Diabolical! 15 Great Geek Villains from Movies and TV

Posted 08/12/2011 at 12:05pm | by Seamus Bellamy

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Adventure. Excitement. A geek craves not these things...most of the time. While most of us are content to walk in the light, a number of our most craven geek brethern have chosen to follow a darker path, seeking power, fame and glory through any means neccesary. Plying their geeky wiles towards bending the world to their will, these nerdy neerdowells will stop at nothing to survive and thrive. To make sure you know to steer clear of such villianous vermin, we've put together a gallery of some of the worst offenders. After all, knowing is half the battle.

Update: If you post a comment to this story with your favorite geek villian (either from this list, or one that we've missed), you are entered to win one of five Slacker Premium 3-month Subscriptions! Details here.

Update Update: Winners have been chosen! Congrats to: theblur05, the hapless gamer, big_montana, pearson101 and turbogamer1000! We need your email addresses to send you further info; please send us a line at webmaster@maximumpc.com and we'll get you the goods!

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15 Great Geek Villains from Film and TV.

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OK, let's get this one out of the way right off the bat: Darth Vader. He's the very pinnacle of bad assery, but what makes him a geek? It's simple. Before he went all black leather and emo, the man built C-3PO. That sort of thing takes some mad soldering skills, and soldering, as you know is the most noble of all geek skills.
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Analyzing blood splatter patterns by day and spilling blood by night, Dexter Morgan is a murderous computer and lab geek of the first order. It could be argued that since he only kills evil people, Dexter is a force for good. We're not buying it: Murder's murder and Dexter is, no matter how you cut it, a murderous, although deeply endearing, lunatic.
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What's happening? Listen, we're going to go ahead and include Bill Lumbergh on this list - as the only thing worse than being asked to go ahead and come in on Saturday and Sunday to chase down bad lines of code in bank software before Y2K hits is being told to, you know, by another geek that knows how hard being on salary and working extra hours sucks.
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A repository of comic book and movie knowledge, Captain of his LARP group and a bad ass serious case of cosplay addiction. The Venture Brother's Henchman 21 has it going on. Sure he's haunted by the ghost of his best friend and is completely infatuated by his boss' wife, but who among you can't say the same for themselves? No one? Right. Moving on...
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Sneakers was a great movie for so many reasons, but it would have been an utter miss without Ben Kingsley's brilliant turn as super intelligent computer mogul Cosmo. Murdering, thieving and betraying his way towards the greater good of making government and corporate secrecy a thing of the past, Cosmo was like Steve Jobs with an attitude… OK, Steve jobs with a worse attitude.
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Seeing the woman of his dreams killed by one of his failed experiments, Dr. Horrible took comfort in the fact that the same incident also resulted in a critical injury to his arch nemesis and secured him a membership in the Evil League of Evil in one fell swoop. Now that's what we call one twisted, goal-oriented geek.
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While he wasn't the "mincing, boy-hungry pedophile" that Family Guy made him out to be, Lost in Space's Dr. Zachary Smith was still one evil, albeit goofy, dude. Responsible for getting the Robinson family lost in space in the first place, Smith was a flamboyant self-serving sociopath that would stop at nothing to see his own needs met.
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What can we say about Gaius Baltar? Brilliant, charming--oh, and genocidal! Charmed out of his pants (literally) by a Cylon agent, Baltar unwittingly paved the way for the wholesale slaughter of his entire species. If that's not enough for you, the man went on to try and hide from the repercussions of his actions for close to three years. Naughty.
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HUMMA KAVULA! Sure, this Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy character might be creepy due to the facts that he's got no eyes, is missing three quarters of his body and is played by John Malkovich, but that doesn't make him a villain. The fact that he was once a merciless space pirate and a false prophet to the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle VI, does.
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Of all the Geek Villains profiled here today, none are more vile that Iron Man II's Justin Hammer. As if his dance moves, bad jokes and perchance for taking the credit for other people's work wasn't enough to make you want to smother him with a pillow, Hammer was also a raging kiss-ass to boot.
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Scott Evil. Why is Scott, and not his diabolical father on our list of Geek Villains, you ask? It's simple. Where Dr. Evil moaned like a sissy over the the lack of sharks with fricking laser beams attached to their heads, Scott kept his mouth shut and got 'em. Real Geek Villains get stuff done... or get foiled trying.
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We should have added Ron Howard to our list for making The Da Vinci Code, but it's mean to kick a man when he's down. Instead, we opted to go after the film's antagonist, the brilliant Sir Leigh Teabing. A Knight of the Realm, scholar and murdering scumbag of the first order, Teabing used intellect to screw over his friends and confidants to chase down The Grail.
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In Pixar's The Incredibles, Buddy Pine, better known as Syndrome, uses his gift for invention to exact revenge on his former hero, Mr. Incredible. We can live with that. That said, we're not down with the hurt his robots put on Metroville's downtown core. That kind of wanton destruction leads to road construction and well, that's hella evil.
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In Batman Forever, Edward Nygma is a stalking, murdering, former Wayne Enterprises Employee who invented a method for beaming televisions signals directly into an individual's brain. we can forgive the first two, but the latter? Have you seen Jersey Shore? No one needs that junk mainlined into their grey matter. We say string him up.
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We're not willing to call Breaking Bad's Walter White a geek villain for producing the most chemically-pure methamphetamine the world has ever seen or for killing a few people. After all, the man was only trying to provide for his family, right? We do however take exception to his product making us listen to so many meth addicts use the phrase "This stuff's the bomb" again and again over the course of four seasons though. That's just unforgivable.

