Entertainment Weekly recently published an article on the “Top 20 Heroes and Villains in Popular Culture” (both lists can be found here). I’m delighted that my favorite movie hero, Ellen Ripley, ranked #5 and wow, what a nice surprise to see Foxy Brown (#13) featured three spots higher than Jack Bauer (#16) on the hero roll call.
I was disappointed, however, by the representation of African Americans, particularly among the pop culture villains. On that list, the closest we get to a black person is the voice of Darth Vader (#2) – the mighty James Earl Jones. I would take nothing away from Hannibal Lecter (#3) or Annie Wilkes (#14) who have surely earned their notoriety, but hey, EW, “how come their ain’t no brothas on the wall?”
To make up for this oversight, I’ve been inspired to compile a list of my own (in close consultation with Frieda, my husband, and anyone else who would listen). Let me know what you think. Did I forget anybody important? Would you rank these characters different? I’m just having fun with this, so let the debate begin!
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Top 10 Villains in Black Popular Culture
1. Evilene (Mabel King) in The Wiz:
Nobody embodies villainy better than The Wiz’s Wicked Witch of the West, Evilene, who runs a sweatshop in the NY sewer, wreaks havoc on the lives of Dorothy and her friends, and can belt out a tune that brings flying monkeys to their knees. And the way she steps down off her throne and cracks her whip is without match. Just listen to her growl don’t nobody bring me no bad news! and it’s end of discussion, no contest.
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2. Mister (Danny Glover) in The Color Purple:
Abuser, adulterer, and sniveling idiot. Although he works to redeem himself at the end of The Color Purple and eventually earns the privilege of being identified by name (Albert), his cruelty and contempt can never be forgotten.
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3. Russell “Stringer” Bell (Idris Elba) in The Wire:
Stringer Bell’s memorable run on The Wire represents the emergence of a new and improved villain, soft-spoken, college-educated, and ruthless. He’s street smart and book smart (and yummy to look at).
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4. Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman:
Eartha Kitt is the classic Catwoman and the sexiest villain ever. Who doesn’t know her trademark purr?
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5. Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) in New Jack City:
The Scarface of crack-cocaine, Nino Brown has become synonymous with parasitic drug dealers who cripple their own communities for greed and power. Though some may want to put him on the list of heroes, there’s nothing about Nino worth emulating. Rock-a-bye, baby!
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6. Stagger Lee (Lee Shelton), Black Folk Legend
Okay, so I went way back for this one. The legend of the cold-blooded murderer, Stagger Lee, has been the subject of dozens of blues songs since the early 1900s including Mississippi John Hurt’s wonderful “Stack O’ Lee Blues.” That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O’ Lee! His story is unraveled in the excellent graphic novel by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hedrix, and he just recently popped up in my favorite webcomic, Bayou.
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7. John Harris, Sr. (Michael Beach) in Waiting to Exhale:
Angela Bassett’s character set this cheatin’ man’s car on fire and millions of black women across America cried out in victory!
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8. Alonzo (Denzel Washington) in Training Day:
I don’t think any of us were prepared to see Denzel transform from an easy-going mentor to a heartless criminal with a badge. This Oscar-winning role instantly secured his place as a top villain in black popular culture.
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9. Simon Legree in Harriet Beecher’s Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
Of all the slave drivers who could (and should) have made this list, few are more vicious that Simon Legree, the fictional Louisiana planter that beat Uncle Tom to death without an ounce of regret. Even black folks who have never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin get chills when they hear the name Simon Legree.
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10. Ol’ Pharaoh (Ramesses II) from “Go Down, Moses”
The first villain our enslaved ancestors dared to identify by name in the most well-known Negro Spiritual of all time. Taken from the Book of Exodus, Ol’ Pharaoh was a symbol for any and every slave owner, for the institution as a whole, and the will of millions to overcome their oppression.
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Runner-Up Villains:
- Mr. T in Rocky III
- Sweet Daddy Williams (Teddy Wilson) in Good Times
- Darryl Jenks (Eriq La Salle) in Coming to America
- Elijah Price (Samuel Jackson) in Unbreakable
- Wilhemina Slater (Vanessa Williams) in Ugly Betty
Posted by b.cause on March 30, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Love the list!
Here’s a few I would add:
1. Imabelle (Robin Givens) — A Rage in Harlem
2. Harry (Danny Glover) — To Sleep with Anger
3. Pretty Toney (Dick Anthony Williams) — The Mack
Posted by Claudia on March 30, 2009 at 3:58 PM
These are great additions! I forgot all about Pretty Toney.
