Dracula's return in Johnny Alucard. He saunters in and takes back his title of King of Vampires by effortlessly crushing his rivals, laughs off an assassination attempt, gets his entire entourage back and does it all while dressed in a stylish suit.
Princess Christina Light is a seductive, intelligent vampire with cool light-based powers who manages to both outpower and outsmart her foes. She even comes close to gaining godhood.
Played With: When he hears about this, the protagonist of the story remarks about how awesome it is, to which his companion responds:
Garovel: ‘...You did hear the part about genocide and him being a member of Abolish, right?’ Hector: ‘Oh, yeah... F—k, man, why couldn’t he be a good guy?’
This has notoriously been the biggest problem with John Milton's Paradise Lost. Satan is, in fact, so much more interesting to read about than God or Christ (except when the latter gets into His chariot) that William Blake thought Milton was "of the Devil's party without knowing it." The immense Misaimed Fandom hasn't helped. Even though what looked like it was going to be an awesome battle scene over Earth turned into Satan running away after realizing that he's not cool anymore, which the sneering angels already knew, and the rest of the story after that shows him being humiliated worse until he wins with Eve. From there the narrative loses interest in him, for the most part. He's still falling the whole time. But who gets past the first couple of books, anyway?
Claudius the God is the story of Emperor Claudius, portrayed as a decent and honorable man thrust unwillingly into a position of ultimate power. I, Claudius chronicles the reigns of Augustus (and his wife Livia), Tiberius, and Caligula. Guess which one is the most fun read? In case you need a hint: one chapter of Claudius the God is devoted to the protagonist's visit to the doctor.
Averted In-Universe in Protector of the Small, quite deliberately. Kel is disappointed that Blayce is not some grand wizard, and instead, just a short and ugly wimp. His muscle isn't too impressive either.
Haroun and the Sea Of Stories averts and references this. The villains are the enemies of all stories - therefore, they despise anything that looks interesting or impressive. The Big Bad, Katham-Shud, even turns into a dramatic Eldritch AbominationOne-Winged Angel form for all of a second just to contrast this trope to his weaselly, unimpressive self.
Stephen King reportedly hates this idea, and his later works try to send the message that "evil is pathetic". This is probably why the villains from his The Dark Tower series suffered severeVillain Decay in the last book.
The (extremely fangirled) white haired Pollution is VERY MUCH Evil Is Cool. And hot.
All of the Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse fall under this trope, as the parts featuring one or all of them are easily the coolest and most awesome parts of the book.
The Demon Crowley tries to invoke it as well, with his Cool Shades, expensive black Cool Car, fashionable apartment, an attitude ' so laid back you could put a carpet on it' and modernized approach to spreading sin. However, it's clear that he's not nearly as evil or as cool as he likes to act.
Harry Potter: Lord Voldemort is one of the most powerful and cunning characters in the series and has a kickass army of Dark wizards and various sinister creatures at his disposal.
In the Inheritance Cycle, Murtagh does a Face–Heel Turn and get his strength boosted to many times his original level by being taught "secret magic" by Galbatorix. He is considered an Ensemble Dark Horse by many, especially in comparison to Eragon.
Among the Redwall fandom, many of the villains in the series range from Hate Sink types to just plain old scrappies, but some do earn their stripes:
Cluny the Scourge, the OG Big Bad. Unlike most that came after, Cluny is both a cunning strategist and a vicious warrior who's not afraid to get his paws dirty, giving Matthias one heck of a climactic duel. He also remains a credible threat all the way through and remains the only one to have conquered Redwall in any way, shape or form, showing that his fearsome reputation is well-earned.
General Ironbeak from Mattimeo is the fiercest fighter in all the northlands, and also incredibly clever. To the point that of all Redwall villains, he’s come the closest to capturing the abbey. Wayne Best’s performance for him in the TV series is particularly memorable.
Plugg Firetail, often agreed to be one of the few redeemable characters from the widely-loathed Triss, stands apart from the ineffectual Big Bad Princess Kurda as a charismatic and cool-looking fox who also holds the unique distinction of being one of the very few Benevolent Boss-types in the series. Makes it doubly painful he's killed off in an anticlimactic manner, with even his own crew mourning him.
Ferahgo the Assassin, Big Bad of Salamandastron, is one of the most effective, brilliant, and stylish villains in the entire series, effortlessly evading his treacherous minions' attempts to kill him after he's been horribly burned alive and killing them without ever breaking his stride. His death counts, too; Ferahgo faces down a Bloodwrath-afflicted Badger Lord barrelling straight towards him and manages to slay him in a Mutual Kill in the story's climax.
Zwilt the Shade from The Sable Quean, is one of the most fondly remembered villains of the series' later run for being a cool, cunning sable who also manages to put up a legitimate fight in comparison to the legion of villains in the series who serve as an Anti-Climax Boss (or suffer Death by Falling Over — including the titular Sable Quean herself, who tries and falls on her own poisoned dagger.)
