Top 10 Smart Movie Villains Who Made Dumb Decisions
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Smart Movie Villains Who Made Dumb Decisions. For this list, we’ll be looking at serious villains who either did dumb things or concocted very silly master plans. Keep in mind there will be spoilers. What villain would you not want on your pub trivia team? Let us know in the comments below.
#10: Deacon Frost
“Blade” (1998)
You’d think a guy who literally utters the words, “We’re the top of the food chain,” would keep that food chain in mind when hatching his evil plans. But this appears not to be the case with Blade’s Deacon Frost. Unhappy with his second-class status as a “turned” vampire, rather than a “born” one, Deacon spends his long, undead existence amassing wealth and learning how to seize ultimate power by becoming the blood-god La Magra. The plan is to become the embodiment of La Magra, giving him the ability to turn all humans into vampires with ease. As human blood is the vampire food source, however, this would have led to everyone starving for eternity. Dumb.
#9: Raoul Silva
“Skyfall” (2012)
All Raoul Silva planned to do in Skyfall was to end M’s life, but only after letting her know how he felt she had let him down. In this case, the dummy is in the details. His plan is as follows: steal island, make base, hire assassin to steal list of MI6 agents, expose them to get them killed so M looks bad, blow up M’s office, lure Bond to Shanghai to meet Silva’s underling, have underling bring Bond to island base, get seized by MI6 as planned, explain to M why he’s mad, escape when Q mistakenly releases his computer virus, complex subway shenanigans, law enforcement cosplay, and then just shoot up a courtroom. So… 4-D chess, luck, and magic and then fire away?
#8: Loki
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“The Avengers” (2012)
We get it, you’re the Trickster God, but might you sometimes just be tricking yourself? In 2012’s “The Avengers,” Loki’s stated plan is one of world domination. He acquires the Tesseract to open a portal over New York City and allow a Chitauri invasion force to come streaming through. But, if you intend to take over the world, why only attack NYC? Why not approach some unstable governments or despots you might turn to your cause? Why fly in an army through a hole in the sky and have them attack a few square blocks of a city? God of Lies? Yes. Mental giant? No.
#7: Magneto
“X-Men” (2000)
In “X-Men,” Magneto’s plan is to create a machine that can turn ordinary humans into mutants by artificially giving them mutant abilities. He meant to use this on world leaders in order to make them more amenable to the idea of humans and mutants co-existing. If only he had gotten the science right. The machine does imbue humans with mutant abilities, but it also breaks down the cellular structure of each subject, killing them. It is pretty hard to change the hearts and minds of people when their bodies are melting from the inside. Not a bad plan exactly, but definitely poor execution.
#6: Emperor Palpatine
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“Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” (1983)
Emperor Palpatine essentially wiped out the Jedi and brought about the end of the Galactic Republic. He also, however, led his Empire to build a Death Star, a weapon capable of destroying entire planets, only to have it destroyed by a bunch of rebels. Undaunted, he then led the Empire to build another Death Star. This one was, predictably, destroyed by a bunch of rebels. Meanwhile, the Emperor was taunting Luke Skywalker, leading Darth Vader to save his son, killing both himself and the Emperor instead. What happened to the masterful Sith lord from the prequel trilogy? Repeating past mistakes and being overconfident are not traits of smart people.
#5: Rasputin
“Hellboy” (2004)
When you bring a truly terrible person back to life, it probably makes sense that they will have truly terrible plans. In the case of Hellboy’s villainous Rasputin, however, his plan is terrible in more ways than one. Having been recently resurrected, Rasputin sets about his scheme to open a portal to the abyss in hopes of releasing a powerful, evil entity called the Ogdru Jahad. Hellboy thwarts this plan, but not until after the Ogru Jahad releases a Behemoth which takes over Rasputin’s body, grows to immense size and crushes him. Conjuring something only for that something to turn around and kill you? Not exactly a brilliant plan.
#4: Burke
“Aliens” (1986)
We suppose a corporate climber could be forgiven for not believing Ripley’s very true horror story of what happened in the first “Alien” movie. But Burke, the secret bad guy from “Aliens” is guilty of far more than just being skeptical. A colony placed near the events of “Alien” goes dark, and Ripley tags along with Burke and the space marines sent to investigate. When that investigation proves, beyond a doubt, that Ripley’s story of the Xenomorphs is true, it has no effect on Burke’s plans. Knowing the threat the aliens truly pose, he still wants to bring one back to Earth. Smart plan? No.
#3: Ego
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“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (2017)
The goal of Ego, the Living Planet, is to become one with the universe, but not in a cool or Zen sort of way. His plan is a winding road of fathering and abandoning children in the hopes that one of them would have their absent dad’s “Elder Gene.” Once confirmed, Ego would reunite so that they together could spread the “light” and literally fill the universe. What’s dumb is that he does this with no kind of defenses against those who might try to stop him. The Guardians actually defeat him with relative ease, and they were by no means his biggest threat. Other Elder Gods, anyone? We know that his name is literally “ego,” but it isn’t an excuse.
#2: Aliens
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“Signs” (2002)
First rule of intergalactic conquest: don’t invade a planet that’s mostly made up of the thing that’s toxic to you. But hey, before we pick up a baseball bat and swing away at the villains’ plan, let’s give them a little credit. They’ve obviously mastered the art of interplanetary travel, even if we don’t know exactly where they came from. That’s a lot more than we can say for ourselves. But if we found a planet that was almost entirely lava, we still wouldn’t send down emissaries. The aliens that do invade Earth learn this lesson the hard way. After they’ve made some impressive crop circles, one runs afoul in the protagonists’ home, and gets showered to death by multiple glasses of water.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
Ronan the Accuser, “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014)
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The Wicked Witch of the West, “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
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Sheriff of Nottingham, “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991)
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#1: Zod
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“Man of Steel” (2013)
If you’re a General, genetically designed to be the best at what you do, you should be a master strategist and tactician, the type who conjures plans that are logically unassailable, right? In the case of Superman’s nemesis, General Zod, not so much. Zod traveled the universe, seeking surviving Kryptonians, when he picked up the distress signal coming from Kal-El’s buried spaceship. When he arrives on Earth, surely he must have noticed that Kryptonians thrive on the planet, exhibiting incredible strength, speed, the power of flight, etc. So, why does he then seek to terraform Earth to be more like Krypton? What was he possibly thinking? Maybe spend less time fighting and more time considering your options.
