Supervillain

Fictional supervillains are the foils to comic-book superheroes and other fictional heroes. The typical supervillain is an evil genius.

It could be said that the first supervillain was Professor Moriarty.

Supervillains are often depicted as seeking to commit spectacular crimes and/or rule the world through terror from their secret underground lair.

Examples of fictional supervillains include:

• Ernst Stavro Blofeld (adversary of James Bond)
• The Joker (adversary of Batman)
• Lex Luthor (adversary of Superman)
• Magneto (in the X-Men)

The supervillain stereotype applied to real life

This stereotype led to the real-life terrorist Osama Bin Laden being portrayed in the media as if he was a supervillain. The Nazis are also depicted as supervillains in a range of fictional works, including the Indiana Jones stories.