Classic Villain / Anime & Manga

• Szilard Quates from Baccano! represents Gluttony and Ambition, with healthy doses of Wrath. One of the original immortals aboard the Advena Avis in 1711, Szilard became a Mad Scientist when he started "devouring" other immortals, which fueled his lust for perfect knowledge. During that time, he earned a personal grudge with Maiza Avaro due to Maiza rejecting his plans to share the secret of immortality with the world. Whenever he tries to get something he wants, he puts on a polite facade to people he wishes to gain something from; otherwise, he's a sour, impatient old man until something turns in his favor. In the Rolling Bootlegs arc, he suffers a Rasputinian Death through getting mulched by Tommy gun fire, run over by a car, backstabbed, set on fire, his arm sliced in half, and finally consumed by Firo—whom Szilard's creation Ennis taught the method of killing other immortals.
• Berserk: Griffith is Pride, Greed, Ambition and Wrath. Standing in stark contrast with Guts being a dark badass brooding warrior and hero, Griffith is a seemingly affable political savvy and ambitious leader of the Band of the Hawks. Griffith desires above all else to have his own kingdom at all costs and is constantly motivated by climbing a political later; so much so that when Gut leaves the hand of the Hawks, he attempts to murder him on the spot and after seeing the Hawks don't need him, when offered his own kingdom by the four members of the God Hand, Griffith doesn't even blink at sacrificing his entire army to be slaughtered by demons and whilst raping Casca to spite her and Guts' relationship.
• Death Note: Light Yagami. Vice: Pride and Wrath. With the Death Note in hand, Light seeks to become the God of a new world cleansed of evil. As if having a God Complex wasn't enough, Light is so egotistical that he can't handle any insults against him — especially suggestions or accusations of him and his actions being wrong or evil — and is so confident in his own righteousness, that his idea of "evil" is anyone and everyone who gets in his way, and Light sees fit to murder thousands to prove his worth as a god. In spite of his handsome appearance, seemingly well-adjusted demeanor and sharp intelligence, Light is absolutely the villain of the story. By the end of the story, Light's pride has gotten so out of control that he can't even fathom the idea of any of his schemes failing. Light's rival L, by contrast, has a dark creepy appearance, eccentric demeanor, is a detective seeking to expose Light and bring him to justice, and is the Hero Antagonist. In the end, Light is undone when he fails to account for his follower Mikami's action, and has his own name written in the Death Note by Ryuk, dying like everyone he's ever killed.
• Frieza from Dragon Ball Z. Ambition, Pride and Wrath. Visually and physically, Frieza is the polar opposite of Goku. Goku values and cares for life while Frieza has zero regard for life, not even the lives of his own men. Goku loves and cares for other people while Frieza is driven by hatred and apathy, and is one of the absolute worst sadists of the entire series.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Father Cornello, ironically. Ambition (planned to use the deceived "followers of the Church of Leto" to destroy Amestris), and in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), is visually different (pure white skin compared to the dark-skinned Reoleians). A majority of the underling Deadly Sins fit the bill as well, having the personality of their eponymous sin, as well as having a visual difference to the normal citizens.
  • Father (Ambition and Pride) is everything that the series stands against. He claims to have gotten rid of all his sins by creating the Homunculi, but all seven of the deadly sins are still present in him to some degree. He is glowing with light like god, but his true form is a dark, shadowy creature with eyes all over him. His goal is to make himself perfect at the cost of others while the Elric Brothers seek to help those in need more than achieving their own goals.
  • Dante from the 2003 anime series represents Greed and Pride.
• Hellsing: The Major is a Wrath and Pride villain. The Major has no motive for his crimes beyond his love for war, nor goals beyond wanton death and destruction. He nothing sort of gleeful during his attack on London, watching his enemies, allies and innocent civilians being indiscriminately slaughtered. The Major stands in stark contrast with Alucard, the former being a seemingly jovial case of Light Is Not Good in his outfit and seemingly a mere human, where as Alucard where's dark clothes and red and is a case of Dark Is Not Evil. The Major despises anything not like himself, notably Alucard for not being human, before it's revealed that the Major is a cyborg. Despite Alucard showing humanity that the Major never had, even during his cyborg reveal and all the crimes he committed, still has the gall to proclaim his humanity against Alucard, despite being exactly what he accuses Alucard of; a creature wearing a human guise.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Dio Brando, the Joestar Family's most persistent foe, is Pride and Ambition personified. He desires nothing more to stand above all others, be it through money and political standing or, once turning into a vampire, pure strength, no matter how many times he has to Kick the Dog along the way or how theatrical he has to be in the process. In Part 1 he dresses in black and red clothes, sits on his throne in a castle surrounded by his inhuman slaves, and is constantly scheming on how get the upper hand on Jonathan. He also has a whopping four climactic battles against JoJo — Once in Jonathan's manor soon after becoming a vampire, another one in his castle at Windknight's Lot, another one in an exploding ship that results in Jonathan's death and one in Egypt one hundred years after Jonathan's death. He also acts as a Greater-Scope Villain to most Parts in the franchise, either through direct or indirect influence, such as influencing Pucci's desire to reset the universe and achieve Heaven.
