The Walking Dead's best villains?
- Beta
- Negan
- Governor (TV Series)
Those three are far better than all the other villains we already had in my opinion. Alpha, Carver, Lilly, Gareth - those are pretty bad and overrated.
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We only had episode with Lilly. I don't watch the TV show but I'm sure Negan and the others you listed have alot more screentime. Same with Carver. We only knew him for 2 episodes.
Yeah, but we know a lot about Lilly's character from S1E1-S1E3 so it's not like many things will magically suprise us.
Carver's arc had a huge potential to be the main arc of the whole Season 2, but they screwed it up by making him an idiot.
Honorable mentions: Randall (Michonne), St. John Brothers, Terminus cannibals (TV), and The Whisperers (comics).
To get real for a second, something that was apparent from day one that I've had to really take into account lately is that I'm just not much into the Walking Dead itself and seldom ever was. So obviously, my thoughts don't really line up with what is definitely Walking Dead.
With that said, I feel like a chunk of the villains are kinda eh for the most part--they're mainly grisly, brutish types who engage in violent, infringing actions for shock value. And with some exceptions, I can't say I find them that entertaining. On the otherhand, you got characters that either mix it up a little or deviate completely into something more unconventional. In their cases, you then have the issues of whether these characters should even be considered villains in the first place or even worse, if the story they're in is able/willing to give them the room/agency they need to really shine. There's also the matter of other factors, like who you wanna count as a villain, if pure antagonism is quantifiable, and if [near] reformations is a factor either way.
So with that and my lack of proper experience with everything else in mind, here is probably how the antagonists are sleighted in my eye:
Complicated: Stranger Arvo Norma Joan
Interesting: Brenda Roman Tavia Michelle Max The Deltas
Fun: Danny Troy Vitali Randall Abel Princess(?)
Functional: Negan(?) Save Lots Bandits Oberson Nate North Carolina Scavengers Buricko TFS!Lily
Problematic: David Badger Minerva(?)
Pretentious: Carver Jane
Lame: The Governor(?) Justin Lonnie
How is Beta a good villain? Dude has no personality lmao.
For me the top ones would be this:
Scott Gimple.
He has bigger personality than boring Alpha that just goes and tells everyone "I'm StrONg!!!". Even Negan said that she is a pathetic bitch that would already be raped multiple times and killed if not ~2.10m tall Beta that protects her at every step.
Shane Walsh
Governor (TV Series)
Negan (Comic)
I liked The Governor from the TV series.
Carver was ok but wasted
Alpha is a more sophisticated character. She tells everyone she’s strong but deep down she doesn’t truly believe it. She’s a flawed character and that’s what makes her a good villain. Beta has no flaws and no personality and isn’t written well. I think you’re missing the point of what makes a good villain. It’s not about how “strong” or “cool” they are, it’s about how well their character is written.
And she was the person who chopped off all those people heads for the border, so she even beats Beta in the strong, cool department.
And once gain, I regret googling.
Beta also had development. How scared he is of someone knowing what his face looks like (due to a fact that he was NBA player and an actor before the outbreak). His pure hate against those people that killed Alpha. He does have great lines as well, for example when he stabbed that guy and said "Now you'll join my army". I think he is very cool. Hopefully he will get more time in TV Series.
Comic Negan, TV Governor, TV Shane, Carver, and Norma are the top five for me
Special mentions to Simon, Randall (because why not), and Qaletaqa + Troy from Fear S3
How do you even pronounce that 2nd to last one?
Well, his last name is Walker, which is what I call him by, so there's a cheap way out.
Hmm. This is tricky. I will go for each medium I have played, then my top 5 or maybe 8 or something, I dunno.
Comic: I mean, there's no way I can't pick Negan right?
Video Game: St. John family, Norma and Randall are a close second.
Main show: The Governor.
Fear: Troy Otto, but calling him a "villain" is somewhat debatable...for a purely antagonist character, I guess Proctor John, who I think was kind of cool and interesting? It's been a while. Walker was never really a villain once everything came clear, and I very quickly changed my opinion when he was revealed, so I can't count him. But if we count Troy as a villain, he is probably the best one from the entirety of the Walking Dead. He was incredibly compelling to watch. But for my list, I will leave him out.
From there we probably get like Randall and Norma, Shane!!!, Gareth, the Stranger, Jeremiah Otto, the Alpha Wolf guy was kind of cool?
I also think Beta is not a terrible of a villain as other people say so. I mean, definitely not the best, but above the median in terms of the good villains and the bad villains. I like his design and physicality, presence on the page. I also really liked the emotion he would show, all those longing looks to Alpha and then his angst when discovering her. Still, he's mostly a big scary dude, and at least he's good at doing that and taking a hell of a beating in the process (and his identity, well, it was a pretty weird twist, and it was interesting in its implications).
On both Alpha and Beta, I find it very interesting that Alpha's philosophy - be animals, strong, not weak, no emotions - is broken by both of them, as we see with Alpha's obvious love for her daughter and Beta's obvious love for Alpha, which turns what I suppose are "rational people", in the most liberal definition for people who wear human skin for a living, to make irrational choices.
I can tell you my bottom 3 (highest to lowest):
Depending on the outcome:
1) Rewrites.
2) Editorial mandates.
3) Potentially Kirkman.
i don't get all the hype around negan. he doesn't seem special or scary at all. he just has a bunch of people following him. the gov from the show was a lot better because he manipulated people so easy.
I mean him being scared and hiding his face was never really fleshed out tbh...it’s only in like two scenes.
I'm gonna go with Merle Dixon.
I'd like to go on record stating Shane is no more of a villian than Rick is.
That being said
1-Comic Governor. A literal piece of shit. Enjoyed him getting mangled, and dying.
2-Comic Negan. A neat psychopath. Came to understand, and ultimately like the dude.
3-TV Governor. Another neat psychopath. He was downright scary, especially after he lost his eye.
Carver was cool, just needed more time.
It was actually. To be honest, it was fleshed out as hell. Negan mocked him about that at their first meeting and he already got mad. Then he killed that Whisperer who tried to take the mask out of him and when he was fighting Jesus and Aaron, he was shot. When he was dying and they were talking about his face, he just jumped and started acting crazy. Look:
Wow. They actually named a character in this series Walker.
O-K.
Sunshine Justice was in this?!
Yeah, Comic Negan just looks like a cueball with a barbed bat who curses like an 8 year old.
And Show Negan just looks like an older man gettin jiggy with dat.
Apparently, the idea behind that is
he's a celebrity and doesn't want anyone to know he's not just a lummox
Well they also gave him an entire backstory in a comic book called "Here's Negan" this,and what they did with him in the whisperers arc is why everyone love him but you don't read the comics so i don't know why i'm even telling you this.
I don't why you're being a snippy pinch of salt instead of just telling me that first bit(which I obviously could've assumed anyway, but could've responded moderately for the sake of conversation.) either.
Eh I guess, but that was really the only thing explored about him. I felt like Kirkman didn’t know what to do with him after the whisperer war, so he just killed him off like nothing. He just seemed like a brute to me.
So that really is his death that was posted above?
Lee Everett he bust out of a cop car blew the cops brains out kidnaped a kid murder a senator and a old man
Eleanor hands down
Yup. He appears again for like one issue in one scene after the whisperer war and he literally gets up and shouts he has no name as his mask comes off. And then he just dies lmao
Gonna go ahead and bump this since it's both the most recent thread on this topic and the second closest to the format I want.
The games' villians haven't really lived up. I'd say Norma might be the most interesting/fleshed out. Others are underwhelming, underused, subpar or generic.
That's fair.