On-screen villains are meant to be despised, but to mobilize the forces of evil, the baddies quite often need to be effective managers to their minions. Some of the most iconic on-screen villains who happen to be formidable managers and leaders are listed below:
The Joker (The Dark Knight): The Joker as depicted in the Dark Knight follows the Laissez-Faire style of leadership, with no concern for his followers and a tendency to thrive in chaos. While most sane folks would never want to count themselves among his followers, it is hard to argue that he doesn’t get the job (however evil it may be) done. Moreover, the fact that he is able to attract loyal followers while acting insane in a clown outfit speaks to his charisma.
Russell Bell (The Wire): With the attitude of a gangster and the acumen of a savvy businessman, Russell ‘Stringer’ Bell is another cold, hard and manipulative leader deserving of being counted among the great villains of TV. Unlike most of the other characters in this list, Stringer does strive for academic knowledge about management and leadership, even going to Community college to hone his craft, and tries to get into the legitimate side of things by investing in property and construction. To look like a legit manager, Stringer goes as far as dressing up in sharp suits among the hard-core gangsters of Baltimore city, quipping on one instance, “Look the part, be the part mother***er” to his partner when asked about the unconventional dressing choice.
Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe): With the ability to inspire unwavering devotion among his followers and an intriguing worldview and overarching mission, Thanos can be seen as a highly charismatic and potent leader, who ends up achieving his goal even with the earth’s mightiest heroes trying their best to contain him. So, when the question of successfulness at the end of a story comes to mind, he is one rare bad dude who was able to pull off his evil objective.
Anthony ‘Tony’ Soprano (The Sopranos): With an iron will, cold ruthlessness and emotional instability, ‘Tone’ might not be the ideal leader, but he’s certainly effective at what he does. This fact is reiterated time and again in the cult classic TV series ‘The Sopranos’ as we traverse the gritty and unforgiving world of the modern-day mafia in New Jersey, with plenty of instances where said protagonist’s judgments regarding organizational matters, such as whom to “whack” (i.e. to dispose of), to promote or to side-line are depicted as potent, if at times, messy.
Darth Vader (Star Wars): Arguably the most iconic villain ever, the antagonist of the original Star Wars series is an almost immaculate strategist and project manager, from crushing rebel uprisings to building planet-sized weapons of mass destruction, the man can do it all. Doesn’t matter that almost all of it was achieved through terror and grade-A coercion, he got what he needed from his underlings without fail.
Vito and Michael Corleone (The Godfather Series): The archetypical Italian-American crime family, The Corleones have had a massive impact on the image of the mafia as an organized, unforgivingly brutal and somehow still alluring force, with the two patriarchs, Vito and then Michael portrayed as ultimate anti-heroes whom we love even though they are as ruthless and vicious as can be. The management required by the two protagonists to handle such a large army of wise guys, (which reaches conglomerate levels in terms of complexity and size under Michael) is appreciable, especially the strategies devised by Michael Corleone to “deal” with rivals throughout the series reveal a master tactician at work.
Lord Voldemort (The Harry Potter series): Another highly charismatic leader, the character of Lord Voldemort is seemingly inspired by Adolf Hitler, with a hatred for people of “inferior” blood, and a vision of uniting his world under his rule, the one who must not be named might be deemed pure evil by most, but hey, no one can say he’s not an effective manager. From humble roots, growing up in an orphanage, he rose up to amass requisite skills and a big enough base of rabidly devoted followers to trigger a civil war in the wizarding world, cold-blooded Nazi-Warlock or not, that remains an enviable achievement.