Greg Stillson (The Dead Zone)

"He felt as if Stillson might have taken the game of the Laughing Tiger a step further: inside the beast-skin, a man, yes. But inside the man-skin, a beast."

(The Dead Zone, Stephen King)

The Villain
Greg Stillson is a politician who has risen to widespread popularity in America. Greg is a hero, the people love him. And why shouldn't they, he's a good, charming, Christian man outta Oklahoma, making his way towards presidency.

Greg Stillson doesn't have deliberately heinous intentions, but he can get a tad carried away at times. Which includes fun things like blackmail, emotional torture, violence, and being an arrogant dickwad with grandiose delusions. It's horrible and amazing.

The Story

Main character Johnny Smith lands himself in a 5-year coma after a car accident. When he wakes up, he has a new ability: 2nd sight. He gets visions, uncontrollably, when he touches certain objects or people. In time, he gets known for his ability and receives a bit of unwanted celebrity status. One day, at a political rally, he meets and shakes hands with U.S. Congress candidate Greg Stillson, and has a frightening vision about what will happen when Greg gets far enough in the political stream. Knowing that he can prove to no one what his vision was, he realizes that he has to choose whether or not it is his responsibility to stop Stillson.

The Novel
Oh so good. While Greg Stillson is not the main character, Stephen King keeps us informed with really excellent chapters that go into detail about what Greg's up to throughout the story. And sometimes it's with the pure intention of showing just how much of a sociopath he is. It's totally relevant.

The book is really good. I do like lovable-main-character Johnny Smith, and as I was reading the book, I actually really hated Greg Stillson. He's that good of a villain. I've never really passionately hated a villain before. I still kind of hate him, but love him at the same time.

The TV Series
After I read the book, Greg Stillson's character really stuck with me. I checked out the show out of curiosity of seeing the portrayal of his character, and was pleasantly surprised by Sean Patrick Flanery's exhibition. The TV show version of Stillson is not as much of a sociopath as the book version, but both are still favorite villains of mine.

  The show is cheesy, but it is totally worth watching the episodes with Stillson. And guess what? I'm not the only one that thinks so!

A playlist of the "Armageddon Plotline" episodes have been compiled on Hulu where you can watch all Stillson episodes for free! What a wonderful, wonderful world this is! The episodes span throughout all 5 seasons, but this plot is actually really cohesive on its own. The makers of the show really should've just made this it.
It is a good plot line. Stillson makes it good. Let me know if you check it out. Or if you already know & love Stillson, give me a holler in the comments section. I know you guys are out there somewhere!

The Movie
I have not seen the movie! Is it any good?

Fun Fact: There is a particular Greg-scene in The Dead Zone book that Stephen King has said is one of the most addressed controversies that he hears about in letters from readers. (On Writing, Stephen King.) For those of you who have read the book- it's the scene with the dog. If you haven't read the book- OPEN TO YOUR INTERPRETATION LULZ

I got my psychology-major friend to read The Dead Zone and give me his own diagnosis of Greg. And he gave me "Intermittent Explosive Disorder". How does that not sound like fun?

More Villains!

Characters that, for one reason or another, weren't suited for an entire profile, but are incredibly awesome, nonetheless.

Movies

DISCO PIGS' Darren (Cillian Murphy)
Disco Pigs is a disturbing love story about obsession. Sinead and Darren have been in love since they were children. Their worlds consist of each other and they're without any interest in changing that. Darren is a bit of a loose cannon, and after some prompting from school officials, the parents decide to separate the two teenagers. When, one day, Sinead is gone without warning, Darren loses his shit and takes off to find the girl. Disco Pigs is an Irish film starring Cillian Murphy as Darren. Not a villain per se, but a possessive, angry and violent character.

IRON MAN 2's Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke)
When I saw him in the previews, he annoyed me, so I was surprised I ended up really liking him. They go into his background enough to show his "creation", but they've kindly avoided overdramatizing it to create some melodramatic, objectified super-villain. He's pretty damn fearless. And really cares about his pet bird. :] He's more of an amusing villain than anything else, although a complete character all the same. He could've been AMAZING if more time had been spent with him, but there wasn't enough quality focus. Being that it wasn't the goal to have a revolutionary villain that would change cinema forever, they did a good job. To me, he symbolizes the increasing recognition that there is an expectation of quality in villain characters. This is one of the good superhero movies. So unless superhero movies spark zero intrigue in ya', you need to see this one.

