From the cheesy one-liners to the overdone manner in which they went about getting their way or simply antagonizing the main protagonist, 80s villains were almost always over the top and darn proud of it. A lot of them either claimed to be bent on world domination or were actually crazy enough to try it, hatching plots that almost always had a contingency or two. Plus, the end result of the films were almost always satisfying, as the bad guy always got his in the end.
Here are five memorable action movie villains from the 80s
Damon Killian – The Running Man
Who loves you and who do you love? He wasn’t the toughest guy on the show and he certainly couldn’t stand toe to toe with Arnold like the competitors could, but Killian was still a very bad man simply because he had the influence. He was the voice behind the bad guys and the mastermind behind the show that allowed the bad guys to have their way with the competitors. The most satisfying part of the movie came when Arnold strapped Killian into the chair and said “I don’t do requests.”
Hans Gruber – Die Hard
Yippee-kai-ay, well, you know the rest. Hans Gruber, relentless bad guy, killer, cold-blooded leader of a supposed terrorist cell, was in truth just a glorified bank robber. But right up until the viewer found this out he was a legitimate threat and more than just the comic-book type of villain that might eventually become a lame and corny caricature of a real villain. It’s interesting to note that during his death scene that the late Alan Rickman, who was genuinely afraid of heights, had to fall a short distance to make the shot believable. The problem is that he was supposedly dropped before he was ready, and so the look of surprise is actually very real.
Lo Pan-Big Trouble in Little China
You know you’re tough when you can beckon a Mac truck to run you over and then come out the other side fresh as a daisy. It didn’t matter if he was shown as a seven foot tall ghost or a sickly little old man in a wheelchair, Lo Pan was an imposing figure all the same. The only drawback to his gaining a fleshly form however was that all that power suddenly went down the drain just a split second after the words “Goodbye Mr. Burton” came out of his lips. Like Jack Burton always said, it’s all in the reflexes.
Chong Li – Bloodsport
This guy gets major points just for being that big and yet that short. Seriously, Chong Li is built like a brick outhouse and is just as tough. In the ring he doesn’t have to be nimble or terribly quick, he just has to hit you. Despite the lackluster delivery of the line “Brick, not hit back!” which was an obvious homage or ripoff from Enter the Dragon, Chong Li was a dominant force in this movie that wasn’t going to be stopped easily, not even by Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds.
Night Slasher – Cobra
Stallone flicks in the 80s were kind of hit and miss, especially given that the villains didn’t get a lot of time to develop or become anything but two-dimensional. What was cool about this villain however was that he was increasingly violent, extremely unapologetic, and so bent on his own personal brand of destruction that it took a renegade to finally take him down. Let’s face it, in the history of cinema there’s not a lot of squeaky-clean cops that serve as top notch action heroes. That’s most likely why villains like the Night Slasher get to do pretty much anything they want until that one rogue cop finally steps in.
We’re well aware of how many more there are. Don’t think we forgot the movie Commando. Come on! We’re coming out with a much bigger list soon.
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