Villain decay is a common problem. Remember when the Borg where first spotted on TNG? They were freakin' scary as all hell. But by the time Voyager was half way home they had already bitch slapped the Borg Queen a half dozen times and had a Borg crewmember. Who's assimilating who?

Have I missed it or do we know what Angela Petrelli's special powers are aside from the ability to give birth?

I'm still waiting for there to be an actual fight between a Hero and a villain on that show. The 'villains' don't really seem to do much of anything.

Heroes deals too much in backstory and emotional middleground. "He's bad because..." "He means well but..." "He's misunderstood..." They want to be a comic book show, but they have no true villain. There is no black as night unstable and crazy "Joker". There is no laser focused man with a purpose "Magneto". There is no egomaniac selfish bastard "Lex Luthor". All their villains can be softened by explaining their histories which softens all of them. Broken homes, broken hearts.. blah. It also doesn't help that no one really dies on that show.

@MercuryPDX: She pimpslapped Sulu and that put the mark of death on him.

if i recall correctly Angela has some sort of telepatic power or so i had the impression on that ep where she meets Peter who had just jumped in time to nyc and she makes him remember who he is, sort of

@pharago: She transmits guilt trips through time and space.

She told the fat cop to get out of her head, so I assume she has some generic telepathic power (how quaint).

And thank God for this article. Sylar was somewhat interesting until he met up with the squid-eyed death woman and her brother with a heart of gold (until Sylar merked him!) Talk about sagging story line.

The closet thing to a battle was between Hiro and Adam. And it was weaker than me in the gym. Adam does have potential though...

@toopersent: ...if and when he gets out of the box. The irony was delicious.

@Gyrus: As much as I liked First Contact, I never liked the idea of the Borg Queen in general. I agree that the Borg were bad-ass when they first appeared in TNG, and then were reduced to really nothing by Voyager (although I never liked Voyager at all much).

In regards to Sylar, I actually think he's been one of the better villains I've seen in a while. Granted, his time with Maya dragged on probably for too long, but then the whole Maya story dragged on for way too long in general. But come on, any guy who makes out with a girl after bashing her brother's skull in is pretty badass in my book!

I think Farscape came up with a great way to keep a recurring villain menacing -- at the end of the second season, Scorpius won -- everything he wanted to do, he accomplished -- and the third season was about Crichton trying to fix the problem. Then in the fourth season they defanged him.

I don't know if we know Angela's power. All the telepathic stuff she did was in response to other telepaths. She knew that they were in her head and speaking to them that way.

i think sylar is a pretty good villain cos he's just as scary without his "powers"

@MercuryPDX: Angela Petrelli seems to have the ability to persuade people to do things. We have yet to see whether this is supernatural or just her being an overbearing mother.

I assumed Angela's power was some sort of mental manipulation through physical contact. Every time she wanted to get Nathan or Peter to do something she just touched them and they were willing to do anything.

I just want to jump in too about the borg. Yea, when the borg first appeared they were scary, No leaders to fight, anything you throw at them they will adapt too, if you get caught you would be assimilated, you can't argue or reason with them. They were the ultimate villains, and then the borg queen idea came up and they were turned into cannon fodder. I remember watching an interview with some directors that the reason they created the borg queen was because the borg were too powerful and needed a way to put a leash on them. I think that was a bad move, after that we went from a single borg cube singlehandedly taking on the federation to a single federation ship being able to destroy three cubes and a whole borg space colony(voyager).

Uh, I don't think this post is applicable to the "Heroes". They seem to be other kind of show, yet grabbing some ideas and basics from comic books. But there are no real villains in the show, except maybe Sylar. All the others seem to float in constant personal dramas, like "protecting the family", "lesser evil, to protect heroes from society (or society from heroes, if you wish). The characters are ambiguous and hardly predictably and I think it's good.

Yeah, villain decay is a problem. Worse are the ways they try to improve it. One of the worst? "We have a unique all-powerful villain we've overused... how about we make a villain MORE powerful than them that acts in a similar way?" Again, there's a borg datapoint. Voyager encounters a race attacking the borg that the borg can't handle. They try to make contact with this race for help against the borg, and oh noes! - the other race just wants to kill everyone else, who cares about assimilating?
Villain decay tends to create new villains with no uniqueness or more powerful villains. And more powerful villains turns into the Dragonball Z phenomenon. Each has to be more and more powerful than the last, til the point where it's just a math war AND all other heroic characters that aren't powerful enough are just useless. If the world is going to get destroyed, are you going to call Aquaman, Xander, or DL? No, you want Superman, Buffy, or Peter. If now there's another who can destroy TWO worlds, the supporting characters are mostly there to crack jokes and look good in the background.

I blame all Sylar problems on Maya. He was pretty awesome during the first season, and even the first episode back- when he brained someone within about five minutes of meeting her- was pretty good. The Maya storyline was DOA, or revealed itself to be after about the second episode, and that killed the Sylar storyline DEAD.

@Garrison Dean:
Malcolm McDowell looked pretty damn dead to me.
And complaining that the villains don't really "do" anything--hello, Sylar EATS BRAINS. That's evil enough for me, thanks.

