The 10 most evil things in sci-fi


JackFetch

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AM from "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison

Once you read this short story you will never forget AM, a genocidal, world-spanning computer that keeps some pet humans alive—forever—in order to torture and mutilate them. Forever. Frankly, AM makes Skynet look only a little worse than Windows Vista.

The Cube from Cube

Is the Cube truly evil? It's a box that wants to kill you, but that describes a lot of things (like cars and Box from Logan's Run). More than a box, though, the Cube is a maze of death traps that tantalizes its victims with the slim chance of escape. And that's where its true evil lies—because people inside it have two choices: face down trap upon deadly trap, or lie down and die of thirst.

Armus, aka the Skin of Evil, from Star Trek: The Next Generation

The phrase "pure evil" is usually hyperbole, except in the case of Armus, a creature formed from all the evil and negative emotions of an entire race. Those enlightened beings then left Armus all alone on its planet, which was cruel, if you ask me. So maybe they weren't entirely successful at exorcising their tarry demons. It's easy to sympathize with Armus' plight, thus demonstrating the power of Star Trek to make us feel empathy even for pure evil.

Red Lectroids from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Here's what Buckaroo himself says about Red Lectroids: EVIL! PURE AND SIMPLE! FROM THE 8TH DIMENSION! Which is strange, because by all appearances Red Lectroids are bumbling nincompoops who couldn't fry an egg in the Mojave Desert. But if Buckaroo says it's so, it's so.

Everyone from Star Trek's Mirror universe

Looking for villainy? How about an entire parallel universe of selfish, scheming, churlish, underhanded, cutthroat, murderous, lecherous, backstabbing, double-crossing, liverish, lowdown, corrupt, nefarious, petty, spiteful and darn rude people who look just like you and all your friends. But slightly cooler.

Grand Moff Tarkin from Star Wars

Here's a guy who blows up inhabited planets to make a point. Just because they are in his way. Compared to Tarkin, should we really be afraid of Darth Vader? What's Vader going to do that's so scary? Choke someone from a foot away? Build a protocol droid?

Daleks from Doctor Who

Unlike so many robotic/cyborg life-annihilators that lack all emotion, the Daleks exhibit a healthy ability to feel. But they only feel hate. And they feel a lot of hate, although maybe they wouldn't be so cranky if they had legs.

Berserkers, created by Fred Saberhagen

Yes, there are a lot of machines out there that hate humans, but Berserkers always bring their A game. First, they want to destroy all organic life, down to the microbe. Second, they are planet-sized starships. Third, they are self-replicating. Imagine a gigantic Death Star with the mind of a Dalek that can reproduce. That's a Berserker.

Evil Whatzit from Event Horizon

The baddie that haunts the starship Event Horizon is completely ethereal, but it's bad, bad, bad. It sends the crew into a festival of torture, mutilation and cannibalism, then goes all subtle on the rescue party, giving them visions of the loved ones they have lost and betrayed. When is an experimental warp drive ever going to open a portal to the dimension of pink fluffy happiness?

Galactus from Marvel Comics

Vengeful gods are a problem, no question, but they are generally on your side. Galactus, though, is a god who has no need of worshipers--except as salt on the planets he eats. And because he's telepathic, unkillable and can teleport entire galaxies, the best policy to adopt with him is: Avoid. Which isn't easy, considering he's 28 feet tall and weighs 18 tons.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/10/the-top-10-truly-utterly.php

Is Galactus really evil? He just does what he must to survive.

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For that matter, The Cube in Cube is a non-thinking creation. The people who put the people in The Cube might be evil but the Cube itself is not. That's like saying Ultimatum is creatively bankrupt. No, Jeph Loeb is creatively bankrupt, his creation is a horrible read. I would rather put Brother Cavil from Battlestar

(Kills the entire human race in attempt to teach his "parents" a lesson that Humanity is bad.)

or Shodan from System Shock on there.

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Also, remember that 1.) It's been implied that when the universe finally dissipates into the Big Crunch, Galactus will give us a new Big Bang, giving up all the life energy he's ever taken in, and sacrificing himself in the process and 2.) His existence keeps the guy who wants to destroy not just the Earth, not just the 616 Marvel universe, but all universes at bay.

I think it's worth letting him chow down on a few Skrull Throne Worlds here and there.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is that his starving to death would be waaaaaay worse for the mulitverse than him killing a few hundred trillion sentient creatures here and there.

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To be fair, I wouldn't call the Reavers evil, either.

Yes, they are scary as hell, but they didn't take the Pax on Miranda voluntarily. They were made into that by the Alliance scientists. Niska? Jubal Early? The Hands of Blue? Saffron/Bridget/Yolanda? They may all be less terrifying, but they are certainly more evil. Fuck, Jayne is probably more evil than the Reavers, at least according to what he did to his partner in 'Jaynestown' and the action he took against the Tams on Ariel.

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