From full-fledged monologues to the simple one-liner, villainous quotes make superhero movies as satisfying as they are. The DCEU’s villains have dished out more than their fair share of dastardly dialogue and sinister soundbites over the past few years and we’ve compiled the cream of the crop from the comic book movie franchise so far.
They say villains have all the fun and these ones prove it with some unforgettably evil quotes on their wicked ways and their enormous egos. So sit in your most nefarious-looking spinning chair and place your finger tips together into the pyramid of evil; here are our picks for the ten best villain quotes of the DCEU.
“I’ve got it! And, if it’s what I think, it’s going to be… terrible.”
Elena Anaya’s take on the long-running DC comics villain Doctor Poison was like something ripped straight out of the darker moments of a Harry Potter movie. The disfigured chemical weapons designer speaks with a serpentine rasp to her voice due to the damage to one side of her face, which serves to make her all the more mysterious.
The line comes about as the result of a villainous eureka moment as she advances in her designs for a new gas-based weapon. All of the darkness in her character adding a perfect counterbalance to Wonder Woman’s generally campier, more tongue-in-cheek, dialogue.
“So, let’s you and I remind them. Shall we?”
“Your men are weak, complacent. You’ve let them forget that an attack can happen at any time, from any quarter! So, let’s you and I remind them. Shall we?”
Anaya’s Doctor Poison spends the movie in the employ of Danny Huston’s even more over-the-top villain, General Erich Ludendorff. Based on an actual German general from World War One, Huston’s take on the character is a lot more cartoon than portrait and that serves to give Wonder Woman another source of much needed levity. The line comes as Ludendorff expresses his dissatisfaction at his captain’s protestations concerning overwork of the men and then mortally shoots the captain.
“So, you have the blood of the Old Gods in you. The Old Gods died.”
Even die hard fans of Justice League still grapple with their feelings over how Steppenwolf turned out in the movie. Many lament a seemingly toned-down design but, underneath it, there still beats the cold heart of a true comic book villain. He doesn’t just like to be in conflict with the heroes, he likes to taunt them too.
This particular taunt is to Wonder Woman during an extended one-on-one fight and just after an already-effective provocation of her rage: “Child, my axe is still slick with the blood of your sisters.”
“And now God is good as dead.”
So many things polarize so many people when it comes to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. No piece of scenery is safe from the jaws of Jesse Eisenberg when he’s on screen as legendary comic book villain Lex Luthor. Some people found it a tough Jolly Rancher to swallow but, to many fans, his performance makes the movie.
Unarguably, there is nothing redeemable or dignified or cool about Luthor as a character, he is simply an ill man with considerably too much power. His master plan is simply to create chaos and he achieves it in the creation of the mindless monster Doomsday, who he heralds in a typically dramatic style.
“I’ll make you a deal. I won’t tell you how to captain... And you don’t tell me how to pirate.”
Of the many, many missions that Aquaman sets itself – and succeeds in – one of the most crucial is establishing Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s classic arch-nemesis Black Manta as a villain fans will want to see return. His introduction has to be memorable, therefore.
His first line in the DCEU is a top-shelf piece of villain banter. After successfully seizing control of a Russian military submarine, he addresses its defiant captain. Offering him the free advice before immediately stabbing him with a retractable sword on his arm. Ruthless from the word go and welcome back on our screens any time he likes.
“Nice trick. Catchy. One simple word. I have a better trick. Four simple words. Kill the little girl.”
Mark Strong’s second stab at a DC comics villain looks to have the legs that his turn as Sinestro never did. Doctor Thaddeus Sivana has no real overall goal in the movie, but his motivations might be the most understandable, maybe even relatable, of the DCEU villains so far.
Sivana is effectively played as a stereotypical outcast who lusts for power. That simple desire, though, causes him to justify some hardcore villainy. He murders his own father and brother earlier in the movie, so using the life of a little girl for leverage in a fight never seems like a bluff for him.
“By bloodshed do the gods make known their will.”
One of the most successful qualities of Aquaman is its ability to reconcile the DCEU experience for a more happy-go-lucky kind of audience without actually sacrificing any of the groundwork laid out by founding producers Zack and Deborah Snyder. Though jovial and very brightly lit, Aquaman stays true to the horror roots of the DCEU and the theatrical, operatic nature of its main conflicts and villains.
Patrick Wilson puts his impressive set of pipes to good use as one of the DCEU’s most memorable villains to date. Orm Marius riles up his home crowd for his gladiator match against his half-brother, Arthur Curry, with this poetic battle cry. But not before bellowing out some sustained notes of excitement to the arena.
“At last, one that doesn’t whine. But you will scream.”
One of Steppenwolf’s best qualities as a villain is how blasé he is to everything around him. Shoot a rocket at him, he’ll grab it out of the air and just hold onto it while he regards how pathetic you seem to him. Shoot an arrow at his head and he’ll just flick it away with one finger, like it’s a lazy fly.
As he interrogates a group of hostages for the location of one of his Mother Boxes, he casually remarks on how everyone keeps telling him they have families as they beg for their lives. When he encounters some fight in Cyborg’s father, Silas Stone, he almost seems momentarily impressed. But that means little to an intergalactic killing machine.
“...I will rebuild Krypton atop his bones.”
Man of Steel really is a movie that you’re either on board with or not. Batman v Superman divided opinion even among people who both did and didn’t like it, but Zack Snyder’s vision for Superman's origins was a little more unambiguous. Watching Superman drown in an ocean of human skulls is something you’re either going to find very entertaining or just plain perplexing. The same extends to Michael Shannon’s very dour General Zod, who finishes his long-running debate with the ghost of Superman’s father with a typically brutish closing statement.
“Tell me. You have Jor-El’s memories, his conscience. Can you experience his pain? I will harvest the codex from your son’s corpse and I will rebuild Krypton atop his bones.”
“I name the gods, Doctor. Not the other way around.”
There were so many moments of joy to be found in Shazam! but, for many people, the best was saved pretty much for last as fan favorite villain Mister Mind makes a full appearance in the mid-credits scene after a brief cameo at the beginning of the movie.
Doctor Sivana, now imprisoned and depowered, desperately seeks a way to regain some magic by frantically scrawling symbols on the walls of his cell. He’s then greeted by an amused Mister Mind – who is so delightfully evil that, instead of just laughing, he actually says the words “Mwuhahahaha” out loud – as Sivana exclaims “What in god’s name?” Prompting Mister Mind’s all-time great response.