Black Hats

Okay, here's another one of these reader-participation posts of which I am so fond. I invite not only my fellow collaborators to participate, but also any guest(s) that may stumble upon it.

Today's topic is villains. That's right, the bad guys. The enemy. The blokes in the black hats. And I'd like to hear who your favorites are.

Here's the recommended format: please provide your nominee for Best Villain (individual), Best Villain Group (small group), and Best Villainous Organization (large group). And to make it interesting, please provide nominees in each of the following four categories: Movies, Television, Print (i.e., books or comics), and Roleplaying (personal experience, if applicable).

As with previous discussions of this ilk, please give details. I look forward to what you have to say. I'm going to break tradition this time, however, and post my answers first.

Movies
Best Villain: Darth Vader
Vader gets the nod for sheer presence. Just having him around creates terror not only in his enemies, but also in his underlings. Two minutes of screen time is all it takes to know that Vader is someone not to be screwed with.
Best Villain Group: The crew of the Black Pearl(Pirates of the Caribbean)
Although they're not the brightest bunch, they're greedy, singleminded, vicious, and in general just plain nasty. And then you find out that they're also undead.
Best Villainous Organization: Nazis
The original Stormtroopers. Whether they're chasing Indiana Jones or trying to keep Allied POWs from making a Great Escape, you can't help but love to see them fail. Indy said it best: "Nazis. I hate these guys."

Television
Best Villain: Alfred Bester (Babylon 5)
He's arrogant, devious, smug, ruthless, and unfortunately, just about untouchable. You just want to smack him on sight. He's no Pavel Chekov, that's for sure.
Best Villain Group: The Hive: Brother Blood, Gizmo, Jinx, Mammoth, et. al. (Teen Titans)
It's not just that they're villains...they're also teenagers.
Best Villainous Organization: The Borg
Although their villainy was diluted quite as bit by Voyager, make no mistake. These folks are not someone you want to meet in a dark nebula. You can't negotiate with them, you can't drive them off, and you can't hold them back. You can only hope to destroy them - before they do the same to you.

Print
Best Villain: Magneto
It's not just that Magneto is obnoxiously powerful, although he certainly is that. What makes him truly dangerous that he's suave and sophisticated, and extremely persuasive. His arguments are almost enough to make you wonder if he really is the bad guy. Almost.
Best Villain Group: Slytherin House (Harry Potter)
Draco Malfoy tries to put himself across as brave and smart, but by the end of the first book you've learned that he's basically just a bully like his two lapdogs, Crabbe and Goyle. And as the series goes on, you come to find out that the rest of the house is no better. Nasty buggers, the lot of them, and racists to boot.
Best Villainous Organization: The Imperial Order (Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series)
Violent, bloodthirsty, and rapacious, Emperor Jagang's army sweeps across whole kingdoms killing, looting, despoiling, and decimating anything and anyone in their path. But what makes them truly frightening is how much they enjoy it, relish it, savor it. They believe that they're fully justified in doing all of this, that their enemies ultimately deserve this treatment. It might not be so scary if there weren't so much of that sort of thing going on in the real world.

Roleplaying
Best Villain: Iconoclast
Derek threw this 100-foot monstrosity up against us one day, and we beat on him for most of a very long evening before we put him down. It was nasty. But even worse was that every so often, if we complained about a scenario, he'd say, "Or we could fight Iconoclast again...."
Best Villain Group: Fastback, Hummel, and 'Chuk
A SPD- and DEX-draining speedster, an armored brick, and a martial arts master, respectively. This team was Lawrence's master stroke of villainy. We'd cringe every time we saw them.
Best Villainous Organization: Tarot
This is Curtis' signature villain group with ~30 members plus agents and support staff. We hated fighting them because a) there were always a ton of them around and b) you could never tell exactly who would show up - or what they could do. One of my favorite role-playing experiences was when one of my characters underwent plastic and psychic surgery and infiltrated the group.

That's my contribution. Happy posting!