Lex Luthor and The Joker have been named among the favorite literary villains of all time by British schoolchildren, just behind Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, Sauron from The Lord of the Rings, and Mrs. Coulter from His Dark Materials.
See? Comics are literature!
Magneto appeared a little further down the list, at No. 11. All three comic-book villains beat out more traditional bad guys, like Capt. Hook, Prof. Moriarty and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Heck, the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood trailed way back at No. 26.
The Other Mother, from Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, came in at No. 7.
The Big Bad Read poll, organized by Bloomsbury, drew more than 16,000 votes.
The Top 20 villains:
1. Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
2. Sauron, The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
3. Mrs. Coulter, His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman)
4. Lex Luthor, Superman (DC Comics)
5. The Joker, Batman (DC Comics)
6. Count Olaf, A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket)
7. The Other Mother, Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
8. The White Witch, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
9. Dracula, Dracula (Bram Stoker)
10. Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
11. Magneto, X-Men (Marvel Comics)
12. Prof. Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle)
13. Zaphod Beeblebrox, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
14. Capt. Hook, Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)
15. Napoleon the Pig, Animal Farm (George Orwell)
16. Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
17. Miss Trunchbull, Matilda (Roald Dahl)
18. Cruella de Vil, 101 Dalmations (Dodie Smith)
19. The Wicked Witch of the West, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
20. The Grinch, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Seuss)
September 5th, 2006 at 10:56 am
I guess this might be a good indicator of what movies British kids are seeing (or what books they’re reading). A lot of the folks in the top 10 are fairly “current” villains (especially Coraline’s “Other Mother” – that’s an interesting pick).
An interesting conglomeration of villains to say the least – Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights and Napoleon from Animal Farm on the same list as The Grinch and Dracula – very interesting choices.
I never thought of Zaphod Beeblebrox as a “villain” though – more of a plot device. Is he really a villain in that series? A foil for Arthur maybe, but a villain? Huh.
September 5th, 2006 at 11:16 am
I doubt the trustworthyness of this list. Artemis Fowl, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Heathcliff (?) aren’t very villainous.