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== ''[[Babylon 5]]'' ==
* Alfred Bester epitomizes this trope. He combines ruthless scheming with an infuriating charisma that drives the heroes crazy even as they are forced to respect his skill.
* Speaking of ''Babylon 5''... Londo Mollari!
** ''[[Babylon 5]]'s'' characters tend to evolve with such complexity that nobody knows just who is going to be the bastard at any given time. Londo careened between comic relief, [[Magnificent Bastard]], and [[Tragic Villain]] countless times throughout the series.
*** Londo was always a Magnificent Bastard at his core. Case in point: A meeting between himself and one of his allies of the moment, Lord Refa. Londo invites him out to Babylon 5 to discuss recent Centauri military activities (re: starting twelve wars and depending on the Shadows for assistance). Londo does not approve. He offers Refa a drink, and runs down why this plan is a disaster waiting to happen. When Refa asks why he should do anything Londo says, Londo replies "Because I have asked you. Because your sense of duty to our people should override any personal ambition. ''And because I have poisoned your drink.''" He goes on to describe how the poison comes in two parts, one of which was in Refa's drink. If he does not comply, one of Londo's agents in the Royal Court will introduce him to the second half of the poison. Finally, Londo lifts his own glass while Refa is sitting there ashen-faced and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|jovially proposes a toast to Refa's health.]]
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** In the Ainley era, he {{spoiler|created a city for the sole purpose of trapping the Doctor, managed to foment a civil war among people who were convalescing, and nearly derailed the signing of the Magna Carta, among other schemes.}} Not to mention the time he {{spoiler|held the ''entire universe'' for ransom}}.
** In the Simm era, he {{spoiler|ran for and was elected Prime Minister. He took over the Earth, decimated the population with six billion robot beachballs [[Of Doom]], tormented the main protagonists while dancing around his [[Cool Ship]] to "Voodoo Child" (by the Rogue Traders), and was generally bastardly. And magnificent. This was [[Reset Button|undone]] in the end, but still...}}
** He then went on in ''The End of Time'' to {{spoiler|improvise a hostile takeover of the body of every single human being on planet Earth - over the course of about ten minutes' worth of episode! Six billion magnificent bastards, right there. And when Rassilon, the Lord President of the Time Lords, shows up and [[Out
* Davros in the serial ''Revelation of the Daleks''. After escaping from a maximum security prison, he adopts an alias and becomes a hero to the galaxy by alleviating famine. How does he do it? {{spoiler|He uses the bodies sent to a planet-sized cemetery complex as the main ingredient for an "artificial" foodstuff.}} When the Doctor asks if he's actually told the general public about this {{spoiler|Davros says no, because "That would have created what I believe is termed 'consumer resistance'."}} Oh, and while he's doing all this, {{spoiler|he's using other bodies from the complex to create (yet another) new race of Daleks.}}
** Come to that, he was pretty bastardly in ''Genesis of the Daleks'' as well. {{spoiler|When the Doctor convinced the Kaled government to investigate his research programs, he simply gave the Thals, his own people's arch-enemies, the information they needed to annihilate the Kaleds. Then he sent the Daleks to wipe out the Thals. Meanwhile, he carries out a purge of any surviving Kaleds whose conscience might hinder the Daleks' development}}. If you actually pay attention, you'll notice Davros isn't even so much as momentarily inconvenienced for the whole Six episodes, despite the numerous twists and turns, up until the last few moments {{spoiler|where the Daleks turn on him and (almost) kill him. Whoops}}.
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* ''Invasion of the Dinosaurs'' gives us [[Well Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] {{spoiler|Sir Charles Grover and Professor Whitaker}}. Their plan {{spoiler|was to turn back time to land their chosen few in the Mesozoic, undoing everything that had happened since.}} They also arranged that {{spoiler|the head of the British Army's operations in London would be [[The Mole|in on it, too]].}}
* The Dream Lord, the villain of "Amy's Choice". As befits his status as {{spoiler|the manifestation of all the Doctor's self-loathing and malice}}, he is a magnificent one-episode wonder, complete with a classic [[The Plan]], who really [[Evilly Affable|enjoys his work]]. The [[The End or Is It|end of the episode]] implies we may see him again.
* Madame Kovarian, who leaves the Doctor ''thoroughly'' [[Out
* The Doctor is capable of this. Often short on allies with no weapons other than what he can lay his hands, yet he manages to [[MacGyver]] [[Indy Ploy|and come up with an on the fly plan]] that leaves everyone who isn't the Daleks and occasionally the Master (and both have been [[Out
** Capable?? The Doctor is the ultimate MB of the Whoniverse by default, considering the fact that, for the most part, he outgambits all the other Magnificent Bastards.
