commodus really did perform as a gladiator in the Colosseum, and he was strangled in his bath by his wrestling partner, Narcissus.

Christoph Waltz won an Oscar as which SS colonel who tracks down Jews hiding in Occupied France in Inglourious Basterds?

Hans Landa was a part Quentin Tarantino feared was unplayable, and he originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio for it before casting Waltz.

Michael Douglas won the Best Actor Oscar as which wealthy, unscrupulous corporate raider in Oliver Stone's Wall Street?

Gordon Gekko is said to be loosely based on several real financiers, including the corporate raider Carl Icahn and Oliver Stone's own father.

Ted Levine played which serial killer, the main antagonist of the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs?

Buffalo Bill is only a nickname: in both the novel and the film, the killer's real name is Jame Gumb.

Rutger Hauer played which leader of the renegade replicants pursued by Rick Deckard in Blade Runner?

Roy Batty is younger than he looks: activated in January 2016, he is just 3 years and 10 months old when the story takes place.

Marlon Brando played which renegade officer whom Captain Willard is sent up the Nung River to kill in Apocalypse Now?

Colonel Kurtz is based on an ivory trader of the same name in Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness.

Which doll, voiced by Brad Dourif, holds the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray in the Child's Play films?

Chucky is a Good Guy brand doll: the killer uses a voodoo ritual to move his soul into the toy after a detective shoots him.

Gunnar Hansen first played which silent, hulking member of a cannibal family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

Leatherface is credited with inspiring the stereotype of the hulking, masked and silent killer that later slasher villains followed.

Which actor plays John Kramer, the dying engineer known as the Jigsaw Killer, in the Saw horror films?

Tobin Bell spends most of the first film in plain sight: his character is posing as a bloodied corpse on the bathroom floor.

Wayne Knight played which disgruntled programmer bribed to steal dinosaur embryos from Jurassic Park?

Dennis Nedry never delivers the embryos: he loses his way, crashes his jeep and is killed by a venom-spitting Dilophosaurus.

Leonardo DiCaprio played which Mississippi plantation owner who stages wrestling deathmatches in Django Unchained?

Calvin Candie's phrenology speech drew real blood: DiCaprio cut his left hand when he struck the table and smashed a small glass.

Which demon, king of the wind demons in Assyrian and Babylonian myth, possesses Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist?

Pazuzu first appears as a ruined statue that Father Merrin unearths on an archaeological dig in Iraq at the start of the film.

Amrish Puri played which Thuggee high priest who performs human sacrifices in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

Mola Ram shares his name with a real person: the character is named after an 18th-century Indian painter.

Judith Anderson played which head housekeeper of Manderley in Alfred Hitchcock's film of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca?

Mrs. Danvers adored the dead Rebecca obsessively, and in the novel the fire that destroys the great house is implied to be her doing.

Which Inner Party member tortures Winston Smith into submission in Room 101 in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four?

O'Brien first draws Winston in by posing as a fellow rebel: he invites him to his comfortable flat and enlists him in the Brotherhood, then turns interrogator.

Which spy for Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers is branded on the shoulder with a fleur-de-lis?

Milady de Winter was never convicted of anything: an executioner branded her himself, blaming her for leading his brother, a priest, astray.

Robert Mitchum and Robert De Niro both played which ex-convict who terrorizes lawyer Sam Bowden's family in Cape Fear?

Max Cady learns all he can about law while in prison, nursing his hatred of the attorney who sent him there.

Denzel Washington won an Oscar as which LAPD narcotics detective evaluating rookie Jake Hoyt in Training Day?

Alonzo Harris fills the whole film with one shift: the story follows the two officers over a single 24-hour period in Los Angeles.

Which Mad Max: Fury Road warlord controls the Citadel, one of the last sources of fresh water in the wasteland?

Immortan Joe was played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who had also played the Toecutter, the gang leader of the original Mad Max.

Daniel Day-Lewis played which gang leader, modeled on a real Bowery Boys chief, in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York?

Bill the Butcher was a real nickname: it belonged to William Poole, whom the film heavily fictionalized and renamed William Cutting.

Glenn Close played which associate editor who torments Dan Gallagher's family after their affair in Fatal Attraction?

Alex Forrest gave English the term bunny boiler, for an obsessive, spurned woman, after the scene in which she boils the family's pet rabbit.