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Wicked Cultured: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|"''I can't believe what that clown is doing to [[Pagliacci|Leoncavallo]]! [[Even Evil Has Standards|And they call]] '''[[Even Evil Has Standards|me]]''' [[Even Evil Has Standards|a murderer]]!''"|'''Sideshow Bob''', ''[[The Simpsons (
It's not that [[Evil Is Cool]]. Rather, this is more like "Evil is Intellectual." Evil is smart, wicked, sarcastic with a biting sense of humor. Evil is smooth and eloquent, if not outright suave. Evil [[Man of Wealth and Taste|dresses well]], has a [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|polysyllabic lexicon]], quotes [[Shakespeare]], sips [[A Glass of Chianti|fine wine]], listens to Beethoven and Brahms, and in general is shown to be cultured if not necessarily civilized. This can apply to any villain, [[Anti-Villain]], or associated character types.
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When [[Aristocrats Are Evil]], they almost always follow this trope; when enough of them do, you get [[Deadly Decadent Court]]. They are likely to practice [[Brains and Bondage]] without any trace of [[Safe, Sane, and Consensual]].
Compare the less sinister [[Villains Out Shopping]], [[Villainous Fashion Sense]], [[Evil Is Stylish]], and [[Man of Wealth and Taste]]. The exact opposite of this is a [[Gentleman and
Don't confuse with [[Sophisticated As Hell]].
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== Anime and Manga ==
* In between various [[Kick the Dog|dog-kicking acts]] (and occasionally [[Moral Event Horizon|burning them]]) and sending his [[Ax Crazy]] minions after the heroes, Dio Brando of ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure
* ''[[Monster (
* The Major from ''[[Hellsing]]'' is a textbook example: he dresses immaculately, always ready for [[A Glass of Chianti]], is well-read, refined, eloquent, frighteningly intelligent, but... He's totally, batshit insane and has "''EVIL''" written on him in two-foot letters. In blood.
* Creed from ''[[Black Cat (
* M'Quve from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' is a ruthless [[Smug Snake]] under the orders of [[Lady of War|Princess]] [[Evil Redheads|Kycilia]] [[Evil Genius|Zabi]], whom he's fiercely devoted to. He's also an extremely cultured, polite, soft-spoken man who adores art and souvenirs. {{spoiler|His last thoughts as he died in battle were of both his Princess and an old porcelain vase that he wanted to offer to her as a gift.}}
* [[Umineko no Naku Koro
* Crocodile from ''[[One Piece]]''. Drinks wine while the Straw Hats are imprisoned (in addition to a [[No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine]] scene with Vivi), names his criminal organization after Renaissance architecture, and dresses in a fashion akin to a mafia ringleader.
* ''[[
** Since this is from manga and anime, to be clear: drag-your-soul-to-Hell demon, not "generic supernatural creature" demon.
* Aizen of ''[[Bleach]]'' uses very long words, [[Gambit Roulette|even longer plans]] and as a scientist is second only to [[Trickster Mentor|Urahara]] (which continuously annoys him, and somewhat justified too, as {{spoiler|Urahara plays a vital role in his defeat}}).
* Solf J. Kimblee of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has got this down pat. Immaculate white suit? Check. Nice, calming voice? Check. An interest in the alchemical arts, as well as a seeming passion for music? Chack. [[Blood Knight|Oh, and did we forget to mention that he's a psychopath]] [[Mad Bomber|who has made it his life's work to blow up anything and everything for the heck of it?]] [[Why Am I Ticking?|And he can turn people into living bombs?]]
* Izaya Orihara from ''[[Durarara]]'' [[Fur and Loathing|wears fur-lined coats]], speaks Russian, reads [[Oscar Wilde]] and throws around psychology terms like "misattribution of arousal". He's also Japan's biggest [[Troll]].
* Proist, the eventual [[Big Bad]] of the 2005 ''[[
* Invoked by Yahiro Saiga of ''[[Special A]]''. He's not actually [[Jerkass Facade|that]] [[Zero-Approval Gambit|bad]], but with his love of opera, fine clothing and dining he certainly looks like an example.
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== Comic Books ==
* The Top of [[The Flash]]'s [[Rogues Gallery]] is an incredible genius who is, among other things, a wine connoisseur. This has made him a pariah among the other, more blue-collar Rogues.