* [[Evil Counterpart|Captain]] John Hart from ''[[Torchwood]]''. A slick, charming, handsome, stylish, pathological liar who enjoys using [[The Plan]] to get what he wants (which includes attention from Captain Jack). He poisoned Gwen, shot Tosh, beat up Owen, and threatened Ianto at gunpoint, and enjoyed every minute of it. When he {{spoiler|blew up a good chunk of Cardiff}}, he said, "Let the fun begin! Do I mean fun or carnage? I always get those two mixed up." True, he ''was'' {{spoiler|acting on orders from Grey, who'd strapped a bomb to his arm}}, but he was still clearly enjoying watching the city and the Torchwood Team panic.
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** And now, in ''[[Torchwood Miracle Day]]'', we have Jilly Kitzinger, a devious, sexy, well-dressed PR representative who manipulates [[Complete Monster]] Oswald Danes to gain power for herself. She's not pure evil, though; [[Even Evil Has Standards|she still privately finds Oswald repulsive]].
== ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' ==
* In season one there's HRG, smooth and calculating enough to trick even his employers, although his eventual [[Heel Face Turn]] puts an end to his Bastardry. Later, we get introduced to another, Mr. Linderman, the [[Affably Evil]] mastermind behind ''everything''. Season 2 brings us a new [[Magnificent Bastard]] in the form of the new [[Big Bad]], Adam Monroe. Magnificent and [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative]] to boot, Adam recruits resident [[Idiot Hero]] Peter Petrelli to be his unwitting dupe, attaining a level of villainous charisma unmatched by any villain in the series since.
** Even after HRG [[Heel Face Turn]] he's capable of being a [[Magnificent Bastard]] when he {{spoiler|threatens his former teacher's family in order to get the information he wants to help keep his family safe}}
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* Speaking of ''Lost'', this trope also belongs to {{spoiler|UnFlocke}}. Manipulative Bastard? Check. And as {{spoiler|The Candidate}} shows, he is [[Gambit Roulette|one hell]] of a Chessmaster ( {{spoiler|even if it didn't work fully, it was still a badass plan}}). The way he {{spoiler|manipulated Ben}} to {{spoiler|kill Jacob}} was just classic. Jacob himself also counts
* I{{who}} would say Sawyer counts as well. The episode where he manipulated almost all the main characters so he could get the guns and take over the group is still this tropers favorite moment in the series.
== ''[[Supernatural]]'' ==
* Azazel
** During the course of the show, on the other hand, he has a couple of pet projects: plotting to get his hands on a gun that kills everything, attempting to kill the entire remaining Winchester family, choosing an heir to herald the armies of hell, and attempting to literally open the gates of Hell. He succeeds in
** And he only died because he made the mistake of underestimating Dean, John happened to raise out of hell at the last minute, and there was one bullet left in the Colt that could kill (almost) anything. Leaving both Dean and John alive and uncorrupted was an ''integral part'' of his plan, {{spoiler|as one of them would need to be pure so that they could break the first seal by becoming a torturer in hell. Assuming John had remained in hell and would eventually break, Azazel planned to use that last bullet to kill Dean, the future host of Michael, thus ensuring Lucifer's victory in bringing about the Apocalypse. When John escaped without breaking, that left Dean to break the first seal that paved the way to setting Lucifer free}}. Magnificence again.▼
*** It turns out Lucifer's the [[Man Behind the Man|magnificent bastard behind the magnificent bastard]] Azazel, since he told Azazel what to do. But Azazel's still the one who set up that [[The Plan|magnificent plan]].▼
== Other works ==
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** His [[Evil Twin|counterpart]] from [[Alternate Universe|Earth-2]] seems to be having a good run at himself, naturally enough. "Cutting out your daughter's heart to save your son because you're a Magnificent Bastard" should be a facebook group.
** Major Zod, Season 9's [[Big Bad]] is a non-Luthor example, in sharp contrast to his [[General Ripper]] [[Cloning Blues|genetic source material]]. He manages to use pretty much everyone in-show, including [[Manipulative Bastard|Tess]], and [[The Chessmaster|Amanda Waller]] and [[Government Conspiracy|Checkmate]] to fullfill his own ends, and does it all while more or less flying by the seat of his pants. He's less of a [[Chessmaster]] than Lionel was, but even more of a [[Trickster]].
