10 Female Villains We Love to Hate

By Vango Fett

Villains. Deliciously evil agents of chaos made for the specific design of trying to thwart our favorite heroes on their grand journeys to save life as we know it. Love them or hate them, villains lay out some of the juiciest drama for us to sink our teeth into, and everyone has their favorite. Whether it be someone with a reason for their dark deeds or just someone who simply wants to destroy just to destroy, there’s always a part of yourself you can see in the antagonist of a story.

Often times, villains are easier to connect with on a human level. After all, not everyone can vibe with the man of steel or America’s poster boy. Sure their morals can sometimes skew, but people are of a selfish nature and would rather do as they please and not as they are told. Which is why villains often get more love than the hero sometimes.

Starting us off at #10, the creepy keeper of the well, Sadako Yamamura (aka Samara in the USA), of the Ring series.

While most just know her as “that creepy girl in from the well”, she is much more than just a vengeful ghost. This girl literally made herself into a digital virus after death, creating the tape she’s most famous for as a way to spread her pain and anger throughout the years to come. The only way to escape her wrath once you view the tape is to make a copy of it and give it to someone else, effectively creating a cycle of misery and horror around the world. This in and of itself is a massive feat for anyone living to accomplish, let alone someone with no physical body to pull off. Out of all the women on this list, to me she is the most terrifying in terms of pure wrath and tenacity.

Whether you love her or hate her, just be sure to avoid picking up sketchy looking VHS tapes in swap meets or antique shops.

#9, Mystique of The X-Men series

Who doesn’t love a red head? Besides maybe the multiple people throughout the years who’ve had their lives pretty much ruined by this royal blue powerhouse of a mutant. A master of deception and disguise, Raven Darkholm is one of the most formidable villains on this list. Best known as Magneto’s right hand woman and creator of her own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Mystique is an insanely skilled assassin and absolutely one of the most cunning figures in comic history. A master strategist, martial artist, and multiple weapon mastery makes her someone you would not want to rub the wrong way. She will do whatever it takes to win, and as she’s been quoted to be over 100 years old, I’d say she does a pretty good job of winning the evil game.

#8, Ragyo Kiryuin of Kill la Kill

Few female anime villains in the past 20 years have been as deliciously downright diabolical as Ragyo Kiryuin. The mother of beloved Ryuko and the steel willed Satsuki Kiryuin, this woman used both of her children as science experiments. After what she thought was a failed attempt to re-create her own merge with life fibers in infant Ryuko, she literally discarded a new born like yesterdays garbage. A sociopathic and cold hearted woman who’s only goal is to murder the entire human race for some crazy alien

tech from space, Ragyo uses whatever means necessary to accomplish her goal of world destruction. I would say it was the life fibers that drove her into her madness, but I’m pretty sure this woman was already far gone by the time alien clothes from some far off galaxy came into the picture.

#7, Sae Kurosawa of Fatal Frame:Crimson Butterfly

Between Sadako and Sae, I cant decide which one gets the creepiest on the list award. Sae Kurosawa was a normal girl, living with her family and twin sister in a remote village in Japan until one day, her and her sister Yae are chosen for a ceremony where, to sate the hunger of the Hellish Abyss beneath the village, she would either have to kill her sister or be killed and thrown into the abyss. However, her sister escaped and she was sacrificed alone, which to the misfortune of the village only pissed the abyss off and Sae returned filled with not only her own malice a hatred, but was super charged with the abyss’s as well. She slaughters the village and years later when sisters Mio and Mayu stumble upon the ghost town, she begins her ghostly mental torture of the two after she mistakes Mio for her sister Yae, who had escaped the ritual which killed her hundreds of years before. The only thing you have to fight back with? A camera, which has honestly very little effect on Sae herself but you can capture gems for the family album like the one of Sae pictured above.

#6, Harley Quinn of the Batman series

The once docile and humble Dr. Harleen Quinzel has become one of the most recognized and beloved characters of most geekdom in the past few years. After being exposed to The Joker’s mental manipulation and falling head over heels into his trap, the kind doctor donned the mantle of his Harley Quinn. In the beginning, she was nearly even more of psychopath than her male counterpart. Enjoying the freedom that spreading pain and fear gave her, Harley often did most of the dirty work for Joker which then twisted her even further down the hole of depravity past the point of no return. She is known as one of the most insane women of pop culture, often doing things just for the fun of it. There’s no rhyme or reason to her actions, aside from often just wanting to please her puddin’, which makes her one of the worst people to get on the bad side of. There’s no real end game, she will just maim you because she can. But hey, everybody loves a clown.

#5, Jennifer of Jennifer’s Body

Oh high school. A place of young adult development and the “golden days” of youth. That is, unless you lie about being a virgin, get sacrificed to the devil in the name of rock n roll, and then become a sociopathic, flesh eating demon who wrecks havoc upon a small unsuspecting town. Jennifer is great as a villain because the reasons for her actions boil down to good old teenage narcissism and primal hunger. She realizes after coming back from the dead with new demon powers in tow that if she is to keep on living beautiful and sought after, then she has to brutally murder and devour those who let her get close enough to do so. Unapologetic and unrelenting in her pursuit of life and beauty eternal, Jennifer even went as far as to play mind games with her best friend, leading to the death of her friends boyfriend at her own unhinged jaw. She was a being of charnel desire and lust, mainly just doing what she did because who would suspect the hot girl of being a murderous, crazy demon after all?

