Science fiction is one of those movie genres that constantly asks the viewer to think in terms of the possible, imagining futures and spaces that could never exist in the world as it is today.
While the genre often focuses on ideas and big issues, it is also a genre that frequently creates compelling villains, often beings or entities that resist classification and which therefore force humans to think critically, and sometimes uncomfortably, about their place in the world and just how much power or mastery they really have. Sometimes, nature and technology have a way of taking over.
Dren - Splice
Splice is a fascinating science fiction movie in large part because it takes a hard look at human hubris and the seemingly perpetual problem of trying to play God. What largely goes unrecognized, however, is just how fascinating this movie’s villain, the chimera Dren, really is. This being is a result of humans and their attempts to control the natural world but, as so often happens, she shows that such control is always fated to be an illusion and that humanity pays the price when it forgets this central fact.
Immortan Joe - Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best post-apocalyptic movies and a great science fiction tale. While much of the praise deservedly goes to Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, a significant part of its appeal also stems from its central villain, Immortan Joe. He’s brutal and cruel, and rules his domains - and his wives - with an iron fist. However, what makes him so compelling is that the movie doesn’t really give a great deal of detail about him or his origins, and this also serves to make him all the more frightening.
Lamar Burgess - Minority Report
Steven Spielberg has made many great movies, of which Minority Report is certainly one. It’s a science fiction movie that asks the tough questions, especially about the nature of crime and how far people and societies are willing to go in order to protect themselves. However, its villain is arguably its finest feature, and Max von Sydow brings a stately grace and almost casual cruelty to Lamar Burgess, the cunning and subtle Director of the Precrime service that will do anything to protect it.
The Shimmer - Annihilation
Annihilation is one of the more under-appreciated science fiction movies of the last few decades, and that’s unfortunate. It’s the type of science fiction movie that combines thought-provoking ruminations about humanity with body horror. However, what allows the movie to really excel is its villain, the alien presence known as the Shimmer. This entity is so powerful that it literally rearranges any DNA it encounters, creating whole new creatures and modes of experience, some of which are as disturbing as they are beautiful.
Ultron - Avengers: Age Of Ultron
In some ways, Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the more under-celebrated of the many movies in the MCU. One way that it really excels, though, is in its use of its villain, the sinister robot known as Ultron. Voiced as he is by the inimitable James Spader, this being exudes a sinister charisma that is hard to resist.
Just as importantly, however, this villain’s central belief - that humanity is pushing itself toward extinction anyway - is one that sounds disturbing and strange on the surface but makes more sense upon further reflection.
Walter Simmons - Godzilla Vs. Kong
Godzilla Vs. Kong, like many of the other monster movies in the MonsterVerse, has moments of both great beauty and also nonsensical storytelling. One aspect of the story that works very well, however, is its villain, Walter Simmons. In many ways, he is the typical science fiction villain, whose true purposes aren’t revealed for some time. Given how strange some of the other elements of the story can be, his subtle efforts to bring an end to the reign of the Titans is one of its strongest pieces and the one that makes the most sense within the already-established universe.
Alan Jonah - Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
Just as Walter Simmons is the high point of Godzilla Vs. Kong, so Alan Jonah is one of the best parts about Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Played by the powerful and imposing Charles Dance, he’s the sort of person that is frightening precisely because they seem to have given up all faith in humanity. It’s for this reason that his efforts to unleash the Titans upon the rest of the planet are so disturbing and at times true to life.
Colonel Koobus Venter - District 9
Like all of the best science fiction movies, District 9 asks some tough questions, many of which center around the issue of what constitutes personhood and who deserves rights and in what circumstances. However, what often goes underappreciated in discussions of the movie is its villain, Colonel Koobus Venter.
He is the embodiment of xenophobia and sadism, but it’s precisely his brutality that makes him such a fascianting character, showing as it does the depths to which humanity can sink when it gives into its baser instincts.
Amanda Waller - The Suicide Squad
The second Suicide Squad movie is very different than its predecessor, but it does still include one of the best things about the first, i.e. Amanda Waller. Viola Davis, who has been in some fantastic movies, brings her signature star power to this role, a woman who is so convinced of her own rightness and her vision of the world that she cannot bear to let anyone else have a say in how things are run. So great is Davis’ performance that one almost wants to see more of her.
Alpha Male - I Am Legend
The post-apocalyptic science fiction movie I Am Legend is one of several adaptations of the original novel, but it does some interesting things as a result of its central villain, the creature known simply as Alpha Male. While it would have been easy for the movie to paint him in a one-dimensional light, it instead goes to great lengths to show that, in fact, there is still a fundamental humanity inside of the mutants. Humans, the movie makes clear, don’t have a monopoly on personhood.