Evil Is Cool - Television Tropes & Idioms

It's good to be bad.

There is a reason actors fight for the chance to play the bad guy. The lines are great, the costumes are great, the songs are spectacular, and they don't have to spend the whole shoot pretending they are nicer than anyone they ever met. Even the minions get cool outfits. And the boss, well...

Plus, there are all those wonderful toys!

Why is all that true? Why does the bad guy get all the cool stuff? Because you don't have a story unless you have conflict. The bad guy — in most cases — is the conflict. The more interesting the conflict, the more interesting the story. It really is that simple.

Plus, there are all those marvelous toys! Wait. Already said that.

Can lead to Draco In Leather Pants and All Girls Want Bad Boys. Complements Good Is Dumb. One of the reasons Evil Feels Good and Tastes Good. Evil Is Sexy is a subtrope of this. The Villain Protagonist wouldn't exist if not for this trope, nor would the Heroic Sociopath.

Not to be confused with Evil Is Deathly Cold, though they can overlap.

Compare Good Is Boring. Contrast This Is Your Brain On Evil. See also Balance Between Good And Evil. And ignore Good Feels Good, those traitors don't know what they're talking about. And those wonderful... Ahhh, forget it.

Examples

Anime

The Principality of Zeon in Mobile Suit Gundam. They have the fancy uniforms, scary Cyber Cyclops, and gained huge legions of fans in Japan and everywhere.
- Ali Al-Saachez is incredibly popular with the fans, despite being a Complete Monster. Why? Well, for the girls, there's his rugged good looks, and for the guys? Put simply, Ali is horribly evil...and he's made of awesome.
Played straight in X/1999 where the main villain turns from rather dorky to very cool.
Parodied in the Yu Gi Oh Abridged Movie, where Kaiba (the Anti-Hero) says to Yami (The Hero) during their duel "You're pathetic! No one cares about you! I'm the only reason people watch Yu-Gi-Oh. Me, Seto Kaiba! I have all the cool gadgets, I have all the best outfits, and I have the most powerful monsters. Nobody would be watching this movie right now if it weren't for me. So just this once I deserve to win."
Inverted in Pokemon: Jesse and James can't do anything evil right, but are highly useful when they're working with Ash.
- Played straight in "Training Daze",the japanese version atleast,where it is shown that James and Jessie were actually pretty cool.
Light Yagami from Death Note clearly fits.
In a similar vein, Lelouch.
In the Bad Future of Mahou Sensei Negima, Negi's students capture Takane D. Goodman and her posse, and (painlessly) Mind Probe them to know where Negi is imprisoned. This leads to the following exchange:
Asuna: "Don't we look like the bad-guys here?"
Haruna: "Bad-guys are cool!"
Sir Crocodile of One Piece pulls this off almost too well. By all intents and purposes, he is the prime example of a Complete Monster, with a list of atrocities that could fill a book. However, he commits his evil while dressed like a blinged-out mafia don, complete with a ring on almost every finger, and a pimpin' green fur coat. Not only that, but he controls an organization made up of Crazy Awesome Badasses, owns a casino, trots around with a scantily-clad hot chick as his #2, keeps incredibly dangerous predators as pets, the list goes on.

Comic Books

The Joker, in most incarnations. It doesn't matter whether he's a giggling, goofy, clown prince of crime (e.g. the 60's Batman television series), a mass-murdering sociopathic Monster Clown (e.g. The Dark Knight), or a seemingly impossibly mixture of the two (e.g. Batman The Animated Series) he will inevitably overshadow every other character, have all the best lines and, while Batman will always have the best toys (he's the goddamn Batman, after all), Joker will find the most creative and spectacular ways to use the tools at his disposal. No matter what he does or who he does it to, he will make you laugh, because of the simple fact that he's just that good.
In the Marvel Universe, Dr. Doom practically owns this trope. He's a science genius who wears a cloak and a suit of armour, rules his own country and lives in a castle.
Monsieur Choc, the main villain in the Tif Et Tondu Belgian comic book series. He is considered so cool that he is the reason the series became popular in the first place, and the recent re-releases deliberately put him as the focus on the covers and the stories chosen.
The title character of Lucifer is horrible, destructive person but (likely in reference to Paradise Lost below) is incredibly awesome all the same.