One of the problems with heroes is that none of the mai characters can die. half of them are physically immortal or close enough to it for any distinction to be meaningless. So without the threat or mortality, there's ultimately no tension.

And yeah sure, Syler can eat brains and kills people but so what? What's his goal? he just wants to collect brains. He's less a villain and more of a freaky dork with a brain fetish.

@Gyrus: Yeah, the Borg were really awesome back at the start, but then they had to fit into TV's convenient ideas and they got a voice and a leader and other such nonsense that really diluted them.

A good villain is hard to do.

Syler was an excellent villain who dies an excellent death. And then when they decided to make season 2 into a season 1 retread they brought him back.

And it went downhill from there.

Rule 1 - Dead should mean dead. Unless there is a fantastic story that can't possibly be told with any other villain, make death mean something.

Great Spike reference. Talk about a villain going downhill.

@Garrison Dean: I agree that Heroes has had no true, epic comic-book fight. I realise that Tim Kring isn't "really" into comic books and relies on his writing staff to make things...er, more comic-y...but trying to have it both ways ("It's a comic book on television!" "No, it's an emotional drama about people who happen to have superpowers!") is proving less and less effective over time.

New Doctor Who solved the Master problem. Sort of. John Simm's Master was by far awesome...until he started falling back into those old habits, like monologuing when he assumed that he had already won (granted, up until the Doctor pulled that really cheap resurrection trick a laTinkerbell, things were really looking up for the Master).

HRG (in the first half of season one of Heroes) was one of my all time favorite characters. Seriously.

Then they went and made him good completely ruining every ounce of awesomeness his character had. I finished out the season out of respect and just to see what Sylar would do next, and it wasn't good.

Then I started to watch the second season when it came out... ugh. What the hell happened to that show? It was so fucking awesome at first! Seriously, what the hell happened???

The scariest villains are the ones that aren't intimidated by power. Arnie's Terminator not being afraid of a police station filled with armed cops was scary. The Borg were scary because power and strength were irrelevant. They didn't care if you were as mighty as the Dominion. They'd just keep needling until the found your weak spot, even if it took a thousand years. Lex Luthor's a great villain because he doesn't care how strong Superman is. I'd suggest that any villain that can be dispatched by pure brute force isn't worthy of the name.

@Cacafuego: Yeah, but eating brains is more "French" than "Supervillain." And let's face it, now super was ever French.

Several of you folks have nailed the biggest example of villain decay I can remember, with what happened to the Borg. Their last appearance on "Enterprise" pretty much reduced them to the importance of a recurring rash.

@SeanOHara: Farscape had 'bad-guy' down pat with Scorpius. He is still the coolest bad guy and the best aspect of the show. Even in the fourth season he was trying his best with Sikozu to manipulate the situation.

Feel the SCORPIUS LOVE!

I've loved him ever since his chip crashed Aeryn into the ice and he sucked the brain-tissue off it... mmmm, tasty brainy goodness. Hannibal Lector is a pussy... he has to cook his brain first! :D

@Moeskido: The Borg were such a great idea, but yes, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overused.

They could have made a better show if everytime the borg showed up they assimilated their way through an entire sector, striking for the heart of the Federation. The show then could have turned into a game of political turmoil as the Enterprise was sent to flank or skirt the borg, making contact with colonies and other races to see if something could be done, or some agreement reached.... in fact, several series could have been dedicated to 'the borg problem', without having any borg near cente-stage for most of the series. Except as the odd reminder that yes, EVERYTHING IS FUCKED!

@El_Bandito: Star Trek as a huge game of RISK? I could deal with that. But who would get the Ukraine? B/c the Ukraine is weak.

Ya the Borg WERE awesome. But, if I may stray a bit from sci-fi, what about young Hannibel Lecter, in Hannibel Rising? What was up with that? The reason why he was so scary was because you saw him as a monster. Giving him a reason to be one destroyed any power to instill terror that he ever had.

And I don't get Heroes. It feels like a soap opera comic to me. Too much yawn, not enough brawn.

@Dereks: Word. I feel like Heroes is less a "comic-book-turned-TV-show" like Smallville and more an artistic serial drama in a vein somewhere between Lost and Firefly. True, it lost its way in the beginning of season two, but what it really needs is to turn some of its good guys into bad guys, and I feel like Parkman is just the guy for the task. We glimpsed this Parkman in Five Years Gone--willing to abuse power to protect his offspring regardless of whom he throws to the wolves--in other words, HRG. Now, he seems so drunk on his new powers that he's on the verge of becoming his dad. I'd prefer to see him become his dad; but judging by the commentary on Five Years Gone, the network doesn't agree with me.
@kisskisskiss: Maya needs to be dead. Soon. In a way that no amount of magic Claire Bennet blood will reverse.
Heroes also does seem to have a habit of sabotaging its deaths. I remember yelling, "Oh my God, let the bitch DIE already!" at the screen every time Candice was on it; and then when they finally killed her, it was totally unsatisfying because it wasn't Missy Peregrym's smug-ass mug. And HRG's death could've been a major urning point, but instead they sabotaged it with the magic blood of Resurrection.