** The Fiddler, as well, was a classically trained violinist and musical virtuoso who sometimes claimed he was [[Doing It for
*** This was [[Lampshaded]] once when Deadshot asked him why, if he was classically trained and had a genuine Strad violin, why he called himself the Fiddler, like "...an inbred hick".
** Weather Wizard also fancies himself something of an intellectual.
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* [[Vandal Savage]] is an astute intellectual who is thousands of years old. He also hunts down his descendants so he can eat them.
* The Penguin, one of [[Batman]]'s major villains is usually portrayed as being this. As is Ra's al Ghul and the Scarecrow.
** The Penguin character was [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] in ''[[
* ''[[Sin City]]'': Manute speaks in a very polite and eloquent manner. He seems to have little regard for hookers and "the dregs of Sin City". When Dwight implies Manute's only serving the [[Big Bad]] because she slept with him (her usual MO), Manute finds the suggestion vulgar and insulting. Mere sex is no reason to follow anyone.
* Magneto in ''[[Ultimate X
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** Wine lovers note that his "nice Chianti" is a surprisingly rustic choice for such a sophisticate.
*** Attentive film goers and wine lovers also note that he mentions "a nice Chianti", complete with a mispronunciation of the name, right around the time he is mocking Agent Starling's rustic roots. Hannibal may be such a sophisticate that drinking a Chianti might be on par with "being a coal miner" and "smelling of a lamp" and thus saying he drank one facetiously.
* The ''[[X-Men (
** Magneto
** Sebastian Shaw in the opening of ''X-Men: First Class''. He assures a terrified boy (who would grow up to be Magneto) that he doesn't share the ridiculous Nazi prejudice against Jews. The boy doesn't seem to be reassured. Later in the scene, the camera shifts, and we see that Shaw's office includes a torture chamber...
* The Pin in the neo-noir film ''Brick.'' Something of a subversion, as outside of his basement office, he's clearly quite shy and eager to be liked.
* ''[[
* Hans Gruber in ''[[
* Sardo Numspa in ''[[The Golden Child]]''.
* Evil in ''[[Time Bandits]]'', who is sort of like Satan.
* Roman Castevet in ''[[
* Alex of ''[[A Clockwork Orange (
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''
** Cutler Beckett, in contrast to the monstrous Hector Barbossa and Davy Jones, presents himself as a cultured villain, sipping tea aboard his ship before going into battle.
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* The Merovingian from ''[[The Matrix]]''. He owns a restaurant, an S&M fetishist nightclub, lives in a grand mansion, and has a beautiful wife. His manner is that of a smug Frenchman and he effortlessly rebuffs the heroes upon their first encounter.
** As he points out during their first meeting, even swears in French sound beautiful to someone who doesn't understand the language.
* Sigfried in the ''[[Get Smart (
* Rotti Largo from ''[[
* Casanova Frankenstein, in ''[[Mystery Men]]'', who is so smart and sophisticated that Captain Amazing asks him how to pluralize words while they are bantering.
{{quote| '''Amazing:''' Well, we've always been each other's greatest nemesises... nemesisi... nemesi... what's the plural on that?<br />
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** Count Dooku, who notably uses a fencing grip on his lightstaber
** His master Palpatine/Darth Sidious has shades of this as well -- Ian McDiarmid, who played him, has said that Palpatine's only redeeming feature is that he is a patron of the arts, particularly weird alien operas.
* ''[[
* Many, ''many'' ''[[James Bond (
** [[
** Auric [[
** Ernst Stavro Blofeld (''[[From Russia
*** ''[[
*** The ''OHMSS'' version inspired [[The DCAU]] Lex Luthor; the term "cultured thug" is mentioned in interviews/ commentaries, and could have been the alternate Trope name.
** Karl Stromberg from ''[[
*** Imported, brick by brick, from France to California (he bought the Eiffel Tower too, but was refused an export permit).
*** The former is often seen sitting around his dining table in his underwater mansion, eating expensively and listening to Bach.
** Kamal Khan (''[[
** ''[[
** Francisco Scaramanga, [[The Man
** The higher-ups of [[Quantum of Solace
* To a degree, Khan from ''[[Star Trek:
** General Chang from ''[[Film/Star Trek VI The Voyage Home|Star Trek VI The Voyage Home]]'' is definitely this. The man could barely get through a given day without gratuitous Shakespeare quoting; even when trying to smash the ''Enterprise''.
