Twirl that Moustache: Your Favorite Villains

We love our heroes. But villains are worthy of our love, too, for so many reasons. These days, villains seem to have as many (or more?) fans than the heroes of our favorite SF/F stories. 

Here, our Leaguers share some of their favorite villains, and why!

Beth Revis:
My favorite villain is The Operative in the movie Serenity. He is absolutely evil, but he absolutely believes that what he is doing is the right thing. He's not a mustache-twirling bad guy (which, despite the helmet, Darth Vader totally is); he has explicit, specific--and even reasonable--logic for doing the horrible things he does. His reaction to everything that happens in the end of the novel is amazing, something very few villains do, and that makes him even more perfect.

The Operative, from Serenity. "Darth Vader is flat Stanley. Because Beth says so and I agree."

Mindy McGinnis:
My favorite SF/F villain is Black Jack Randall from the Outlander series. Every villain has a reason for what they're doing, and Gabaldon actually made me cry for him at one point. HOW!??! I don't know, but she did.

Black Jack Randall. A keen eye and a bloody good hat.
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Bethany Hagen:
Both Victor and Eli from V.E. Schwab's Vicious.  They are both so clever and original, plus I really dug the idea that they were battling each other, and it wasn't necessarily a hero vs. villain.  More like villains versus each other.

This is Victor, turning his back on you.

Lissa Price:
I will go with the Master from the David Tennant version of Dr Who. 

The Master, from Dr Who. Source
"This? Oh, it's just a fork. Trust me."

E.C. Myers:
I am going with General Zod, specifically from the film Superman II. He isn't the worst villain, but he's definitely evil and ambitious and a match for Supes. He's also inadvertently funny and entertaining. "Kneel before Zod" is classic, and there's this great moment in the film where he's being interviewed on TV and he ends it by using his own name as an exclamation: "Zod!"

General Zod. "Kneel before my superlative facial hair stylings."

Lydia Kang:
I would say Loki from Thor. He's so devilishly evil but with a squishy heart inside. And then there's Khan, from Star Trek into Darkness. I also had a major villain crush on Pitch, from Rise of the Guardians. That scratchy voice was too much. Who doesn't want to strive to just exist? I could go on...

Here's Loki looking SO evil. Um. Wait. Let me try another. 

Hmm. Evil looks too good. Let's try another.

"BOO!"
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That's better!

So do you have a favorite villain? Tell us who and why in the comments below!