@howlstarrydynamo: TURNING point, my bad.

@howlstarrydynamo: Well, Bob did give the family HRG's "cremated remains," so it was something of an "urning" point.

@CSX321: It was either that, or look like an ash.

Ben Linus is a pretty great villain that confirms most of the qualities mentioned above.

I have an undying hatred for Sylar. And more than half of the Heroes characters. I've stopped watching it until they cut the list of characters and focus on the story, then maybe, just maybe, I'll go back.
This list is pretty good, it's usually stuff like this you hope not to find outside of fanfiction.

I've never watched one single episode of HEROES.
From reading teh above posts, i'm glad i didn't,
just another TV show that takes a (semi) good idea..and screws it all up.

Hmmm. First people complain about Sylar coming "back" from the dead (which was hinted at at the end of the last episode of the first season, so no surprise)then complain about how the "villain" doesn't seem to match the comic book world version of "Villain" (ie Doctor Doom or Magneto).

For one, NOBODY in comics stays dead (except for Bucky) and secondly, most comic book villains would, in real life, either be Osama bin laden, Bill Gates, or Henry Lee Lucas/Jeffrey Dahmer. Syler is definitely in the last category.

In fact, most serial killers are like Syler--fucked up dorks with a obession. In fact, I would compare Syler's M.O. to that of Richard Chase, the famed "San Diego Vampire" who, in the 1970s, walked into a number of houses and killed people in a cannibalistic frenzy. When he was arrested, he was found to have a blender containing the remains of human brain tissue. He did this because he thought someone was stealing his heart.

'This is a chronic problem that can, uh, Spike your most interesting baddies.'
Nice reference [and too true, sigh.]

'Firefly' had some great villains--Niska, for one, not to mention the Reavers. I think Niska creeped me out more though, what with how blasé he was towards violence. Oh, and how could I forget the Hands of Blue? Eeergh.

@Cacafuego: Bucky's not dead. He's currently Captain America, since Steve is dead.

The MCP was the best bad guy of all time.

@GenXCub: That, for me, was the best scene in season 2. Maybe they could have Sylar & Bob kill each other, and then Angela can be supervillain. My guess (not a spoiler, I have no idea) is that Angie shot her son in the finale. That would take care of at least three problems on this list.

"She should have a monstrous plan, or an agenda, or something other than a note for her kids."
I think wanting to destroy New York for Machiavellian reasons qualifies as "monstrous".

Dudes, have faith. The inky-eyed, death girl will be an excellent villain. Completely unstable and a crazy super-power. I hope she goes super crazy and makes the entire planet wheeze for breath until Peter Petrelli does something cool to make her stop.

@indemnitypop: All Peter Petrelli ever does is stop villains from doing cool things. I want him to turn evil.

I really liked how the new writers of Dr Who changed the Master in the last series.

I just wanted to point out how awesome it is that in yet another io9 column about a tv show, that one guy came in yet again to tell us how awesome he feels about himself because he never watched ONE SINGLE EPISODE OF IT.

I maintain that a good villain also has to have something the audience can relate to, or at least have a legitimate personality so we register them as being more than a plot device. I submit Unicron and the recent film adaptation of Galactus as examples. All they wanted to do was eat planets, and they didn't really do anything else. Booooring.

It looks like the Hero's villian bites his nails. Wonderfully neurotic! Oral compulsivity is a bad sign.

Parkman's Dad (Nightmare Man) could've been a great villain, but they pissed that away.

Sylar is a great villain, but Maya will be a terrible one (when they join forces to rule the world)-can't feel sympathetic for a crying whining girl-so they're going to cancel each other out.

HRG was terrific, especially in "Company Man", but I don't like him hiding and being fearful now-he is so diminished.

Angela Petrelli could've been totally badass, but bleh (she does have the power of persuasion, but she has to touch the person to do it-they always show close ups of her hands stroking the person when she talks to them).

I was hoping for a giant battle of the old-school specials, but the showdowns they have (Peter vs. Sylar, Hiro vs. Adam) are always anti-climatic to me, so having the older specials battle will probably be mind-numbing.

I blame it all on the 2nd season head writer-Regis Philbin's daughter.

Leave the villians be!
I'm so sick and tired of villian run down; let evil stay evil.
HAL 9000 evil in "2001"
HAL 9000 not evil just bad programming "2010"
Darth Vader most evil MF ever "Star Wars, a New Hope"
Darth Vader there's still good in him "Star Wars, Return of the Jedi"
BORG ST:TNG
BORG Queen Borg still bad, but now laughable "ST:First Contact"
Reavers eat people crazy bad Firefly
Reavers extremly motivated office workers "Serenity"
Living Dead Braaaaaaains! "Night of the Living Dead"
Living Dead we're still better then Dennis Hopper "Land of the Dead"

Leave me my villians just as evil as they were on day one

I actually liked Species 8472.
Not "all will be assimalated"
But "all that is different will be elimated."
Best thing about Voyager actually...