*** You should hear him quoting Shakespeare in the <s>Klingon original</s> original Klingon!
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*** The use of the phone in the beginning of Wall Street II could be considered an unplanned [[Brick Joke]] (get it, brick?)
* Nearly every character portrayed by German actor Sky du Mont (e.g. Sandor Szavost in Stanley Kubrick's movie ''Eyes Wide Shut'').
* Klytus from the 1980 ''[[Flash Gordon (
* Subverted by Otto in ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]],'' who ''believes'' himself to be well-educated and tasteful, but is in fact a thuggish moron.
* Agent Stansfield in ''Leon''/''[[The Professional]]'' has a love of classical music and hard drugs.
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{{quote| '''Cobb:''' You take it away, to show them what they had.}}
* Benedict, [[The Dragon]] in ''The [[Last Action Hero]]'', is much more cultured than his mobster boss and frequently irritated by the latter's ignorance.
* Moriarty in ''[[Sherlock Holmes (
** Don't forget that he's also a well-known university professor with many friends in the British government. He also enjoys playing chess with a worthy adversary. Being in decent physical shape as well as a past boxing champion, while it doesn't make him cultured, does make him a well-rounded person.
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== Literature ==
* Most Forsaken in the [[Wheel of Time]] books fit this trope perfectly. Not surprising, given that they are from a much more civilized time where they were among the highest ranked scholars and wizards in the world.
* Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil from ''[[Dangerous Liaisons
** Her modern, American, and underage counterpart in ''[[Cruel Intentions]]'' also fits this trope, but it's largely an act: she's a slut, and has a surprisingly filthy mouth.
* Headmaster Maximilian Nero of [[HIVE Series|H.I.V.E.]] fits this, believing that evil should always be intelligent in its design and stylish in its execution.
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* Vetinari, periodically. In particular, his hobby of reading the ''[[Discworld]]'' equivalent of classical music, because actual instruments are just too unrefined.
** Though, really, he's an ascetic more than anything. Sure, he's well read and educated, but he dresses simply, subsists on bread and water, has no known vices (apart from an uncompromising attitude toward mimes -- performing in the city is punishable by the scorpion pit -- but most don't begrudge him that), takes no advantage of the perks and trapping of his office, spends essentially all his time making sure the city doesn't fall apart and planning [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]] around the city's Guilds and international politics. Also, he's not so much evil as deeply pragmatic (although there is, admittedly, not much of a difference sometimes.)
** Odd subversion in ''[[Discworld
** Let us not forget the Dragon King of Arms in ''Feet of Clay''. A vampire over five hundred years old, he was in charge of Ankh-Morpork's heraldry.
** Also Lord Hong, who not only lives in a [[Deadly Decadent Court]], but has mastered all the Orientalist arts of his culture. Nobody concentrates!
* Yawgmoth from ''The Thran'' is a scientist and a physician, has a wide knowledge and learns very quickly. He's going to become the most dreaded [[Big Bad]] in [[Magic:
* Parodied in ''[[Neverwhere]]'', in which [[Those Two Bad Guys|Mr. Croup]] collects priceless Chinese porcelain {{spoiler|to eat}}.
* Patrick Bateman, the [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[American Psycho]]'' ''thinks'' he is, but then goes and describes Whitney Houston as [[Comically Missing the Point|"the most exciting and original black jazz voice of her generation."]] Then again, Bateman is ''supposed'' to be a vain, hollow fake.
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* Lucius Malfoy from ''[[Harry Potter]]''. He's well dressed and well spoken, and he's also implied to be heavily involved in wizarding cultural affairs (on the board of Hogwarts, donates to St. Mungo's). And damn, is his [http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f395/barguestspirit/normal_HP5-SP-4883r.jpg pimp cane] awesome or what?
* ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]''
** example: [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Grand Admiral Thrawn]]. The guy collects art. Then he studies it, [[Awesomeness By Analysis|learns the loopholes in the creators' culture]], [[Magnificent Bastard|uses them to steer them into the exact position he wants them]], and systematically [[Curb Stomp Battle|beats them]] until they surrender. The one time he was unable to gain insight through a culture's art, he was forced to utterly destroy them, although he still looks at their art and believes that he's finally starting to understand (this species, tellingly, was the Khaleesh - the most well-known of which is General Grievous). He's even able to acknowledge the artistry in {{spoiler|his own assassination}}. Thrawn's [[Affably Evil|Affably Imperial]], of course, and in some depictions he's [[Officer and
** A less morally ambiguous example is [[Smug Snake]] [[Shadows of the Empire|Prince Xizor]]. He's the head of the vast crime syndicate Black Sun, he sits at the Emperor's feet closer than anyone but Vader, co-owns and dines at the most exclusive restaurant on Coruscant, and in general is just fabulously wealthy and lets it show. There's mention that he forgave some debtor when presented with a thousand-year-old miniature tree, and he muses that values it more than rare gems and would not give it up even if he had to sell the rest of his finincial and criminal empire.
