For years, film and TV writers made gay men the antagonists of their storylines, so much so that the website TV Tropes has a listing for the “Sissy Villain,” a man “whose heart is as twisted as his wrist is limp.”
In the 2014 documentary Do I Sound Gay?, filmmaker David Thorpe included a supercut of these characters. “Films need villains,” Thorpe told VICE in 2015, “and for a very long time, the effete, aristocratic, effeminate man was the villain.”
But effeminate men no longer corner the market on LGBTQ villainy, and LGBTQ audiences have grown to appreciate queer and trans evildoers on screen or on the page.
A recent thread in the r/lgbt subreddit was devoted to the best LGBTQ villains of all time, and here are some of the baddies users raved about.
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HIM from The Powerpuff Girls
“HIM was so cool. As a kid, I was very ‘I only like the good guys because being evil is bad’ but HIM was one of two characters I made an exception for.”
“He’s so hot. And I am a lesbian.”
Scar from The Lion King
“That’s exactly who I came to say.”
“Jafar was the poor man’s Scar.”
Lestat de Lioncourt from Interview with the Vampire
“Basically all evil gay men with vanity and existential crisis.”
“Lestaaaaaaaat! What a legend.”
Ursula from The Little Mermaid
“Her villain song is a great take on classic drag theater, written by gay writers.”
“She made me gay.”
Clay Puppington from Moral Orel
“Great antagonist from a great show. He is meant to be bisexual.”
“He is a great antagonist, a person torn by abuse and hiding his sexuality. He channels this into harm of his kids. He is not just evil for the lulz but a reminder of the generational trauma some experience.”
Team Rocket from the Pokémon franchise
“I know it’s not technically canon, but they are both 100% bi.”
“Not sure exactly what flavor, but there’s definitely something queer AF going on there.”
“If anyone ever asks what a queerplatonic partnership is, I just say, ‘Team Rocket.’”
DIO from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
“The energy he gives off is amazing, and the fact he’s canonically bi is great.”
“This man is too chaotic to not be bi.”
Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
“Gus Fring is the obvious answer.”
“Been getting into Breaking Bad lately, and I agree with this statement.”
Catra from She-Ra: Princess of Power
“Certainly my pick. Her villainy, while inexcusable (by my metric, though I’m less noble than the Etherian princesses), is understandable.”
“1000% Catra. I had some major feels watching that show.”
“Catra is the perfect answer. Absolutely steals the show the whole series.”
bachy
Films featuring mysterious LGBTQ killers are among my favorite thrillers: I get a weirdly vicarious charge, which may be based on a buried thirst for revenge. What I cannot stomach are films which feature LGBTQ characters as the victims of murder. No no no no no. No way, I’m not sitting through that! A couple of favorites:
1. Brian de Palma’s Dressed to Kill (1980)
2. Enduring Love (2004), starring Daniel Craig and based on a novel by Ian McEwan
3. All Good Things (2010) starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella
4. Rope (1948) directed by Alfred Hitchc0ck
5. Law of Desire (1987) directed by Pedro Almodovar
6. The cabal of high-class gays in White Lotus (2022)
There are more but I can’t think of them at the moment…
bachy
I believe that the effete, aristocratic, effeminate man as villain trope is not so much based on mistrust of gays as it is based on cultural rejection of the powerful aristocrats who ruled the world before democracy was sufficiently established. Prior to historic events like the French Revolution, the American Revolution and the abolishment of slavery, we were all pretty much subject to the cruel whims of effete, aristocratic, effeminate men, i.e., men born into inherited money and power.
It’s also why, in the US, the unremarkable, working-class, “regular guy” is lionized while the gentlemanly, highly educated, “elitist” is suspect. It’s an unfortunate by-product of democratic values.
scotty
agent smith.
skeldare
Most of these are just queer coded villains
Joshua333
DIO is canonically Bi.