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Comments

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h_s_westy

November 14, 2011 at 3:56pm

I have recently purchased a Logitech Wireless Wave Combo MK550 Keyboard. It appears that the keyboard is "dead" during the WIN XP SP2 Boot-up process. I am unable to select an OS on a 2 OS configuration. Also I am unable to make any other available options selection such as "Safe Mode" etc. The keyboard works as advertised once the system is completely "UP". I have moved the "Unifying" module among several different USB ports to no avail. I suspect that the USB ports are not activated until much later in the boot-up process. Is there a known solution to this problem? I suppose there must be or else no company would be able to sell wireless (USB connected) keyboards. What is the solution? Can anyone help please. Thank You

Helmut Schwemmer ( hschwemmer@gmail.com )

alex_dh9

October 09, 2011 at 6:05pm

I don't get the Walter White issue

ManRay

August 23, 2011 at 5:53pm

The best geek villain in action!

http://youtu.be/JywJ7jjK7t0

turbogamer1000

August 17, 2011 at 9:51am

i won!!! , and the funny thing is i didnt know it was a contest

mclendenen

August 17, 2011 at 4:21am

Come on now. You have to include Thomas Gabriel from Die Hard 4. He out geeked all the other super geeks by trying to kill them all AND take all the USA's money at the same time!

sparker781

August 15, 2011 at 4:42pm

Your all forgetting about Skeletor from the original He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe. Not that drivel that the Cartoon Network or whatever channel the remake came out on!!

MaximumMike

August 15, 2011 at 8:26pm

I think Skeletor was an epic villain, but how was he a geek?

sparker781

August 16, 2011 at 7:50am

he was he had geeky henchmen that couldn't defeat he-man. nor could he defeat he-man. not even using a ghost he-man either.

Vernak

August 15, 2011 at 1:44pm

I'm going to have to go with Magneto.

themaxdaddy

August 15, 2011 at 1:11pm

the master from doctor who

TechLarry

August 15, 2011 at 11:02am

No, no, no. NO one can out-scare Danny Trejo, and he doesn't even have to be in makeup.

That guy really spooks me!

Shalbatana

August 15, 2011 at 9:43am

cigarett smoking man from the x-files. Sure he wasn't a "geek" but come on, all geeks admired him behind their loathing.

mickybubl232

December 02, 2011 at 7:24am

Really, you actually liked him :S hahaha.

Micky nox360 and nox edge

turbogamer1000

August 15, 2011 at 9:38am

doctor doofenshmirtz from phineas and ferb - he even has his own nemesis

MaximumMike

August 15, 2011 at 7:19am

Also, Captain Nemo. That dude played the pipe organ on a submarine when there were no submarines, definitely a geek.

MaximumMike

August 15, 2011 at 7:16am

Cobra Commander and Lex Luthor

TerribleToaster

August 15, 2011 at 6:22am

HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey.

Why is he a geek?

He's an AI (created by IBM :D ) who is good at chess.

Why is he a villain?

He decided the best way to keep the monolith secret while remaining truthful was to kill everyone.

legend-nyc

August 15, 2011 at 5:36am

Walter White - Breaking Bad.

cgamer

August 14, 2011 at 5:05pm

Hands down, it is Brain. He is trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD and he has his hapless compadre Pinky to assist.

thecobb

August 14, 2011 at 3:26pm

White Goodman from Dodgeball

the hapless gamer

August 14, 2011 at 1:00pm

Grand Moff Tarkin is the real villain (Star Wars). It was Tarkin, not Vader who ordered the destruction of Alderaan in EP 4

iheartpcs

August 14, 2011 at 10:36am

Agent Smith!

You can't get geekier than BEING a computer program!

surfmore72

August 14, 2011 at 10:30am

Vader!!!