** [[The Glove of Darth Vader|Trioculus]]. In addition to the pseudo-Latin name, he actually interrupts his pursuit of our heroes to [[Green Aesop|go hunting]].
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** Rice even explores this through Lestat's voice in [[The Vampire Chronicles|The Vampire Lestat]], as he muses that it's not surprising Louis thought he was lying about his [[Blue Blood]]: Louis was a member of the American ''nouveau riche'' who put on what they imagined were aristocratic airs, while Lestat came from "a long line of Barons who threw chicken bones over their shoulders" and slept with their hunting dogs.
*** Rice has lots of fun with this. For all his sophistication, Lestat learned English from reading cheesy, low-brow pulp detective [[Dime Novel|dime novels]], and loves slang because of it. He describes his own way of speaking as [[The Maltese Falcon|Sam Spade]]-ish.
* Not only is [[Villain Protagonist]] [[
* [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]] is depicted as a highly intelligent and cultured man, with refined ("even rarefied", as the novel ''Hannibal'' puts it) tastes. He shops at exclusive high-end stores and wouldn't miss a good opera for the world.
** He prefers to eat the rude.
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* A few of ''[[Redwall]]'''s less barbaric villains; Tsarmina, Ublaz, Vilu Daskar, and Badrang come to mind.
* Several characters from ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'', starting with the Count himself, who has impeccable taste and if not an outright villain, is a ruthless [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]. There's also the bandit leader, Luigi Vampa, who is a polite, nice guy who reads Caesar's ''Commentaries'' for fun. He's also a strong believer in punctuality, and if a ransom is not paid on time, he will calmly stab the kidnappee to death or shoot them in the head. And there's also Benedetto, a young career criminal who has no trouble posing as a cultured aristocrat.
* Parodied in ''[[The
* Count [[Dracula]], being a Voivode and all, comes across as a fairly refined, rich old gentleman before he's revealed as a vampire.
* Alex from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (
* The [[AI Is a Crapshoot|robot]] Erasmus in ''[[Dune|Legends of Dune]]'' believes himself to be cultured, while at the same time performing inhumane experiments on his human [[We Will Use Manual Labor in
* In ''[[Night Watch]]'', [[Magnificent Bastard|Zavulon]] (or Zabulon) always appears wearing a suit and rarely shows anger. However, he is a scheming bastard who would be considered an outright villain if not for this world's [[Grey and Gray Morality]]. His Dusk appearance, however, is that of a demon (the author even felt the need to mention his [[Squick|spiked penis]]). [[The Movie]] version shows him more as an anarchist wearing black leather and a bandana.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''' Nicodemus, the host and compatriot of a fallen angel, definitely qualifies. He's the scariest and evilest creature in a series full of scary, evil creatures who could squash him with their pinkies, but he does it with impeccable taste.
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* General Zaroff from ''[[The Most Dangerous Game]]'' is your typical aristocratic big game hunter, with an eloquent manner and a taste for the final things in life. He's also a depraved serial killer.
* [[Scaramouche]]: The Marquis is an honorable, educated, well-read noble. He is also a ruthless killer.
* Vlad the Impaler in ''[[
* ''[[The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel]]'' has Machiavelli. Well-dressed, well-spoken in an absurd amount of languages, esteemed art collector...and [[Magnificent Bastard]] immortal in service to an evil god.
* After concluding his [[Dead Person Impersonation]] in the first novel by forging a will from his impersonee leaving everything to himself, [[Villain Protagonist]] Tom Ripley of ''[[The Talented Mr. Ripley]]'' and other novels lives the good life in a French chateau, becoming a talented dabbler in art (both as an expert and as a painter), music, and fine cuisine. In between entertaining guests, he likes to amuse himself by carrying out odd jobs for gangsters, and once in a while (i.e. at least once per novel) kills the odd person who gets too close to exposing his past
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* Sort of [[Real Life]], since it's reality TV, but Joe & Bill (a.k.a. Team Guido) from ''[[The Amazing Race]]''. They were relatively old, gay, had lived all over Europe, spoke several European languages and were overall kind of prissy. Needless to say, the other teams did not like them. Although they did give reason to, most famously because one of them shoved somebody's mother and reduced the daughter to tears.