Film

Cesare. There's a reason that so many other characters - usually nicer ones - look like him.
Almost every Disney villain imaginable turns out to be cooler and much more lovable and funny than the protagonist.
- Hades from Hercules.
  - It really doesn't help that the rest of the pantheon is too stupid to realize his schemes. Also he seems to be the only person who wants to improve the pantheon. His way, of course.
- Jafar from Aladdin.
  - Don't forget Iago, one of the funniest characters in both the films and the tv series.
- Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove is arguably the most entertaining character (with the possible exception of Kronk) in the movie in her own right, completely setting aside the issue of the protagonist being less than likeable.
- Scar from The Lion King is this troper's personal favorite Disney character.
  - This troper was lectured by a Disney animator who said to always, always, always try and get rights to animate the villain, because they're a lot more fun than protagonists.
- Ursula from The Little Mermaid
- Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. No one overshadows their respective protagonist like Gaston.
And who could forget the sexy singing smog cloud that was Hexxus in Fern Gully (voiced by Tim Curry, no less)?
- Really any villain played or voiced by Tim Curry will shine so much that it can be almost dangerous in how awesome the bad guy turns out. Screw the protagonists, let's throw them in a death trap so we can hear the bad guy do that evil laugh again!
Subverted in Spider-Man 3: When he's possessed by the symbiote and 'evil', Peter Parker is still noticeably geeky and clueless — he's just now arrogant and obnoxious as well. Furthermore, the symbiote eventually merges with Eddie Brock, who is noticeably slimy, unctuous and creepy.
- Don't forget his hilariously awful Conor Oberst-like hairdo and his tendency towards violence. This troper was rolling in her seat with laughter, although it becomes unfunny when he hits Mary Jane in the bar.
Tai Lung of Kung Fu Panda, all the way.
- He's also the most sympathetic characters in the film.
Darryl Revok of Scanners. Bad, bad dude.
- Michael Ironside pretty much always invokes this trope, even when playing a nominally good guy.
A couple of examples from Star Wars:
- There are only two things in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace that are, without debate, universally considered awesome: ~~Duel of the Fates~~ New World Symphony and Darth Maul.
- In comic book/sci-fi conventions, most Star Wars fans will be in a Darth Vader costume. Or Boba Fett. And sometimes, an entire group dressed as Stormtroopers.
Applies to various evil monsters in the Godzilla movies, especially the Godzilla Final Wars version of Gigan that gets chainsaw hands for the final battle.'
- Also applies to Godzilla himself in the films where he is evil.

Literature

This has notoriously been the biggest problem with John Milton's Paradise Lost. Satan is in fact so much cooler than God and Christ (except when He gets into His chariot) that William Blake thought Milton was "of the Devil's party without knowing it."
- Somehow, the angels (especially Michael) end up the coolest of all.
Claudius the God is the story of Emperor Claudius, portrayed as a basically 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 more fun read?
Subverted in The Screwtape Letters. Devils are bureaucratic, cranky, selfish, killjoys who actively try and reduce the pleasure sinning gives people.

Live Action TV

In Family Matters, Steve Urkel's formula based off the "cool gene" transformed him into Stefan Urkél, who was suave but amoral. However, this was subverted in Stefan's next appearance, where Steve revealed that he'd accidentally involved the "evil gene" in the formula; from then on, Stefan was both cool and nice.
Rowan Atkinson once said in an interview about his Blackadder character in the British comedy series of the same name, "It's always more fun to play a villain. It's just a well-known fact."
For some reason, evil, batshit insane, brain-stealing villain Sylar from Heroes is a lot cooler than sane, geeky Sylar. Apparently, evil wears contacts.
- Ditching the specs (and also acquiring stubble) seems to be mandatory for characters taking a walk on the dark side. Consider Wesley from Angel: glasses on — the scholar and gentleman of the group. His attempts to be baddass are laughable. Glasses off — beds Lilah, keeps a woman tied up in his closet, breaks rogue Slayers out of jail and tortures junkies for information.
Also in the Buffy/Angel series' we have Spike who before he was turned into a vampire was laughed at and wrote "poncy poetry" where as when he is sired he becomes all bad ass

Professional Wrestling

Many professional wrestlers profess to enjoying playing a heel far more than playing a face. For some of them, this can bleed through into their performances, such that a wrestler who undergoes a Heel Face Turn actually loses popularity due to his lackluster performances afterwards.
A good heel turn can also pretty much save someone's career and end up making them a star after a disastrous or boring face run. See The Rock, Randy Orton, John Cena, and Santino Marella for prime examples of this in the past decade.

Theater

The Shakespearean characters every actor wants to play are his most notorious villains, Iago of Othello, and the titular Magnificent Bastard of Richard III. Similarly, every actress wants to be Lady Macbeth, his greatest villainess.
Despite the fact that The Phantom Of The Opera is an obsessive, controlling, homicidal, textbook 'bad boyfriend', he is inevitably the one the audience roots for. You'll have to scour through hundreds of Phantom/Christine Shipping Fan Fics to find one Raoul/Christine, and it's better than even money that actors would rather play the Phantom. Why? Raoul is a largely ineffective ponce; Erik drops chandeliers on people. Plus, in the case of the musical, he gets all of the cool songs. And a stylish black cape.

