Villian preference: short tempered or calm under pressure

K

Kunmui

New member
What personalities do you prefer in a villain? Someone that is very direct, physically impossing and short tempered when things don't go his way, or someone that is very minipulative and rarely if ever loses his temper, and has an almost immediate contingensy plan after set backs?

In the same type question, you prefer a villain that physical imposing and relies more on brawn, or a villain that is normal size and relies more on brains?
 
I think in general, the cold, manipulative, and relatively average villain is the more endearing one.

That doesn't mean that a short-tempered villain can't be just as effective, but it's often only used for comic relief and nothing more. Someone who's quick to blow a fuse could be a lot more frightening.

One thing that annoys me about the more "thinking" villains tend to lose it anyway when facing their demise. It's as if they can't carry their dignity to their grave.
 
I like my calm villains destroyed in two ways:

1) Random event they couldn't possibly predict
2) Pure stubborness (Or HOT-BLOODED action, if you prefer)
 
There are a few that are both physical impossing, and a very clever and devious, like Megatron.

But I am taking those complete villains out of the equation, and just choosing one over the other.

Like a physical imposing and very direct with his action like Trigon, if things don't go his way loses it. Or a average looking, but devious and minipulate like Sosuke Aizen, who has yet to lose his cool.
 
The mastermind, but unfortunately most shows mishandle them and they lose through some blatant DEM or just lazy writing. However, in the very few shows that do manage to write a good mastermind with a well thought out downfall, it's the best.
 
The calm ones usually have a darker vibe in my opinion, particularly in Disney movies. (Ex: Maleficent, Jafar, Hades) The short tempered ones are ok, but they don't usually make for an interesting villain because their death's are much too obvious.
 
Jafar was only semi-calm, he was actually as high strung as Iago...and to quote him, "a moron" due to his being tricked at the end through his lust for power.
 
The ones with the short tempers usually are the ones that cause their own downfall. Look at Cobra Commander on the original G.I. Joe. His own temper and impatience pretty much screwed Cobra out of every victory, while the more level headed and calm Destro was usually the one who was bringing Cobra to near victory over the Joes before CC screwed up.
 
I think it depends. I know that I like villains that don't follow the stereotype of 'dark, angry' and are instead just wacky, insane, and looking for some sick, twisted fun in a criminal way.

Calm under pressure is intriguing, notably in the cases if the villain happens to be a very calm, quiet intellectual who may not even realize that what he's doing is wrong. Short tempered is amusing though, and not surprising if their evil doings are intentional vengeance.
 
Short tempered villians tend to do better for comedic reasons, while calm and cool villians tend to work better in a more dramatic atmosphere. I tend to grow more towards short-tempered villians but it really just depends what type of show the villian's in.
 
For me it would all be reletive to the situation and the story being told. I like both kinds of villains, but if I had to choose between the two choices then I would go with cool, calm and collected but there are times when a crazy out of line ballistic villain is called for. A villain I have always liked was Magneto from X-Men TAS, he was physically imposing and crazy at times and yet he could keep his composure and hold conversation when he needed to, so he would be one of my favorite villains in animation history.
 
Actually, in the original conception of both characters, Jafar was going to be the high-strung, obnoxious one, and Iago was going to be the cool scheming "brains" of the duo, but they wisely switched their personalities to make Jafar more threatening.
 
Calm implies security in oneself, what one's doing, etc. But I think short-tempered can work if the villain's powerful enough. Also, there's being calm because you're deluded- out of your league-etc.
 
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