A shorthand for writing a villain in a movie is to make them a corrupt corporate executive. After all, is there a better way to show how powerful, amoral, out-of-touch, and secretly pathetic an antagonist is than by writing them as the evil boss of a mega-corporation? Of course not!
Heck, they’d sell their grandmother for a Dollar, and that’s terrible! They may not be evil itself incarnate or world-ending supervillains, but these businessmen are definitely close. Whether it’s because they’re fun to laugh with or laugh at, here are the 10 most hilarious corporate villains in the movies.
Albert Wesker & The Umbrella Corporation – The Resident Evil Franchise
No other corporation embodies the comically evil business firm in modern cinema better than the Umbrella Corporation. Despite causing a zombie apocalypse, Umbrella still holds shareholder meetings because stocks are obviously important in the end times. What was their reason for ending the world? Military? Medicinal? Profit? Who knows? Given how many retcons the franchise has made to its own mythos, Umbrella's actual final goal is anyone's guess at this point.
While he’s not the boss, Albert Wesker provides a face to hate that best represents Umbrella’s inconsistent and evil stupidity. Not only does he have super-powers (because military-grade bioweapons can do that), but he’s unceremoniously reduced from main villain to lackey in The Final Chapter because Iain Glen (the deceased villain of the third film) just had to get famous in Game of Thrones and return to the franchise. So much for all that build-up.
Eli Mills – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Like Umbrella, Eli’s goal is so cartoonishly stupid that it’s impossible not to laugh at him. You see, he wants to save the dinosaurs on Jurassic World so that he could clone them and sell them as weapons. Apparently, he thinks Dino Riders is a great template for military strategy.
The cherry on top is that he holds a dino auction in the basement of his boss’ mansion, where he undersells dinosaurs for mere millions – despite the research for cloning said dinosaurs probably costing billions. We would’ve put Weyland-Yutani here due to their similarly dumb idea of trying to weaponize deadly creatures for a quick buck, but Burke never held a Xenomorph sale in Aliens.
Aldrich Killian – Iron Man 3 (2013)
Another corporate villain worth laughing at is Aldrich Killian, the CEO of Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) and temporary rival to Tony Stark Jr. What makes Killian a joke isn’t just that his being “the real Mandarin” is both lame and underwhelming, but that he’s incredibly petty and childish.
What’s his reason for becoming a self-made genius who invented the lethal Extremis technology and masterminded a convincing faux terrorist threat? Why, because Tony Stark snubbed him at a New Year’s Eve party and he felt bad, of course. Mysterio getting mad at the name “BARF” is more tragic than Killian’s pathetic excuse. Let’s just say we’re thankful that AIM seems all but forgotten in the MCU.
Eric Gordon – Billy Madison (1995)
Adam Sandler’s movies usually have an antagonistic upper-class authority figure, with Eric Gordon being one of the more memorable ones. He’s such a cartoonishly corrupt businessman who compliments the movie’s childlike nature that it’s impossible not to laugh with his lunacy.
Eric is so evil that he fails to simply explain what business ethics are during the climactic academic contest. Rather than answer, he whips out a gun and raves about how the contest was rigged. He presumably lost his mind after hearing about the mere concept of “ethical business practices.”
Also, did we mention that his laugh is annoying?
Claire Luna – Like A Boss (2020)
Claire may be the newest villainous boss to join this list, but don’t underestimate her. A cosmetic mogul who commands a massive beauty empire, Claire quickly got on Mia and Mel’s good sides by funding their business… only to steal their ideas for her own brand that’ll crush their tiny business in a heartbeat.
Claire clearly enjoys her ruthless business tactics, and it's hard not to enjoy the ride. She’s basically Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada but with none of her redeeming qualities. At least Miranda hides a caring personality and a conscience beneath her cold snark; all Claire has beneath her polite façade are the rock-hard breast implants that she’s really proud of.
Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg – The Fifth Element (1997)
Evil corporate bosses are nothing new in the world of science fiction, but The Fifth Element does something different through Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg, the owner of multiple business empires including gun and taxi manufacturers. He’s an evil boss, sure, but he’s a campy walking punchline, not a dead-serious personification of unchecked capitalism.
That’s not to say he’s bad at his job; in fact, is he’s scarily good at it. His entire reason for working for Mr. Shadow (i.e. evil itself incarnate) and selling out all of existence was because he was promised a really big payday. Sane? No. Economically sound? Yes. Guess all those warnings about money and absolute power were correct.
President/Lord Business – The Lego Movie (2014)
Corporate villains traditionally represent conformity and unoriginality, and President Business embodies this to a tee. With his vast resources, he plans to put the entire Lego world in its place by using the power of the Kragle to keep things in (boring) order forever.
If you think President Business was created by a kid, you’re actually correct. The Lego Movie is rich in clever subtext, and President Business’ characterization is equal parts appropriately childish and genuinely endearing. Also, he’s responsible for Taco Tuesdays so he can’t be that bad.
Dick Jones – Robocop (1987)
Dick Jones from the original RoboCop is without question the most (in)famous evil corporate executive of ‘80s cinema, as he could be viewed as an amalgamation of everything wrong with the decade’s cutthroat business ethics. This deliciously evil man takes the success of his rival’s robot cop program so poorly that he sends his on-call assassin to kill him while delivering a recorded message. Talk about classy!
What’s even better is that Dick isn’t even the CEO – he’s the vice president but he acts like he’s the head honcho at OCP. This hubris bites back later, which leads to one of the most awkwardly hilarious uses of a dummy ever seen on film.
Bill Lumbergh – Office Space (1999)
Of all the villainous corporate executives here, Bill Lumbergh is probably the most ethical because he doesn’t commit anything too unethical, like crimes against humanity. Thing is, it’s his ordinary pettiness that makes him more despicable because everyone who’s ever worked a dead-end job knows someone exactly like him. It's impossible not to hate Bill and laugh at him at the same time.
Through passive aggressive remarks and power tripping (“That would be great…”), Lumbergh gets his subordinates to clock in more hours against their wills, comfortable in the knowledge that they can’t do anything due to his rank. His one mistake was picking on Milton too much, who burned Initech in retaliation.
Les Grossman – Tropic Thunder (2008)
If Bill Lumbergh is a toned down jab against corporate bosses, Les Grossman is the polar opposite. This incredibly crass, loud-mouthed, and hyper-aggressive movie executive calls the shots behind the (in-universe) Vietnam War film Tropic Thunder, and it’s always his way or his foot up someone’s butt.
Grossman is such a comically vile human being that he was willing to let actor Tugg Speedman die because his box office returns sucked – which he declared in one of the movie’s most iconic moments. Grossman was such a breakout character that there were rumors that he’d get a spin-off. This never came to fruition, though Grossman arguably helped revive Tom Cruise’s career in the late 2000's.
The best thing about Grossman is that he’s (kind of) real. Reportedly, Cruise used his terrible meetings with Paramount Pictures executive Summer Redstone as inspiration for Grossman, after Redstone angrily ended their long-term contract.