Posted by GreenLadyHere on March 30, 2009 at 4:12 PM
Hello Claudia_M;
How about VIXEN – “Dominique Deveraux” – - played by Ms. Diahann Carroll!?
Wooo! Hoo! :>)
Posted by Claudia on March 30, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Hi GreenLady, I can’t BELIEVE I forgot Dominique Deveraux. Dynasty, right? Thanks for stopping by!
Posted by Carleen on March 30, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Love it, love it, love it! Did you see Elba being bad-ass on The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency last night? He’s also kinda mean on The Office. But I do love him!
Posted by Yalonda on March 30, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Good list!
In terms of villains, I would include Covey the “slave breaker” from Frederick Douglass’ narratives; Trueblood/Cholly Breedlove (the incestuous father(s) from Invisible Man & The Bluest Eye); and Ike Turner/Joe Jackson. Maybe even Andre, the drug dealer cat, from Roc–
Those could be in the top 10, or some runners-up.
And I wholeheartedly agree with Harry from TSwA, too.
Posted by Claudia on March 30, 2009 at 8:14 PM
@Carleen – YES, I did catch No. 1 Ladies’ Det. Agency! We’ll have to chat about that on Twitter. So far, I’ve heard from two folks who don’t think Elba is a villain – any thoughts on that?
@Yalonda – I love that you mentioned Douglass and The Bluest Eye – I was reluctant to get too “literary” with this particular list, but Covey and Cholly are certainly villainous. I wonder, though, about Trueblood – he did something awful, but seemed remorseful. (Some even argue that he made up his whole story about the incest to get a little money.) Oh, man, and Andre from “Roc”! I would have never remembered that. Thanks for stopping by.
And here are a few more folks that have been added from comments at Jack & Jill Politics:
*The Man from “Undercover Brother”
*Louis Gossett Jr. as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in “A Soldier’s Story” (this is really a good one)
*Penny’s mama on “Good Times”
Posted by Brian on March 30, 2009 at 11:23 PM
How about Tiny Lister as Deebo in Friday? And to go into the world of animation, how about Stinkmeaner or Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks?
Posted by alirambles on March 31, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Great list! I wonder if EW worried they’d get called out on the carpet if they had more black villains than heroes? (I actually had no idea Darth Vader’s voice was done by James Earl Jones.)
Posted by Cat on March 31, 2009 at 6:59 AM
My two comments are totally un-useful to the villains discussion:
1) I *heart* String! (and I can’t wait to catch up with this season of the Office to see Elba on there)
I do actually think he is a villain…I think that we care about him, we respond to his torn feelings about Avon, and we see his vulnerabilities (like when he gets played in Season Three by the lawyer and permits people)…but finally he has become ruthless to survive, and that ruthlessness dominates his decision-making and his character. (String and D’Angelo’s girlfriend, for a small and sexy example)
2) Wilhemina Slater is fabulously wicked. And wickedly fabulous.
That is all. ;-)
Posted by Claudia on March 31, 2009 at 8:36 AM
@Brian: Deebo and Uncle Ruckus – two more for the list!
@alirambles: Thanks for stopping by! You know, I also wondered if the racial politics of “villainy” might have factored into EW’s choices for their list. Black folks have a long and sad history of being unfairly portrayed as “the bad guy” or as being deviant and “evil” simply based on skin color – and nothing else. It can be risky. But as this exercise demonstrates, there are plenty of black fictional antagonists who can stand alongside Voldemort, Mr. Burns, or Norman Bates!
@Cat: completely agree with you on Stringer Bell. I mean, he did have D’Angelo killed right? That’s pretty bad.
Love all this feedback!
Posted by Keishon on March 31, 2009 at 1:18 PM
I loved Stringer Bell on The Wire. The show shattered stereotypes showing us that there are criminals out there who are both street smart and book smart. I miss this show and bought the boxset.
I would add Samuel L. Jackson has a hitman in “Jackie Brown” to your list.
Posted by Claudia on March 31, 2009 at 3:41 PM
@Keishon: That’s two for Sam Jackson! Thanks for stopping by and adding to the list.
Posted by Prof Fury on April 1, 2009 at 9:10 AM
For the junior varsity team, what about Alex Wilder from Runaways?
