Evil League of Evil Applications—The Good, The Bad, and The Eeeeevil

I love villains. And I heart “Dr. Horrible." I promise this is the last time I’ll shill for Dr. H. for a while, but I had to take a moment to celebrate the many awesome villains that have emerged since the Evil League of Evil opened its doors to new talent. Because villains make me uber-joyful.

There comes a special day in every drama geek’s life where they realize that Ms. Hannigan’s slimy brother in “Annie,” the horned guy in “Legend,” the freaky clown in “It,” and Dr. Frank-N-Furter are all the same dude. This love for all things Tim Curry frequently gives way to an appreciation of villainry. As a kiddo I pined after Jafar. I cried at Scar’s death scene. In 7th grade I got mono and watched “The Rocketeer” many times over solely to enjoy Neville Sinclair’s mustache and accent…not so much the fascism (on meeting Timothy Dalton a decade later I told him that he’d recently been lovingly referenced on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” His sense of humor sadly proved…wanting). When introduced to the illustrious 5 paragraph essay in 8th grade, my first composition was entitled “Captain Hook: Protagonist.” I loved thinking about why baddies do the things they do. This curiosity about human motivation eventually translated into a career in psychology. Not coincidentally, the Joker and his therapist turned hench-gal Harley are two of my all-time favorite rogues. I love that Harley is committed to seeing the potential for good...in anyone. And I love Joker storylines that make folks consider what one really bad day might do to their sanity and morality.

I adore "Dr. Horrible" for turning the hero/villain tango on its head. And I was delighted to hear the buzz after Comic Con that the Evil League of Evil would be accepting video submissions (for inclusion on a dvd celebrating its latest member). I should be preparing for my comprehensive exam, so of course I’ve spent way too much time working on my own application and enjoying the applications of other wanna-be-baddies.

Let the Evil Begin

By my count, the League has received over 500 applications in the past few weeks. If you have a few hours to kill, you can learn a lot about geeks, evil, and the funny by perusing E.L.E. applications online. I haven’t watched them all, but I’ve watched A LOT and some fun trends have emerged:

* Scripted Technical Difficulties: I love that this flies even in a digital age where such foibles could be easily edited away. But yelling at a bumbling hench/camera man is funny, dang it. I swear every other entry starts with "Is it on?"
* Revolting Henchman: This one popped up quite a few times, thanks to the ELE's "henchman need not apply" policy.
* Alternate Leagues: Apparently, the ELE has some competition.
* Extortion and Threats: Who'd have thunk?
* Taking Candy From a Baby: Still an extremely popular approach.
* Evil Emphasis: There are evidently 100 different ways to ominously say "Evil League of Evil!"
* Evil Voices: A lot of folks channeled Dr. Evil, Will Arnett, and the Albino in "Princess Bride."
* Evil Robots: Always a classic.
* Mind Control: It's fun to do.
* Modern Annoyances: Excellent evil fodder.
* Mr's, Prof.'s, and Dr.'s: No surprises there.
* Puppets, Puppets, Puppets: My money is on Puppet Man. I loves me a silly origin story.
* Bureaucracy: Funny AND Evil.
* Evil Bakers: I think we're all still riding the Sweeney Todd high.
* Animals: Quite a few folks chose to bring live critters in on the evil. I commend them.
* International Evil: Bless Joss and Co. for being so popular in the UK, Australia, and regions beyond. Yummy accents abound.
* Topical Evil: From elections to financial crises.
* Celebrating Source Material: Especially where Cap'n Hammer is concerned. Lots of villains seem to hear their calling after dealings with the Cap'n.
* Bait and Switch: More celebrating source material.
* The Spoiler x2: Who knew?
* Cute Evil: De-light-ful.

The big question remaining for me is...how the hecks will the League make its decision? Some of my favorite entries feature rather ineffectual evil. Interviews with the Whedon crew leave it unclear whether they will be favoring entertainment value or pure evil. Either way, I don't envy them the tricky task before them. A lot of geeky artists put their evil schnozes to the grindstone and came up with some awesome villainry. Thanks, folks.

For my evil money, the four aspiring villains below are worth their malevolent salt.

Zombie Princess: Alanis Morisette + "Shawn of the Dead." You had me at Zomboni.


Fiddler With a Hoof: Looks like he belongs in a Whedon-verse. Plus...puppy in cage.


Pint-Size Pirate: Out-cute-ing the lot of us, and taking our moneys as she does.


Final Straw: Catchy freakin tune. And a nifty reminder that "good" isn't a state of being. It's a choice you make everyday...hopefully, even on those terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad days.