Slagar the Cruel qualifies more under Love to Hate in the book version of Mattimeo—he's one of the most cunning villains in the series, but that still leaves him a high-functioning Smug Snake at best—but the animated TV series has him voiced by Tim Curry, injecting the character with his natural charisma and making for one hell of a memorable villain for the second season.
Treasure Island: Long John Silver is one of the most iconic villains in literature and is well-known for his charisma and amiable personality. A good deal of the book hypes up how cool, intelligent, and badass Silver is, even in comparison to the heroes we’re allegedly supposed to be rooting for, and he gets away with everything at the end. It's been speculated that Robert Louis Stevenson may have deliberately invoked this both with Silver and Blind Pew, as he himself was a physically frail man, so he may have had some inspiration to create villains who were a threat in spite of their impairments.
One of the most memorable characters in military science fiction Victoria is the honorable Nazi officer Captain Halsing, who is well-groomed, handsome, polite and generally Affably Evil, as well as a sort of existentialist amateur philosopher in a way that both defies Nazi stereotypes and plays them straight. He is also an elite light infantry operator, probably the story's single most competent and determined fighter, and further the only villain who gets to argue somewhat effectively against the main characters' libertarian beliefs and (sort of) get away with it. He fights for a totalitarian fascist regime, and is totally unapologetic about it, but the guy himself is way cool.
Bobby Cross of Ghost Roads, despite being an irredeemable and thoroughly evil villain is extremely charismatic and charming. Bobby oozes style with much gusto and for an added bonus, Bobby has a classic and cool car that he drives around in for his plans.
InCryptid: A decent number of villains are able to achieve this by virtue of being badass but special mention goes to:
Cooper, from Pocket Apocalypse, due to being Affably Evil, The Chessmaster as well as being an Awesome Aussiewerewolf and putting up a pretty good fight against Alex.
Leo Cunningham, from Magic for Nothing of the Covenant of St. George because of his intelligence and bravery as well as being one of the more nobler antagonists.
The Lowry Cabal, from Tricks for Free, for being a gang of evil sorcerers with a cool range of abilities and powers that prove them, formidable opponents.
Angelmaker: Shem Shem Tsiem aka the Opium Khan is a sadistic monster but damn if he isn't still a total badass. Shem Shem Tsiem is wickedly intelligent, highly charismatic and to top it all off, he's perfectly fine with fighting toe to toe with someone just on his own.
The Dresden Files: The series has quite a few badass and charismatic villains:
"Gentleman Johnny" Marcone is the ruling Mob boss of Chicago who brought Chicago's underworld under his control through sheer determination and intelligent planning. Hes also a Badass Normal whose shown to be able to go toe-to-toe with supernatural foes and is an Affably EvilNoble Demon on top of that.
Lara Raith is the true leader of the White Court after having usurped her father. She mixes being an intelligent and charismatic foe with genuinely formidable fighting ability to the point of being able to decimate opponents.
Mab, Queen of Darkness and Air is the ruler of the Winter Court and one of the most powerful beings in the Dresden-verse. Mab is very cunning and intelligent in her plans to the point where she is one of the few foes of Harry to actually outsmart him.
Nicodemus Acherlone is one of Harry's most vicious and crafty foes. Nicodemus is also a charismatic Soft-Spoken Sadist who is also really good at playing the Xanatos Speed Chess. He is remorselessly evil but oddly compelling to read about.
Cowl is Harry's Evil Counterpart and a Wicked Cultured opponent. Cowl makes his debut by effortlessly flipping away a car that was sent to him and is very cool with all of his sophistication and intelligence.
Victor Vale is an expert planner and mastermind who wears cool, black clothes and has an calm, eerily polite demeanor. Victor also has the amazingly terrifying ability to induce pain in his opponents and is a true One-Man Army.
Eli Cardale is a religious Serial Killer dedicated to wiping out other people with abilities (EO's) but he also is very charismatic and can snark very well. Eli's power to heal any injury makes him near unstoppable and virtually immortal.
Nevermoor: Ezra Squall is a murderous psychopath, but he's incredibly intelligent, is self-aware, has supernatural powers that make him virtually undefeatable in a straight fight, and displays a level of Hidden Depths and nuance that elevates him above the average Card-Carrying Villain. He's also an expert at playing the long game and making virtually any situation work for him. Many fans Love to Hate him, while others simply love him, but either way, he's easily one of the more popular and most talked-about characters in the books.
The Cenobites from The Hellbound Heart. The Cenobites are the most famous examples in Barker's oeuvre, being horrible S&M demons who nonetheless come across as Wicked Cultured and pull an awesome Villainous Rescue at the end.
Darth Bane from Darth Bane. His victory is what ultimately leads to the rise of Darth Sidious and the entire Skywalker Saga playing out, so it would already be easy to root for him...but he does so with such style, power, intellect, and brutality that he's surprisingly engaging.——
