yes, but i was referring to the part where Thanos actually succeeded in wiping out 1/2 the universe, at least for 5 years. Ultron did not succeed at his plan at all.

That was my first thought as well.

And, yes, I've seen Tron, too.

Forget Thanos' motives, it's hard to take a guy seriously who has a ball sack where his chin should be.

Except he mudered a.dozen kids and blew up an entire planet of people. That's on top of strangling anyone who displeased him. I wouldn't want to hang with him.

He definitely scared me the most as a kid. Granted, I probably shouldn’t have been watching Robocop when I was just 10 years old but still…

I don't know if I'd agree that the MCP is the greatest sci-fi villain of all time, but regardless, thanks for the trip down memory lane. It's a shame we didn't get a version of it in Tron: Legacy.

By that definition the MCU wouldn't fit and neither would Star Wars. Space travel is merely a conveyance. Neither deal with the consequences of technology or scientific advances. And the part you bolded is way to generic. There's nothing to distinguish it from fantasy if that were the case.

But I do like Thanos and he has been one of the more compelling villains of all time.

Wait. I think no one is really getting the jest of this thread. So is this is supposed to be who would be the most fear inducing villain IRL? Like assuming you don't know much about the villain and they are just out there IRL? I'd think not Darth Vader then because I'm sure there would be a large populace that would see Darth Vader as a politician representing order in the galaxy. We likely wouldn't know anything about his exploits. They would probably spin the destruction of Alderaan as a large terrorist planet that had to be eradicated to maintain peace.

I'd think any kind of kaiju would be the most terrifying IRL. Just imagine if Godzilla were real. The utter destruction. Just an unstoppable force of nature that kills indiscriminately. Levels entire cities. Oh yeah and he spits out radioactive atomic breath. Then an even larger three headed one shows up and they start fighting and falling on buildings and knocking them out.

I think there's a difference between a villain and a monster. Jaws is a monster. The Andromeda Strain bacteria is a monster. A kaiju is a monster, and it's really a personification of a force of nature. A tornado isn't a villain, even though it's destructive. A villain has malice.

There are two kinds of villains. One acts purely out of malice or cruelty for their own pleasure. The other kind believes their actions are right, just, or beneficial. Thanos, and probably even Darth Vader, would fall into the latter. Though some are combination of both.

Thanos and Adrien Veidt both killed a lot of people because they believed the action was necessary.

It is an uncomfortable proposition. We can easily look at someone like Osama bin Laden or Adolf Hitler and call them villains because they are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents; both believed their causes were righteous and would not have seem themselves as villains.

But, on the flipside, are we as comfortable calling George W. Bush a villain because he started two pre-emptive wars that killed tens of thousands of people? Are we comfortable with calling Harry Truman a villain because he dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities, killing and maiming thousands in the process, even though it may have prevented even more casualties on both sides if the war against Japan had dragged on for years?

fixed!