▲* Azazel of ''[[Supernatural]]'' is no slouch on the bastardry, but with [http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/supernatural-azazels-master-plan-43052.aspx the revelations of the end of season 4], [[Fridge Brilliance]] kicks in, and he becomes the magnificent bastard we know and loathe. For starters, we find out that his master plan, previously hinted at, was to {{spoiler|release Lucifer himself, and for kicks, exclusively torment one family.}} He starts by {{spoiler|arranging the release of Lucifer's firstborn, Lilith, who is the LAST of the 66 (of 600+) seals necessary to free Lucifer. He then tricks various parents into signing away their unborn children's futures as incubators for demon blood, specifically so that they can kill said firstborn. The master stroke here being picking a favorite future mother, killing the parents of [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|Mother Mary]] brutally, possessing the dead father, killing her future husband for the first of TWO times, THEN tricking her into unwittingly signing away her child's future, with a deal of bringing back John, the future husband. This "bargain" was of course done for the sole purpose of creating the child he'd had her sign away. The deal was sealed with a kiss, again, [[Squick|between Mary and her dead father, whom Azazel was wearing]]. Of course, leaving right afterwards, [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|no doubt making her carry the body away]].}} This takes place a few decades before the series begins.
▲** During the course of the show, on the other hand, he has a couple of pet projects: plotting to get his hands on a gun that kills everything, attempting to kill the entire remaining Winchester family, choosing an heir to herald the armies of hell, and attempting to literally open the gates of Hell. He succeeds in ALL OF THEM. The kicker is, his greatest victories, as well our knowledge of ANY of his true plan, only come ''after'' he dies, with the knowledge that he's basically already succeeded in everything he set his mind to. MAGNIFICENT.
▲** And he only died because he made the mistake of underestimating Dean, John happened to raise out of hell at the last minute, and there was one bullet left in the Colt that could kill (almost) anything. Leaving both Dean and John alive and uncorrupted was an ''integral part'' of his plan, {{spoiler|as one of them would need to be pure so that they could break the first seal by becoming a torturer in hell. Assuming John had remained in hell and would eventually break, Azazel planned to use that last bullet to kill Dean, the future host of Michael, thus ensuring Lucifer's victory in bringing about the Apocalypse. When John escaped without breaking, that left Dean to break the first seal that paved the way to setting Lucifer free}}. Magnificence again.
▲*** It turns out Lucifer's the [[Man Behind the Man|magnificent bastard behind the magnificent bastard]] Azazel, since he told Azazel what to do. But Azazel's still the one who set up that [[The Plan|magnificent plan]].
▲** It's debatable that The Trickster {{spoiler|AKA the Archangel Gabriel}} and Zachariah deserve a mention.
▲** And Crowley. The guy's got style.
▲*** His crowning moment comes in the season seven finale -- he [[Playing Both Sides|plays the Winchesters and Leviathans against each other]], and ensures that he ends up being the only winner of the season. By the time the dust has settled, {{spoiler|latest [[Big Bad]] Dick Roman is dead, Dean and Castiel have been banished to Purgatory, Meg and Kevin are his prisoners, and Sam is alone and powerless.}}
▲** After the end of the sixth season, {{spoiler|Castiel}} ascends to this level. Through his scheming, he's managed to {{spoiler|[[A God Am I|become God]]}}. Its hard to get more magnficiently bastardish than that. Even if Death does call him out {{spoiler|as nothing more than a "mutated angel" who has almost literally bitten off more than he can chew}}. I mean, Death already said he'd ''reap God''.
* Olivia Pope, the heroine of [[Scandal]] is on the verge of being one. {{spoiler|Her [[Arch Enemy]] is a straighter example.}}
* Jack from ''[[Tru Calling]]''. His Bastardry comes from his mission: to keep the protagonist from saving the lives of the dead people who ask her to do so. His Magnificence comes in the way that he does it. Where Tru tends towards attacking the problem at its source, Jack thinks sideways, poisoning people against Tru before she even shows up. He also tends towards taunting her with little notes and snide commentary. He managed to infiltrate her inner circle with a mole, thus allowing himself to garner all manner of info on her without her knowledge. By [[Too Good to Last|the end]] of the series, he literally has 3 people connected to Tru and her gang that they are entirely unaware of. Imagine the [[Bolivian Army Ending]] when the good guys don't even know the army is ''there''.