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TV Shows
TRIGUN's Million Knives & Legato Bluesummers
Main character, "Vash the Stampede" (aka The Humanoid Tyhpoon) is an outlaw, with a price of 60 billion double-dollars on his head. He finds himself in the dedicated company of two persistant insurance agents (Meryl & Milly) who were sent to keep tabs on him. They follow Vash as he stumbles into accidental chaos and seems to find himself wrapped up in all kinds of shenanigans. Knives is Vash's older brother, who was involved in a traumatic event in Vash's past. Knives and Legato (who comes in later) increasingly influence the show through to the end, posing an intriguing, philosophical question to Vash and the audience. The overall plot revolves around Vash's conflict with the two, especially so with his brother. This animated show from Japan consists of 26 20-minute episodes. It's got a good balance of drama & comedy mixed in with action. It takes place on a deserty planet where water is scarce, outlaws are not, and there's a character for everyone to love.

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Books
1984 by George Orwell
If you want an antagonist that is actually very detestable presented in a meaningful and heavy story, you will find that here. An extremely controlling government keeps it's citizens in line by constantly monitoring them for signs of impurity or rebellion. From the perspective of Winston Smith, who's job is to alter historical records as people and words are erased by the government in an effort to control and limit knowledge. Winston seeks to find the "brotherhood," the secret rebellion against the government. It's a fantastic book. The antagonist is there to be a very powerful function, and so personality and characteristics are less of a focus.

THE SON's Levi Thou by Jo Nesbo
Oh, is he a pleasure! Levi's a crime overlord, a brutish, power-through-fear kind of fellow. He’s dominating and well composed and self-preserving, all the good stuff, as well as physically huge and unnaturally strong. Which is unfortunate, really, because now he’s just this ungodly man who was, apparently, born for power, and who can argue that? Sadly, he only has a handful of appearances that occur mostly towards the end of the book, but he's an important figure throughout the entire story.

Lookie:
"The man seemed to fill up the entire room. Simon didn’t know if this was simply due to his physical size and obvious presence or the trappings of power and wealth, of this man’s ability to control so many destinies. Or whether all the legends that surrounded his persona made him even bigger, the baggage of death, meaningless cruelty and destruction." (The Son, Jo Nesbo)

"Levi" also happens to be an anagram for 'evil'. Whether that was intentional, I do not know.

The lowdown:
After Sonny's father (a police officer) committed suicide and revealed in a letter that he was a corrupt officer, Sonny becomes a junkie and a professional scapegoat. That is, he takes the fall for persons guilty of crimes and serves time in jail so they don't have to. (This is but one of many Christian-inspired themes in the book.) After being in jail for 12 years, he gets a visitor who confesses that his father was actually murdered. This triggers the onslaught that follows. Sonny escapes prison and seeks to punish those responsible for his father's death in a game of cat-and-mouse between Sonny, the police force, and the gangsters who have, up until now, been keeping him in jail.

The book is dark and smart, both sentimental and morbidly satisfying. Jo Nesbo really knows how to write cruelty, and he’s written some very creative bits here. There’s an intelligent and very well portrayed female police character that I was impressed with, and this deepens my respect for Jo Nesbo.

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Video Games

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES' Zoran Lazarevic

"Compassion is the enemy. Mercy defeats us." Zoran Lazarevic is on the hunt for Shambhala, a legendary hidden paradise said to exist in Asia. I know what you're thinking, what does a villainous character want with a paradise? Would he find it, feel greatness, then reside there in zenful content amongst ruins and trees? Well...no. Within Shambhala resides the key to immortality. As is necessary, Zoran has a troupe of people willing to help him find Shambhala. However, our main character, Nate, wants to stop him. Legends and invincibility... it's all very bizarre and hard to accept, but the mere possibility of cruel-and-unmerciful Zoran becoming immortal is too horrible a thought. He's determined to stop Zoran. But Zoran is willing to do things that most are not, and this gives him the upper hand.

If you're into video games, you should just play Uncharted 2 and see Zoran there, but if you just want to see Zoran, there's a compilation of all Zoran-related cutscenes here! Heh, I doubt I would've liked him as much had I just seen this and not been engaged in the video game. But when you want malice, here's malice.