  • Yoshikage Kira represents Sloth, Lust and Pride. While he's a brilliant man of many talents and is capable of being a loving husband should he ever get married, he chooses not to stand out because he prefers a quiet life. However, he has an erotic fascination for women's hands so strong that when he gained Killer Queen, he used it to kill his victims and cover up his tracks more efficiently. But his sociopathy and perfect, unbroken kill streak caused him to believe he was favored by fate, and thus became complacent enough to use the same tactics he used as a Serial Killer against the heroes when they started a manhunt for him. Even when his very life was threatened, he doesn't think to gain new skills or use Killer Queen more creatively. Naturally, his overconfidence and stagnant mindset leads to him dying in a gruesomely karmic way, and his Fate Worse than Death involves not only losing Killer Queen, but also having to spend his postmortem life as a ghost constantly under threat by other spiritual entities.
• Nightmare from Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. Sloth, Wrath, Ambition. For the sloth part, he's generally a laid-back sort of tyrant who prefers to kick back and amuse himself with watching the progress of current events. For the wrath part, he enjoys watching others get angry because this anger eventually leads them to be consumed by hatred, which is what he loves. This often gives him a perfect opportunity to use the terrible things they do due to their anger to his advantage by turning them into Demon Beasts/monsters. And for the ambition part, he wants to take over the galaxy by having his Demon Beasts/monsters go down to planets to conquer them. Despite his laziness, he has quite a knack for trickery and deceit, and can absorb attacks into his cape (which is also invulnerable until opened up in the games), making him somewhat of an Invincible Villain, but not without good reason - he's really just a bad dream, meaning he can never be killed and will always come back As Long as There Is Evil. It turns out that in addition to only being able to be bested in someone else's dreams, he is actually afraid of his one and only weakness, the Star Rod.
• Little Witch Academia (2017): Croix Meridies represents Ambition, Pride and Envy. Her appearance is different from the other teachers at Luna Nova Academy who wear Robe and Wizard Hat. She pretends to be friendly with The Hero Akko to further her own ends. She's the complete opposite to Akko: Where as she is young, untalented, impulsive, and selfless and wants to become the best witch For Happiness, Croix is older, talented, calculating, and selfish and wants to become the greatest witch for the sake of it.
• Kaguya Ootsutsuki from Naruto. Greed and Gluttony. She contrasts the very much human looking protagonists by being a Horned Humanoid with three eyes. Also, unlike the more nuanced villains previously, Kaguya has rather simplistic motivations: absorb all chakra from the world back into her being.
• The Baron from Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror. Greed and Gluttony. He appears to be wealthy and elegant, but on the inside, he's just a simple creature who likes stealing things. When Haruka's mirror was brought to Oblivion Island, he made the residents think it was stolen from him by bandits just so he could plan to steal that mirror and build a better island. He has a huge fascination with mirrors, and frequently adds them to his collection without sharing with anyone. He was eventually done in when his collection of mirrors collapsed as Haruka and Teo attempted to grab the mirror back from him. While they were successful, the Baron was reduced to a cowardly pig-like creature that he was underneath his robes all along.
• Sailor Moon: Every Big Bad, in different flavors.
  • Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom (a Yandere witch who made a Deal with the Devil) is Lust and Envy.
  • Prince Demande and Wiseman/Death Phantom (a ruthless Omnicidal Maniac who manipulates Puppet King Demande) of the Black Moon Clan is Ambition and Wrath.
  • Mistress 9 of Death Busters (The Antichrist with a love of possessing others) is Ambition and Pride.
  • Zirconia and Queen Nehellena of Dead Moon Circus (A Straw Nihilist who hates everyone and wants to destroy everyone who's happier than her) is Envy and Wrath.
  • Sailor Galaxia of Shadow Galaxia (The Fallen Heroine who now seeks to end all of creation) is Wrath and Pride.
• My Hero Academia: All for One is pretty much a classic comic book supervillain, which makes sense given the overall western nature of series. Every other villain has some personal code or ideal they follow that motivates their villainous actions, but All for One stands out as the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire narrative, as his it was his actions that drive the plot from before the series even started. Establishing himself as a Dark Messiah who brought salvation to those who sought him out, he ruled Japan's criminal underworld for decades and stamped out any threat to his empire. Even after being defeated and incarcerated in prison, his presence is still largely felt throughout the entire story.

---