[The Cause and Effect]

You have no idea how hard it is to post when your computer doesn't work...

On the other hand, some of you might not have any idea how... "freeing" it is to not have your computer work.

Anyway, I was thinking today... as i always do... and today's thought came to the idea of Villains.

That's right... the good ol' badguy. And I thought... wow, good badguys are hard to find. After all, the world needs badguys. Without badguys, we'd have no goodguys. Without badguys, we wouldn't have hour-plus long movies that bring us to such highs and lows, making us wonder... will the goodguy really win?

Anyway, to that end, I have composed a list of the top five Villains of all time, in reverse order:

• King Bowser Koopa [Super Mario Brothers/NINTENDO]: That's right... the King of all evil turtles, and the constant nemesis to Mario and Luigi. He first made his appearance in the Super Mario Brothers game of the old 8-bit Nintendo system, and since then he has appeared in subsequent sequels. In most every game he has appeared in, he has been the major villain. Each time, he captures the Princess and makes it extremely difficult for Mario to get her back. In the first game, he managed to tangle with Mario/Luigi eight times, seven of which he always managed to escape. Boswer was such a villain that at one point he even employed his children to do his dirty work.



• "John Doe" [Seven]: One of the best all-time villains, partly because of his creativity and style, partly because of his intellect, and partly because of the way he interacted with the detectives searching for him. He was always in control, always one step ahead of them. He had a plan so well thought-out that he managed to get himself arrested and still affect his last two "victims".



• Agent Smith [The Matrix I, II, III]: Love the Matrix, Hate the Matrix, it doesn't really matter. One of the only redeeming qualities of the Matrix movies is Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith. The very way Smith holds himself in the movie speaks of his true villainness. During much of the movie, he manages to maintain his eerie calm, even in the midst of losing. His complete disgust and contempt for the human species rises well above what you might expect from an outsider. I would almost say that his contempt for humanity is higher than most any other character out there.



• Darth Vader [Star Wars III, IV, V, VI]: Darth Vader, the single most evil man the entire empire ever created. Watching him enter a room made anybody shudder. He was the man responsible for the near complete destruction of the Jedi. He was instrumental in the collapse of the Republic. His presence was necessary for the Emperor to truly come to power. Who wasn't afraid of Darth Vader when they saw him choke one of his generals just by looking at him?? He was willing to kill his son several times, and kill his daughter as well.



• The Joker [Batman]: The single most evil, vile villain of all time. The Joker. In any incarnation that you can remember, whether it be the movies, the cartoon, or the comics, the Joker rules over all in terms of villains. Several times he tried to kill mass populations using various means: gases, bombs, nuclear weapons, etc. When he kills, he always kills with a smile, and laughs about it later. His constant interaction with Batman is one for the ages. Sometimes Joker would kill just to get Batman's attention. For him, people are tools... no, toys in a big game.

Yes, without our wonderful villains, life just wouldn't be as interesting. Why would you need Batman, Superman, Spider-man, Neo, Mario, or any of the countless others? There would be no point. Though we may despise them, you can't get rid of them. Most superheroes must understand this, because so few of them actually kill their nemeses... if they did, they'd quickly be out of a job.