Posted by Rich on April 1, 2009 at 12:34 PM
I’d swap out Denzel in favor of SLJ from UNBREAKABLE.
Posted by Claudia on April 1, 2009 at 3:08 PM
@Prof Fury – Yes! Alex Wilder! But only from the first run with Brian K. Vaughan, LOL.
@Rich – So you really think Elijah was a better baddie than Alonzo? Hmm…. But only four people actually saw Unbreakable.
Posted by Rich on April 1, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Well, I’m thinking in terms of acceptance in the public consciousness. A lot of people are saying now that Denzel’s Oscar win for TRAINING DAY was a make-up for not winning for MALCOLM X. And UNBREAKABLE may not have been as popular as THE SIXTH SENSE, but people saw it because it was MNS’ follow-up – don’t forget, this was way back when he was still being called the new Hitchcock and a genius, long before his descent into mediocrity.
Denzel’s character wasn’t that different from other corrupt cops in recent cinema and TV; the only reason it’s remembered at all is because it’s DENZEL PLAYING A BAD GUY. SLJ in UNBREAKABLE, OTOH, was a more original character with greater subtlety and ambiguity.
Posted by Yalonda on April 1, 2009 at 6:41 PM
I saw Unbreakable and dig it as well as Training Day. I think so of the issue is that Elijah and Alonzo are two different kinds of villain.
Elijah represents classic villainy as presented in superhero or other comics/fictions. He is extreme, maniacal, but also cold and calculating, but the idiosyncrasies of his life separate him from the kinds of dudes we encounter everyday. His hair is fly (!) and he is just as fantastic a villain as The Joker, Lex Luthor, or Skeletor or somebody. His wealth, his intense belief, the nature of his frailty are so extreme as to make him extraordinary in his badness. He scares us because he’s outside of what we can fathom.
Alonzo is an urban villain and while treacherous, is more “realistic” in his badness as a character. Rather than the ego-maniacal super-villain, he’s the ego-maniacal, hypermasculine, bad-cop/subversive Negro-type villain. He’s someone just two steps beyond some cat we could know around the way– he’s just beyond “regular,” while still in the realm of possibility. He’s a “badman” of epic black folk/urban experience proportions. Alonzo is scary because can imagine someone like him in our world.
What’s interesting to me is the element of cool that each man possesses though his personality is so different from the other.
Posted by Claudia on April 1, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Wow, Yalonda, you broke it down, girl. Your distinctions are spot-on.
I think, Rich, that you make good points as well. There’s definitely something about Elijah’s villainy – with his brittle bones and repulsive approach to solving the world’s problems – that is definitely more creatively rendered. Alonzo is a more memorable character for me, probably for the very reasons you mentioned, and I won’t let the fact that I’m blissfully wedded in holy matrimony to Mr. Washington get in the way of recognizing a good villain when he rears his wild, misshapen Afro.
Maybe in honor of the dual-characterizations, we’ll call it at tie for #8 on the list?
Posted by Claudia on April 1, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Oh, and LOL @ Skeletor!!!!!!
Posted by yalonda on April 2, 2009 at 2:31 AM
thank you :) it’s they’re both “bad” but not in the same ways. and skeletor just came to me lol
Posted by Carleen on April 2, 2009 at 11:54 PM
Um, not a villain? How’s he not a villain? I thought he was responsible for kidnapping that boy for the “fresh” magic?
Posted by shadra on April 3, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Evilene! HA!!! I jokingly call my grandmother this when she’s being old, crotchety, and down-right evil! Then we laugh a big laugh and she’s not so evil anymore.
Posted by Claudia on April 3, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Hey Shadra, thanks for stopping by! Everybody go check out Shadra Strickland’s work – she’s an awesome children’s book illustrator and recently won an award for her work on Bird with Zetta Elliot.
Posted by neal2zod on April 4, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Does Jeffrey Wright (Peoples Hernandez) in “Shaft” count? And if not, my vote goes for Tony Todd (Candyman) – a villain just as complex as Dracula or The Phantom of the Opera.
Posted by Claudia on April 5, 2009 at 7:36 AM
@neal2zod First things first: love your name! And yes, I would think that Peoples Hernandez counts, as does Candyman. I’ve never seen the Candyman films – if they’re really that good, maybe I need to put one on my netflix list!
Posted by First Blogoversary! « The Bottom of Heaven on August 30, 2009 at 6:42 PM
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