The Big Bads of each story arc, these are the most dangerous heads of organizations or companies, all Antagonists. Minor villains or bosses are not included here.
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In General
All major villains are examples of:
- Affably Evil / Faux Affably Evil: No matter what, these villains are polite. Even if they're killing entire planets of people (Vangorium) or describing how much they utterly hate you (Josef), they won't yell or swear while they do it.
- Non-Action Big Bad: None of them so far fight at all (save for Mockingbird), letting their subordinates do the fighting for them.
- Only Sane Employee: Ironically, all of the villains shown so far act like this. They try to keep their units together without killing each other, which is pretty hard most of the time. The only reason they do this is probably for efficiency however, and not any disgust towards violence among friends.
Josef Muller
The head of the Bellum corporation, A Nazi by Any Other Name Obviously Evil man who leads a company full of Blood Knights. He seeks to conquer everything to make war as he sees fit, making him a Blood Knight Chessmaster. He is Faux Affably Evil, acting polite and kind to others but really not caring at all about them. On rare occasions, he is prone to fits of rage that shock those around him, though he himself never actually fights.
During the first and second DLC, he remains as a secondary antagonist, being replaced by Mr. Vangorium and Cassius Hardy as the primary antagonists of those story arcs. He is still present though, usually in opposition to the current villain. He is still present in the story, though how long he will be waits to be seen.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Lampshaded by the commentators, as he even dresses like this. However, his personality is not even close to that of the original Nazis, being more of a Blood Knight in ideology.
- Blood Knight: Even compared to other characters, this guy stands out. He wants to Take Over the World for the sole purpose of creating wars in his territory, as war amuses him greatly. Unlike the rest in the story, he does not personally fight, probably due to lack of combat ability.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Does not tolerate traitors or someone stealing his property. It's most likely he sees it as an annoyance more than a breach of some honor code, but it is telling that he does not tolerate either in any way.
- For the Evulz: His primary motivation for literally anything. As long as it results in war, he's down with it.
- Poke the Poodle: His rant to Lilith at the end of the initial story is a long list of why he despises and hates her. Goes slightly into Evil Is Petty when he insults her looks and hair. After helping the Vault Hunters kill Jackal Cash, he only asks for a handshake from Lilith just to irritate her. Brought back in the second DLC when Lilith spits into her hand before shaking his hand, much to his
disgust. - Take Over the World: His only real goal. Ironically, he is doing it just to cause world wars across the universe, making him almost an Omnicidal Maniac in attitude.
- The Unfettered: He will kill, torture, and lie to conquer everything.
Mockingbird
One of Bellum's former employees, Mockingbird was quietly impersonating Stanton Dahl and was the reason the whole Raider Alliance came about. After this is discovered, he was nearly assassinated by Bellum due to revealing this information, only to survive and continue on his own.
After the initial story, he is a secondary antagonist for the story, as he reappears in the first DLC as Suture's replacement in the Carnival as C13. He later reveals himself to Lilith, only to receive a Curb-Stomp Battle in response. As of now, his location and activities are unknown.
- All Your Powers Combined: His secondary ability, which he has used to take properties from the Metal Titan, Flora Titan, and Brick.
- Face Stealer: Comes from his power, as he uses it to impersonate Lilith and nearly kill all the Vault Hunters with false orders. It doesn't work. It does work when he impersonates Stanton Dahl though.
- For the Evulz: Even when compared to Josef, this guy is the best example of this. He does things only because It Amused Me, with no justifications to why. Cutting off Brick's head post-death and showing it to Lilith as a trophy is the prime example of this.
- Magical Eye: Has two from the Birds of Prey experiment, allowing him to copy someone perfectly, including their personality and powers.
Mister Vangorium
The Big Bad of the first DLC, he is the leader of a Circus of Fear called the Carnival of Carnage, which he leads for the profits and ratings. Unlike Josef, he is The Stoic and Affably Evil, as he legitimately despises the evil things he does and does not see himself as a good guy. Despite this attitude, he is willing to support anything that is done in the Carnival, up to experimenting and using a Siren to charge the Vault Keys to open the grand prize at the end of each Carnival. Also unlike Josef, he eventually is defeated and killed by Suture, putting his corporation to an end.
- Affably Evil: Is extremely polite to his subordinates, especially Jackal, and never scolds them even for their depraved actions. He also thinks he is not worthy of forgiveness for his actions, but will continue to do so to keep his home planet Promethea safe.
- Blue Blood: Born into wealth on an extremely poor planet. Subverted, as he constantly tries to help the lesser-fortunate due to his bleeding heart.
- Face Death with Dignity: When stabbed by Suture from behind, he reacts only with a gasp, and calmly asks if it was indeed him who had stabbed him. When Suture offered to make his death quick and painless, Vangorium refused, asking him to make it as painful as possible, so he can say he did not shy away from death. Suture slits his throat, and even then he Died Standing Up in his chair.
- The Sociopath: Oh so very much. Entire planets of people are like flies to him. He even admitted that he stopped caring for his own parents when he figured out that they didn't care about his home planet at all.
- The Unfettered: He does not give a shit about morals, honor, or how powerful you are. If you get in the way of his quest to help his planet, he will destroy you.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Believes this in regards to his planet. Doesn't gather much sympathy from the Vault Hunters though, as he made ten whole planets suffer for his home alone.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Commits mass murders of entire planets before he even sets up shop hosting death games for hungry masses, but does it all to help his home planet. The heroes even take time to consider what he said, before delivering a Shut Up, Hannibal! and Talk to the Fist response.
