Secondary villains who stole the show

Chairman Yang

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Mission Impossible 3's real villain is fine, and Tom Cruise does a great job, but Philip Seymour Hoffman's weapons dealer character is incredible, despite having very few scenes, and elevates the entire movie.




Gary Oldman also has a small part in True Romance playing a lowlife called Drexl Spivey. Again, despite being low on the totem pole in the movie, he exudes menace and is one of the most memorable characters in a movie packed with memorable characters.



Any good examples you can think of?
 
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Beni from The Mummy
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Jaime Lannister not sure if he is a secondary villain or a villain at but same would work for Tyrion Lannister to a lesser extent
 
Hannibal Lecter would be one of the biggest.

I guess Darth Vader is technically secondary but he's more of the primary villain for the first two films.
 
DKehoe said:
Hannibal Lecter would be one of the biggest.

I guess Darth Vader is technically secondary but he's more of the primary villain for the first two films.
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question is does a secondary villain have to be a subordinate to a primary villain
 
Artoris said:
question is does a secondary villain have to be a subordinate to a primary villain
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Up to how Chairman Yang Chairman Yang defines it. But I'd say it's about not being the primary threat that has to be overcome at that time. I'd say in ANH and ESB that Vader is the primary threat but it shifts to being The Emperor in ROTJ.
 
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Primary villain = antagonist, the character that makes the protagonist react, the one who is also impacted first / directly by the protagonist's actions.

In SW, the main is clearly Darth Vader. He's the first one to be introduced, he reacts to Luke's actions and viceversa. The Emperor is some guy in the shadows.

An epic secondary villain in Star Wars would be Boba Fett. He's just there for a minute, and it's enough to steal the show. His presence is menacing and cool.

In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter is the antagonist and so, primary villain. It's a quid pro quo with the protagonist. The menace to the protagonist is not Buffalo Bill, he doesnt have any relationship with Clarice. Like the emperor, it's some guy in the background.
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
Primary villain = antagonist, the character that makes the protagonist react, the one who is also impacted first / directly by the protagonist's actions.

In SW, the main is clearly Darth Vader. He's the first one to be introduced, he reacts to Luke's actions and viceversa. The Emperor is some guy in the shadows.

An epic secondary villain in Star Wars would be Boba Fett. He's just there for a minute, and it's enough to steal the show. His presence is menacing and cool.

In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter is the antagonist and so, primary villain. It's a quid pro quo with the protagonist. The menace to the protagonist is not Buffalo Bill, he doesnt have any relationship with Clarice. Like the emperor, it's some guy in the background.
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This one is up for debate but I think Buffalo Bill is primary as the whole story is about him
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
Primary villain = antagonist, the character that makes the protagonist react, the one who is also impacted first / directly by the protagonist's actions.

In SW, the main is clearly Darth Vader. He's the first one to be introduced, he reacts to Luke's actions and viceversa. The Emperor is some guy in the shadows.

An epic secondary villain in Star Wars would be Boba Fett. He's just there for a minute, and it's enough to steal the show. His presence is menacing and cool.

In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter is the antagonist and so, primary villain. It's a quid pro quo with the protagonist. The menace to the protagonist is not Buffalo Bill, he doesnt have any relationship with Clarice. Like the emperor, it's some guy in the background.
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I get what you mean, but in Silence of the Lambs the actions of Buffalo Bill are what Clarice is setting out to tackle. He's the creator of the conflict she's trying to resolve. Hannibal creates threat and danger but it's not the primary one driving the plot. He also aids her in what she's trying to accomplish rather than primarily being there to impede her.

I think it's probably fair to say Vader is the antagonist of the original trilogy as a whole. He's one of the most, if not the most, iconic villains of all time. But in ROTJ Luke's goal becomes saving Vader and The Emperor is the obstacle in the way of that.
 
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Remove this dork and all lore surrounding the winter/night king:

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Replace with:

(delete the 'too soon' death scenes of the following, instead drag out their war and downfall):

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jason-momoa-game-of-thrones.gif

resigned-game-of-thrones.gif
 
Artoris said:
but he was influenced by sauron
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They ate both Mayar, so its not like Sauron could control Saruman.
But Saruman became corrupted and tried to get the ring for himself. Not to help Sauron.

