David Fincher is currently hard at work on his next movie. He’s directing a neo-noir action thriller titled The Killer. It’s an adaptation of the French graphic novel series of the same name by Alexis Nolent. Based on the violent antics of the comics, this movie will surely add a new iconic antagonist to the canon of Fincher villains.
Fincher’s movies are so dark that they rarely have traditional protagonists – but the villains are usually even worse. From Se7en’s John Doe to Gone Girl’s Amy Elliott-Dunne to Fight Club’s Tyler Durden to the notorious still-at-large serial killer from Zodiac, Fincher’s movies are full of unforgettable baddies.
The Dragon (Alien 3)
Fincher technically made his directorial debut with Alien 3, but it was one of the most infamous cases of studio executives meddling with a first-time filmmaker’s vision. While Alien 3 was panned by critics for not living up to its masterfully crafted predecessors, it does have a fun variation on the familiar xenomorph.
The alien that terrorizes the prison planet where Ellen Ripley is stranded in Alien 3 is a fast-moving, four-legged menace nicknamed “The Dragon.” Also known as “The Beast” or “The Dog Alien,” it’s a truly terrifying on-screen presence.
The Burglars (Panic Room)
All of Fincher’s movies are influenced by Alfred Hitchcock to some degree, but Panic Room is by far his most Hitchcockian movie. This tense thriller sees a single mother and her daughter hiding out in a safe room while a trio of home invaders, played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam, burgle their house.
In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, these burglars would be one-note bad guys. But Fincher develops all three into their own characters. Whitaker’s conflicted blue-collar character is particularly well-rounded, and by the end of the movie, he’s surprisingly sympathetic.
Martin Vanger (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
Just about everybody that Lisbeth Salander encounters during the harrowing events of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a hateable, antagonistic figure. But the main villain of the movie is Martin Vanger, the current CEO of Vanger Industries. Vanger was played by Peter Haber in the original Swedish adaptation, but he was played by one of Hollywood’s most famous Swedish actors, Stellan Skarsgård, in Fincher’s English-language remake.
The interesting thing about Vanger is that he’s a reprehensible monster, but he’s capable of putting on a facade and being charming and affable. His personality changes a lot throughout the movie.
Mark Zuckerberg (The Social Network)
Fincher’s dramatization of the foundations of Facebook, The Social Network, doesn’t have traditional heroes and villains in the mold of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth. It’s about a bunch of college kids arguing over the rights to billions of dollars made from a website they started to rate women’s looks and ended up using to steal people’s personal data.
It’s essentially a supervillain origin story chronicling how Mark Zuckerberg became the infamous megalomaniac that he is today. Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar-winning script charts that dark journey beautifully, and Jesse Eisenberg’s performance brings it to life.
The Zodiac Killer (Zodiac)
Fincher received some of the best reviews of his career for Zodiac, based on the titular serial killer’s reign of terror. The Zodiac killer was famously never caught, and Fincher had a lot of fun with the ambiguity allowed by an unsolved case. Adapted from Robert Graysmith’s reportings, Zodiac was praised by critics for its historical accuracy.
Audiences leave Zodiac feeling suitably unsettled, because Fincher’s faithfulness to the openness of the case denies them the kind of closure that Hollywood procedural movies are expected to provide.
Tyler Durden (Fight Club)
Initially, Tyler Durden seems like the best thing that ever happened to the Narrator in Fight Club. He helps the Narrator realize his inner desire for violence and inspires an anarchist following dubbed “Project Mayhem.” For the first time in his life, the Narrator feels like he’s really alive. But when it starts to get messy, Tyler disappears.
The Narrator flies all over America in search of Tyler, only to come to the shocking realization that Tyler is just a figment of his imagination – and he’s determined to kill him. Tyler is a hypnotic, charismatic symbol of sticking it to The Man, but he’s also deeply deranged.
John Doe (Se7en)
In Fincher’s haunting horror thriller Se7en, serial killer John Doe sets out to commit a septet of murders based on the Bible’s list of “Seven Deadly Sins.” Not only is this an inventive premise for a slasher villain; it culminates in a totally unpredictable finale. Halfway through his killing spree, Doe turns himself in and asks to be taken to specific coordinates in the middle of the desert.
There, the rest of his plan comes to fruition. When Detective Mills’ wife’s severed head is delivered by FedEx, Mills fills his role as wrath and kills Doe for his sin of envy. After the end credits roll, audiences don’t forget about John Doe any time soon.
Amy Elliott-Dunne (Gone Girl)
Gillian Flynn adapted her own bestselling novel Gone Girl into a screenplay for Fincher to direct. It was tough to squeeze the dense, twisty narrative into a feature film, but Fincher brought the novel’s central characters – suspicious Nick Dunne and his missing wife Amy Elliott-Dunne – to life in spectacular style.
Amy disappears one day, leaving behind a trail of breadcrumbs that makes it look like her husband killed her. As it turns out, she kidnapped herself in an elaborate scheme to manipulate Nick. Rosamund Pike received a much-deserved Oscar nomination (but, sadly, not a much-deserved Oscar trophy) for her performance as a quintessential femme fatale.