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* Richard Cross in ''[[Murder One]]''. A fabulously rich developer with a love of fine wine and Renaissance art, who has a marvellous public image through his various donations to charities. He also helps out South American drug lords just for the hell of it, and after one of these affiliations goes very, very wrong he spends the entire first season wildly improvising to keep himself and his associates in the clear, all while appearing completely unruffled and dangling his involvement in the faces of the show's heroes. It also doesn't hurt that he's played by the indescribably charismatic Stanley Tucci.
* [[Knight Templar|Holtz]] from ''[[Angel]]'' falls under this, mostly for his sheer ''efficiency''. [[Cosmic Horror|Jasmine]] spent millenia with godlike power manipulating events to come to earth, lasted less than a week, and died at the hands of {{spoiler|her most loyal servant}}. Wolfram and Hart spent five seasons with nigh-limitless resources trying to corrupt Angel and all they accomplished in the end was {{spoiler|letting him know who to kill}}. Meanwhile Holtz, had no powers [[Badass Normal|whatsoever]], was [[Villains Blend in Better|out of his own time]] and had no allies but those he created for himself. And in half a season he managed to {{spoiler|[[Manipulative Bastard|convince one of Angel's closest friends]] to kidnap Angel's son, then escaped into a hell dimension with him, raising him [[Laser Guided Tykebomb|to be Angel's worst enemy]]. Then his assisted suicide actually made things [[My Death Is Just the Beginning|worse]] between them.}}
{{quote| '''Angel:''' You ''took'' my ''son''!
'''Holtz:''' I kept your son alive. You murdered mine.
** [[Amoral Attorney|Lilah Morgan]] also comes to exemplify this trope by mid-season three, having begun the series as more of a [[Smug Snake]]. The turning point is probably either "Billy", in which Lilah {{spoiler|coldly executes the title character}}, or
{{quote| '''Translator:''' Well, this should be fun!
'''Lilah:''' No. This shouldn't be fun. What it should be is done by morning -- or I'll have your family killed.
* Spike from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was sometimes seen as this before [[Badass Decay|his infamous (and highly arguable) "Spikeification."]] However, he has a large strike against his cred in his admitted tendency to "get bored" and rush into things without thinking, something a full fledged Magnificent Bastard does not do. That being said, whenever he ''does'' take the time to plan things out, he can hang with the best of them; most notably in episodes like "The Yoko Factor", where he nearly tore the Scooby Gang apart, or the second season finale in which he seemed to realize rushing into things against [[Complete Monster|Angelus]] would not be a smart move and thought a successful plan out in advance, all behind his boss' back.
* [[Satan|The Devil]] in ''[[Reaper]]'' not only arranges for Sam to get an apartment next to a pair of rebel demons whose plan to destroy him would actually have worked, and manipulates Sam into infiltrating the rebellion with a new (doomed) plan to kill him, he also signs Sam's lease with his name and sends him clues as to what is going on that Sam, Sock and Ben can only work out moments after it is too late to do anything about it. Then repeats this plan with the few survivors of the rebellion, and is still witty, charming and diabolically [[Affably Evil|affable]]. Ray Wise's portrayal is just so good that fans now think he may actually ''be'' [[Satan|The Devil]].
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* [[Affably Evil|Sheriff]] [[Satan|Lucas Buck]] of ''[[American Gothic]]'' fulfills this trope again and again throughout the series. Among the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) offenses would be his [[Mind Rape]] of Dr. Crower, beginning with forcing him to [[Break the Cutie|relive his past tragedies]] ({{spoiler|his alcoholism, its destruction of his career, and the terrible accident which cost him the life of his wife and daughter}}), which nearly makes him {{spoiler|fall [[Off the Wagon]] again}}. This then continues on to the convoluted [[Gambit Roulette]] wherein {{spoiler|he convinces Dr. Crower via a woman who claims to be his mother [[Captain Obvious|that he is the Devil Incarnate]].}} Armed with this [[Cassandra Truth]], Matt morphs into a [[Stalker With a Crush]] (only without the crush, [[A Worldwide Punomenon|unless you take it to mean wanting to crush Buck to death]]), so that in the end he gets dragged away, [[Go Mad From the Revelation|having gone off the deep end]], and [[Put On a Bus|is last seen]] {{spoiler|locked away in an insane asylum}}. Talk about a [[Downer Ending]]...but so ingeniously pulled off.
** Honorable mention also goes to the number Buck pulls on the orderly in "Eye of the Beholder", Carter in "Damned If You Don't", and the talk show host in "Resurrector" he forces to kill his wife...{{spoiler|[[Faking the Dead|or at least, he thinks he does]]}}.