Video Games

Used quite a bit the Devil May Cry series. Dante's enemies (primarily his Evil Counterpart, his brother Vergil) are pretty darn cool, but Dante still generally mops the floor with them with style.
Arguably the point of games like Grand Theft Auto, Scarface: The World Is Yours and Evil Genius.
Also the point of Dungeon Keeper, where you are the Dark Lord who builds his eldritch underground kingdom and throws adventuring heroes in the torture chambers.
It is primarily for this reason that Knights Of The Old Republic and similar games have an evil option. KOTOR is further helped in this regard, since Star Wars villains are generally among the most Bad Ass characters in all of fiction.
- This is acknowledged in the second game, where the opening screen shows one of the various Sith Lords of the game. Go bad enough, and your character will replace them after you complete the game.
Also from Star Wars, Star Wars Battlefront II has you playing as the 501st Legion in the "Rise of the Empire" story mode. needless to say, after the evil empire rises and the 501st becomes evil, they're still awesome.
- Another Star Wars example: TIE Fighter. Darth Vader is your wingman. That is all.
The Command And Conquer series always has fiendishly enjoyable Evil campaigns. Especially in Red Alert, the evil is served with a generous side of Large Ham.
Kefka.
- And Sephiroth.
Most of the villains in the Kingdom Hearts series. Even some of the Disney ones.
Do you see the cool, black, spiky barrier jacket of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's Chrono? That's an artifact from his days as a villain in the original Nanoha mini-scenario included in the Triangle Heart 3 Sweet Songs Forever fanbox.
The Helghast of Killzone, with their Jin-Roh inspired battle armor (the Custom Uniforms of which are extra-awesome◊), sympathetic back story and having a leader that gloriously feasts on ham. Fans pray for being able to play as them in Killzone 3.
Gig from Soul Nomad And The World Eaters.

Music

In the same vein as John Milton, "Allow me to introduce myself/I'm a man of wealth and taste..."
The majority of all black and death metal rejoices in evil. Be it Satanism, genocidal misanthropy, National Socialism, the violent kind of Odin-worship, or any other flavour of evil.
- A lot of bands in other metal genres do, too.
Without a doubt, the coolest song in The Decemberists' Rock Opera The Hazards of Love is The Rake's Song, which happens to be a man causally telling the story of how he nonchalantly murdered all his children.

Web Comics

The Sins. Soul destroying (literally) Anthropomorphic Personifications of The Seven Deadly Sins they may be, but they are also cool ( Ok not New Envy ) and way more fun than their opponents, The Virtues. It doesn't hurt that Lust is pretty hot!
Richard from Looking For Group is an over-the-top chaotic evil necromancer working with an ostensibly good group, and he's easily the most interesting and coolest character in the series.
- There is also the fact that he's not entirely sane and the one who makes most of the pop culture Shout Outs.
Black Mage from 8-Bit Theater viciously subverts this trope. Just about every single other character in the series utterly confirms it.
Xykon from Order Of The Stick. Some of his worst moments are also listed as his best.
- Also, Vaarsuvius has always been pretty awesome - but since being temporarily equipped with a Super Powered Evil Side, she's been leaving fans going "Wow" panel after panel.
Lampshaded in this◊ Little Dee strip.
Bob from Bob and George easily fits here, not only taking on all the other characters in the series (often at the same time), but trying to eliminate the author of the comic so he can take over.

Tabletop Games

Chaos epitomizes this trope in Warhammer 40000. Then again, so does the Imperium...

Real Life

The Nazis may have been horrible, genocidal, and tyrannical, but at least they knew how◊ to◊ dress◊.
- Thanks to Hugo Boss! [1]
- Cartman thinks they're cool.
Many actors will tell you that playing the villain is a lot of fun.
The Roman Catholic baptismal vows include one about rejecting the "glamour of evil". They recognised it.

Western Animation

Shego from Kim Possible lives for this Trope. For starters, her backstory reveals that she started as a hero but turned villain since evil is cooler. And then she is in fact the coolest person in the show.
Mighty Max: The archvillain Skullmaster was voiced by Tim Curry. Luckily for the rest of the cast, he only showed up in about 5 episodes. But in those episodes, well he pretty much rules hell, has demon and zombie armies at his command. Oh, he can outsmart the Smart Guy and beat the Big Guy in a straight fight. Oh, and all of his convulted plans succeeded...cept for the last one. maybe.
This troper cannot be the only Teen Titans fan who thinks Big Bad Slade is the most utterly Bad Ass character in the show.
- You are correct, but nobody commented because stating this is like pointing out that rain is wet.