Regardless, Sauron is the main villain. He is the lord of the ring.
Saruman is a secondary villain.
 
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winjer said:
They ate both Mayar, so its not like Sauron could control Saruman.
But Saruman became corrupted and tried to get the ring for himself. Not to help Sauron.

Regardless, Sauron is the main villain. He is the lord of the ring.
Saruman is a secondary villain.
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Sauron was the next in line to melkor as the source off all evil and Saruman was working for him even if he did not want to
 
Kronk from Emperor's New Groove

Oh Yeah GIF by Jesse Ling



Though I would say Yzma (the main villain) is very funny herself, and lots of great comedic scenes had the two of them playing off each other.
 
Artoris said:
Sauron was the next in line to melkor as the source off all evil and Saruman was working for him even if he did not want to
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Melkor was the source of evil, and he poured himself over Arda to corrupt. And that is why Arda will always have evil in it.
And it is why Melkor lost power over time, becoming weaker and weaker. Sauron did not have such power, as we was only a Mayar.
He wasn't meant to be the next in line. It was just that when Melkor was defeated, there was a power vacuum and Sauron took it.
Saruman was also a Mayar, so he was on the same level as Sauron. In fact, without the ring, Saruman was more powerful than Sauron.
He was probably already corrupted even before arriving at Arda. As there were Ainur who didn't trust him. That is why Galdalf was also sent.
Saruman wasn't working for Sauron. He pretended to be allies, as he was growing his army. But his plan was to take the ring and rule Arda.
 
winjer said:
Melkor was the source of evil, and he poured himself over Arda to corrupt. And that is why Arda will always have evil in it.
And it is why Melkor lost power over time, becoming weaker and weaker. Sauron did not have such power, as we was only a Mayar.
He wasn't meant to be the next in line. It was just that when Melkor was defeated, there was a power vacuum and Sauron took it.
Saruman was also a Mayar, so he was on the same level as Sauron. In fact, without the ring, Saruman was more powerful than Sauron.
He was probably already corrupted even before arriving at Arda. As there were Ainur who didn't trust him. That is why Galdalf was also sent.
Saruman wasn't working for Sauron. He pretended to be allies, as he was growing his army. But his plan was to take the ring and rule Arda.
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Melkors power grew stronger, he defeated the elves it was only the combined might of the Valar which managed to exile him Sauron was his second in command and must have been powerful to have that position. Sauron managed to escape the valar. I don't thing that the Mayar were equal in power, Radagast was weaker than Gandalf or Saruman I thing the color assigned to them had something to do with the level of their power. Sauron put a lot of his power in the ring and was much weaker after he lost but I thing he was still more powerful than Sauroman or Gandalf. But his real power was in corrupting others as that is how he destroyed the Numenoreans.
I don't think Saruman was already corrupted when he arrived it was more like the valar could see the potential danger in him or even see the future a bit.
I think Sauron corrupted Sauroman like he did with the numenoreans and Denethor and they all were doing what he wanted them to do.
 
Artoris said:
Melkors power grew stronger, he defeated the elves it was only the combined might of the Valar which managed to exile him Sauron was his second in command and must have been powerful to have that position. Sauron managed to escape the valar. I don't thing that the Mayar were equal in power, Radagast was weaker than Gandalf or Saruman I thing the color assigned to them had something to do with the level of their power. Sauron put a lot of his power in the ring and was much weaker after he lost but I thing he was still more powerful than Sauroman or Gandalf. But his real power was in corrupting others as that is how he destroyed the Numenoreans.
I don't think Saruman was already corrupted when he arrived it was more like the valar could see the potential danger in him or even see the future a bit.
I think Sauron corrupted Sauroman like he did with the numenoreans and Denethor and they all were doing what he wanted them to do.
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Melkor was the most powerful Valar, from the start. But his power diminished a lot towards the end of his age, the more he poured himself into Arda to corrupt it.
And that is the reason why he was defeated. Also, he was the most powerful, but he was not the strongest. That is why he had to run away from Tulkas.