Keith E. Whisman

August 14, 2011 at 7:52am

Well I know I'm not allowed to win, but here goes. Lucy from Peanuts cartoons and Sybok, Spock's worldly half brother. I also liked Khan, the Big Red evil robot from the Black Hole, and my most favorite is both Dark Helmut from Space Balls and Darth Vadar from the Star Wars Saga.

ewoeckel

August 13, 2011 at 6:31pm

Captain Ivan Drago from Rocky 4 (aka The Huge Russian)

Bilbert

August 13, 2011 at 5:14pm

Darth Vader

jasonk1229

August 13, 2011 at 4:09pm

Gaius Baltar - he was a good and bad villian he nuked half the human population when they were down to 50k lol.

bbarker3

August 13, 2011 at 11:32am

Ivan Ooze from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

jedisamurai

August 13, 2011 at 10:31am

This list sucks

jasonk1229

August 13, 2011 at 4:13pm

hard to make a list but I agree as a fan of alot of tv and movies that it does blow

RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS

August 13, 2011 at 1:20pm

Yes. Yes it does.

Wingzero_x

August 13, 2011 at 9:38am

Darth Dildo isn't bad ass!! Seriously what did he do, that was bad ass? Those "jedi" he killed weren't even Jedi yet, they were a bunch of kids, and not even older teenage kids, but grade schoolers! And one of them nearly got away! The only lightsabre duels he ever won was against old men, and one of those took a dive. Then there's no count on the number times Luke and Han owned him.

Matter of fact that whole Vader thing was an on-going joke by Palpatine and the Imperial Navy!

Palpatine: "You will be Daath bayder"

Annie: "Will I be a master?"

Palpatine: (sniggering)"yeah".

Sorry, but Vader was a tool plain and simple! Well he did have a cool suit.

ElvisClone777

August 13, 2011 at 9:30am

Guess y'all forgot about ol' Scorpy/Harvey from FarScape, eh?

Evil and scary when he's just being himself: "I condemn you, John Crichton, to live so that your thirst for unfulfilled revenge will consume you."

Even worse when he's trying to be friendly or look out for you: " HELLO JOHN, SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

. . .not to mention able to implant a neural biotracer chip to extract any info, while creating a neural clone of himself and being able to take over John's brain and body. And need I bring up his "comfy chair"?

Even as Harvey, he still carries the same menace as Scorpius.

Anyone with me?

Oh, and perhaps the Daleks . . . "EXTERMINATE!"

Number Six

August 14, 2011 at 9:35am

I agree with you 100% on Scorpius. In fact, he's one of the greatest villans ever, and, honestly, his character was the only reason Farscape was worth a dime. The rest of the plot & characters just were blah.

-Six

tjstanle

August 13, 2011 at 9:23am

What about

KHAN!!!!!!

From Star Trek II? he created an army of genetically engineered troops. That's pretty geeky.

savage4naves

August 13, 2011 at 8:34am

Sylar from Heroes (my favorite TV show until NBC got crazy with the ban hammer).

mls067

August 13, 2011 at 10:00am

that dude still freaks me out when I see him in other movies/tv shows!

Mealymouthed

August 13, 2011 at 7:32am

Umm... Is everyone forgetting the most obvious?

The intelligent and down-right scary Hannibal Lecter. For shame all of you.

Scatmanbrandt

August 13, 2011 at 1:11am

Greatest geek villian ever? That is a tough one but I have to nominate Magneto from the x-men series. Wanting to destroy the human race and leave only mutants by using a device of his own creation and almost succeeding. I believe that earns a mention at least.

edwartr

August 13, 2011 at 12:57am

Smaug from the Hobbit

Dman222123222

August 12, 2011 at 11:21pm

You forgot Voldemort

And Bowser

And Joker

Jack Sparrow?

goku_dsv

August 13, 2011 at 12:13am

I can't believe you guys forgot about two of the most uber d-bag geek villians of all time. First one is Boris Grishenko from GoldenEye and second is Eugene 'The Plague' Belford from Hackers. SHAME ON YOU MAXPC lol ...and hell if you want to add more to this list our evil little techno geek genius Plankton from Spongebob, H.G. Wells from Warehouse 13, Nikola Tesla from Sanctuary, Stewie Griffin from Family Guy, Mr. Crocker from Fairly Oddparents, Dr. Octopus from Spiderman, Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog, Dogbert from Dilbert, Zane from Under Siege 2, and Dr. Hathaway and Kent from Real Genius and although he isn't "evil" an honorable mention goes to trouble-maker Zane from Eureka

theblur05

August 12, 2011 at 10:47pm

Dr horrible because i'm totally in the middle of watching it right now!!!!

Wily_One

August 12, 2011 at 10:43pm

M5. Give my regards to Captain Dunsel. (TOS)

Nomad. Sterilize! 'nuff said. (TOS)

V'Ger - A bigger, badder Nomad! (ST 1)

Space Whale cylinder spaceship with blue ball of death. (ST IV) You do not want that blue ball hanging over your head.

Markitzero

August 12, 2011 at 10:39pm

Tron 1 : Master control Program

Tron Legacy : CLU

tornato7

August 12, 2011 at 10:39pm

The Borg (it counts as one villain since they are all one). The borg is very evil, and you can't get geekier than being part of a giant collective botnet of supercomputers.