* Avon, of ''[[
** Whatever Avon did though; Servalan did better, and in high heels.
* Joey Heric from ''[[The Practice]]'' gleefully eludes justice for one blatant murder after another with his expert manipulation of the legal system, confounding both the district attorney's office and his own defense firm with theatrics, misdirection, and at times even the truth. His ability to shed reasonable doubt into just about everything he does is so uncanny, he can even imply responsibility for crimes he's legitimately not involved in and still have people conviced he might have something to do with it.
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** Strangely, one of the biggest ones in the series is one of the few examples of a good guy being a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. Lester Freamon is, without a doubt, the most intelligent character in the series. He's a cop [[The Chessmaster|who moves everyone, whether they be criminals, politicians, or fellow cops, on the board like they were chess pieces.]] He even outwits Clay Davis. He's also manipulative, just not in a negative way and plays himself off as a harmless old detective that won't give much trouble. But if he's after you, your days as a free man are numbered.
* Malcolm Tucker from ''[[The Thick of It]]'' and [[The Movie]], ''[[In the Loop]]''. As the Prime Minister's chief spin doctor he has made a whole ''career'' out of [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastardry]], and MP Hugh Abbot even coined the term "Malciavellian" to describe his particular brand of it. He gets by on his frankly terrifying degree of charm, which he greatly enjoys abusing. Considered a bastard even by the standards of other spin doctors, his colleagues can't help but grudgingly admire him:
{{quote| '''Nick Hanway:''' ''"Fuck you very much, you unscrupulous bastard."''
'''Malcolm Tucker:''' ''"[[Insult Backfire|Scruples? What are they]]? Those low fat Kettle Chips?"'' }}
** Even his choice of [[Bastard Understudy|understudy]] is bastardly: he appointed the [[Violent Glaswegian]] Jamie, knowing that he lacked the charm and intelligence that would be required to overthrow him.
* In ''[[George Lopez]]'', there's an episode where George and Vic get into a fight, and Vic puts a lock on George's garage because George could only build it because of a loan Vic gave him. George spends a few minutes trying to get the combination to the lock, he finds out his son Max was given the combination. But he runs into some problems.
{{quote| "He gave the combination to a dyslexic fifth grader. ''The man is an [[Magnificent Bastard|EVIL GENIUS!]]''}}
* Hugo deVries in the ''[[Inspector Morse]]'' episode "Masonic Mysteries". Basically spends the entire episode ten steps ahead of ''everyone'', jerry-rigs Morse's home stereo to play really awful Opera (''[[Up to Eleven|LOUDLY]]''), sets Morse's house on fire with Morse inside, frames Morse [[Everything Is Online|using the Internet]], ''and'' delivers some utterly fantastic [[Just Between You and Me|monologuing]] and [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarkery]] to boot. The fact that he's being played by [[Large Ham]] Supreme [[Star Wars|Ian McDiarmid]] is really just gravy at this point.
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** Nikita herself, in her dealings with Division, Oversight and Gogol. Her former handler/teacher and lover, Michael, shows some signs of this as well. Her adversaries - Percy, Amanda and, to a lesser extent, Ari Tasarov - are this as well.
* Torrence, the [[The Charmer|charismatic]] [[The Sociopath|sociopath]] played by Eddie Izzard in 2009s [[The Day of the Triffids]] starts of as a pretty Magnificent Bastard but suffers [[Villainous Breakdown]] when his plans start to go awry, revealing himself to be more of a [[Smug Snake]], albeit a very high-functioning one.
* ''[[Sanctuary (TV series)|Sanctuary]]'' has an intermittent [[Magnificent Bastard]] in Nikola Tesla. Yes, ''that'' Nikola Tesla. The {{spoiler|vampire one}}.
* Alex Russo from ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' often has her moments as this due to how sly and manipulative (and good at it) she can be.
* Morgan Pendragon from the Starz television series [[Camelot]] is the [[Self Made Orphan|daughter]] of [[Complete Monster|the former king]] and the [[Succession Crisis|legitimate heir]] to the throne of England. [[Ambition Is Evil|Ambitious]], [[Insufferable Genius|intelligent]], ruthless and a [[Manipulative Bitch|great manipulator]] with a talent for the [[The Plan]], she'll stop at nothing to become queen and gets most of the English people on her side, given the fact that in this show, [[The Scrappy|King Arthur]] is apparently useless. Morgan is seemingly intended to be a villain but her incredible [[The Charmer|charisma]], the fact that she's actually more relatable than the supposed protagonists and being played by [[Eva Green]] mean that most of the fans are cheering her on. In fact, most of the people on the show are even cheering her on.
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