You are correct, the Mayar were not equal in power. Gandalf was weaker than Saruman, until his fight with the Balrog.
But Saruman was the leader of his order and very powerful.
Meanwhile, Sauron without his ring, was so diminished he had to play subterfuges, while trying to regain his power. That was the whole arch at Mirkwood.
If Sauron was indeed controlling Saruman, then Saruman would not have tried to hard to get the ring for himself.
 
DKehoe said:
I get what you mean, but in Silence of the Lambs the actions of Buffalo Bill are what Clarice is setting out to tackle. He's the creator of the conflict she's trying to resolve. Hannibal creates threat and danger but it's not the primary one driving the plot. He also aids her in what she's trying to accomplish rather than primarily being there to impede her.
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What do you think about Hannibal in Manhunter? Same deal as SotL or was the Tooth Fairy enough of a personal threat?

JYOIdKOGoji23qsf.jpg


I'd say Lector WAS the secondary villain in those films, taking primacy once he escaped. But you make a good argument, especially considering Lector is driving most of the actions of Graham or Starling through the films.
 
jason10mm said:
What do you think about Hannibal in Manhunter? Same deal as SotL or was the Tooth Fairy enough of a personal threat?

JYOIdKOGoji23qsf.jpg


I'd say Lector WAS the secondary villain in those films, taking primacy once he escaped. But you make a good argument, especially considering Lector is driving most of the actions of Graham or Starling through the films.
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I actually just saw Manhunter for the first time a few weeks ago, great film!

Yeh I'd say The Tooth Fairy is the antagonist of Manhunter. Similar to SOTL it's The Tooth Fairy that is the problem Will Graham needs to solve. If you remove Hannibal from either story, it's a less interesting story. But if you take away the Tooth Fairy or Buffalo Bill, those stories lose their driving force. The climactic scenes in both films revolve around taking them down, not Hannibal. Lecter's role is more about probing the protagonist's psyche. In Manhunter, Lecter (or Lecktor as he is in that) sees himself in Will. So it's about getting the audience to consider what's going on with these people who are quite reserved on the exterior.
 
Dithadder said:
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I'm having trouble defining who even is an antagonist in the film. Like, aren't he and Zed as well as the couple robbing the diner the only characters whose interests don't align with any other main characters.

Edit: I suppose the 3 dipshits that tried to fuck Marsellus Wallace like a bitch also fall into this category.

Super memorable characters for sure.
 
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Boyd from Justified was just supposed to be a 1 episode arc. He was so good he became the main villain and the thread that kept the series going between the seasons.
 
Doom85 said:
Kronk from Emperor's New Groove

Oh Yeah GIF by Jesse Ling



Though I would say Yzma (the main villain) is very funny herself, and lots of great comedic scenes had the two of them playing off each other.
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I was thinking about this one. Yzma is great, but the two of them are perfect together. I would also say this is true for Pain and Panic:
Hercules GIF

Hades is a really good character, but these three together are very well done.
 
Quasicat said:
I was thinking about this one. Yzma is great, but the two of them are perfect together. I would also say this is true for Pain and Panic:
Hercules GIF

Hades is a really good character, but these three together are very well done.
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Oh yeah, the villains in that one had great comedy as well. Giving Hades this kind of a shady used car salesman personality he uses sometimes to get people to do what he wants was a nice touch in James Woods' performance.

In terms of another Disney villain with a few great comedic lines, George C. Scott as the villainous poacher in The Rescuers Down Under. I love when he tricks the boy into unintentionally leading him to the eagle's nest, and as the poacher hops into his vehicle to follow, he brags to his goanna lizard, "I didn't make it all the way through third grade for nothing!"
 
Lots of pretty cool female henchmen/secondary villains that often have more interesting backstories than the main villain

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and the shapeshifter from Star Trek 6 was sooooo good

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and I've always found the story of the Medusa to be unbelievably tragic and engrossing, in almost every iteration. And of course the most monstrous and cool one from the incomparable Harryhausen

XUy9LxDFkkoiaNxv.jpg
 
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