#4, Mother Gothel of Disney’s Rapunzel

Disney has such a way with their female villains. Cruel, conniving, down right nasty women who drive the stories we love and who we just loooove to hate. A relative new comer to the Disney Bad Bitch Club is Mother Gothel, the main antagonist of Disney’s Rapunzel. This is one bad momma, as is she is so obsessed with youth and beauty, she steals a magic baby to satisfy her own vain agenda. Her entire personality is manipulative and she pulls a full Stockholm on Rapunzel, convincing her that she needs her to survive and that anything outside Gothel’s own control is a terrifying and dangerous death waiting to happen. She a controlling old witch who, at her very core, is too self absorbed to realize when she’s losing. This eventually leads to her downfall and Repunzal’s freedom, but it didn’t stop her from making the list this year.

#3, The Sisters of Kubo and the Two Strings

Aside from being terrifying assassins, the sisters were also extremely formidable in the psychological torture department. Knowing exactly how to torment their young nephew Kubo with both words and by killing his mother in front of him all because their father had told them to. What makes them competitors on the list is the fact they were simply weapons of destruction. They did as they were told, with no question to their fathers authority or remorse for their actions of killing their sister in cold blood or attacking the young Kubo without mercy. We saw more of them than we did the true villain of the story, which gave us all the more reason to hate them as they continuously tore poor Kubo’s life apart due to their father’s petty anger and jealousy without a second thought.

#2, The Evil Queen of Snow White and the Huntsmen/ Winter’s War

Another baddy who is driven simply by her own vanity and vapid self serving desires, Queen Ravenna did everything within her power as well as outside of it to get what she wanted. She couldn’t bare the thought of coming in second, and commanded the heart of Snow White be brought to her so her own rule and beauty would no longer be questioned. She was ruthless and as cold as an arctic winter, to the point even after her death in the first movie, the effect of her evil could still be felt within her precious mirror. In Winter’s War, we learn she had an even more insidious plan to maintain her power by killing her only sister’s child in an act of what she considered mercy to her sister, awakening the powers that had hidden dormant in Freya in an effort to control her as well. After she is released from the mirror in Winter’s War, a new and improved Ravenna 2.0 shortly begins her manipulation of her sister again. Hoping to command her sister’s now vast army for her own purposes, but as always is thwarted by the hero of the story as her own faith in her now god mode powers becomes her downfall. She had no real end game other than complete control over everything, and would use any means to get it, making her #2 on my personal list of baddies.

#1, Maleficent of Sleeping Beauty(1959)

Here we are folks. My #1 pick for the baddest of them all goes to the fire breathing, queen of petty herself, Maleficent. Aside from being literally one of the most OP characters disney had to offer between 1955 and 1989, she was a complete maniac. Coupled with her immense dark power and petty disposition, it was a mix of perfect evil concoctions. As far as the original story goes, we don’t know much about why she hadn’t been invited to Aurora’s birthday besides her and the king had some previous beef that had prevented her from getting the invite to the party of the year. The other fairies didn’t like her, the villagers form around the kingdom were terrified of her, and poor little Aurora got to be the butt end of a punch line she didn’t even have anything to do with. Why? Because someone forgot to put Maleficent down on the mailing list. Her actions were out of complete malice, cursing one girl to carry the fate of the entire kingdom on her shoulder’s because she could. She wanted to send a very clear message that, unlike her party invitation, was received and heard clearly.

Even in the Kingdom Hearts video games, she is portrayed as literally only wanting to spread darkness around the worlds BECAUSE SHE CAN. This is a woman who doesn’t care about your feelings or the consequences of her actions. She knows she is evil, and she revels in it. Like a bitter, finely aged wine you can’t help but drink deeply, she is one of the most unforgiving and malicious characters ever created. Plus, she can turn into a dragon and rain fiery destruction upon those who oppose her, and if thats not the coolest thing ever, get out of my face.

BONUS!

Hey folks! Darth Mexican here! I absolutely loved this topic so I wanted to throw in my suggestions as well!

Yuno Gasai of Future Diary

Yuno is a sweet high school girl who has a big crush on a boy in her class. So much so that she would murder anyone who got in the way of their love. She has no super powers, just the ability to kill without any remorse, incredible intellect, and god like tenacity! She was such a fantastic character in Future Diary that was the villain and somehow you still wanted her to succeed in her sick and twisted goals?

Azula of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Princess Azula is a boss ass bitch. She is talented, smart, beautiful, and tenacious! Whether it be through manipulation or sheer force, she gets what she wants. Azula could only be defeated by first being broken mentally, but when she had her confidence there was nothing that could stop her and that says quite a bit seeing as she constantly fought the heroes and came out on top. She always placed Fire Lord and country above all else and decided matters needed to be dealt with by her own hands which can be admired seeing as most villains are arm chair generals.

Kuvira of Legend of Korra

Kuvira was a woman who held nothing back in order to bring a change to her people that she thought was best. It didn’t matter who stood against her or what she needed to do, she followed through. While Princess Azula could be since acting on impulse and would breakdown, Kuvira was cold, calculated, and stoic. She knew exactly what her limits were and pushed them in roder to achieve success, it took everything Avatar Korra had in order to scrape by with a victory. I honestly wish that she could have had so much more of a story arc or even her own series because of how cool she was!

There you have it folks! This years list of who I personally think are the 10 Female Villains we just love to hate. Let us know if you agree, who you think should’ve made the cut, and what you want to hear about next!