** The "Cultured" part definitely applied to them (they were even the first team to wear matching outfits), but, [[Nostalgia Filter|in retrospect, they weren't really that "Wicked"]]. It was mainly three teams who were complaining about them, and the things they were complaining about are now considered basic strategies that every team is expected to know. Meaning these days, Joe & Bill come of as innovators, while the other three teams appear to be [[Scrub|whining about a team actually trying to win]]. The only really wicked thing Team Guido did was trying to block said three teams from getting on their plane, which led to the aforementioned shoving incident, somehow shoving a woman who was standing behind them.
* ''[[
** Not particularly attractive to a human audience? You don't get onto the internet often, do you?
*** Sikozu certainly has no problem with him.
* Bester in ''[[
** In one appearance, he quotes ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' to a guard who doesn't catch the reference, and in another he references ''The Cask of Amontillado.'' This may intersect with [[Small Reference Pools]], however, as both are generally read in High Schools.
* In ''[[Smallville]]'', both Lionel and Lex Luthor are examples of this.
* Benjamin Linus of ''[[Lost]]'' is an extremely polite and gracious host to his many captives, going so far as to feed one of them a beachside breakfast with a real knife and fork. He even plays Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor" on his piano shortly before the Barracks are stormed by Charles Widmore's mercenary strike force... and before he is informed of their breaching of security and promptly reveals a shotgun hidden within his piano bench.
* Used and also subverted by members of the Conspiracy on ''[[The X
** Cancer Man/CGB Spender/Cigarette Smoking Man is something of a self-learned intellectual with an amazing capacity for reciting facts and quotations, but we find out in one episode ("Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man") that all he really wants to do is write airport novels about the lone rogue going up against massive conspiracies... it is made pretty clear that he has to tell the truth about what he knows, but the only way to do this without sacrificing everything is to frame it as bad fiction that gets rejected by publishers. So basically, CGB Spender is a ruthless villain with a facade of culture whose actual personal interests are a subversion of the archetype this trope describes.
* On ''[[
* Although Santos from the Argentinian series ''[[Los Simuladores]]'' is not evil, he is incredibly calm and cultured, and runs a shady business of pulling [[Batman Gambit|Batman]] and [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]] with information gathered via "unorthodox" methods.
* Lodz on ''[[Carnivale]]'' was erudite, charming, and persuasive. He was also remarkably evil and showed some signs of [[Nazi]] sympathies.
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* Jim Profit of ''[[Profit]]'', along with a quite hellish [[Freudian Excuse]] for his dislike of television.
* [[Dexter]].
* Half of the killers on ''[[
* In ''[[Cracker]]'', Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle) resents how he thinks people view him as an uncultured and uneducated thug. He makes a point of this when he kills his second victim, a professor, who had dismissed him as such in public, when he recognises the music the professor was playing as Mozart and asked him if he was surprised he knew that (which he was). He both hates that people think of him as scum (in his mind) and blames them when he in turn acts like murdering scum. Unfortunately his first murder was a hotheaded attack on a shopkeeper over being ripped off by 4 pence. In other words he's a [[Deconstruction]] of the Trope, a working class killer who both shows signs of being cultured yet is at the same time is becoming every bad thing he thinks society views him as being.
{{quote| '''Albie''': Ya treat us like ''scum'' we start actin' like ''scum''.}}
* Colonel Montoya from ''[[
* System Lord Ba'al from ''[[Stargate SG
* In an episode of ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', the team goes to a planet whose leaders struck a deal with the [[Our Vampires Are Different|Wraith]]. The Wraith who regularly visits the planet enjoys fine cuisine and wines, despite the fact that they provide no nourishment for him.
* [[Blade the Series|Marcus van Sciver]] is known throughout Detrot as a patron of the arts and a proponent for the city's cultural revival. At the same time, he's a vicious [[Our Vampires Are Different|bloodsucking]] mastermind, whose goal is to overthrow the vampiric aristocracy. Being [[Evil Brit|British]] helps. Hell, he manages to get Krista to sleep with him after killing her brother and forcibly turning her by telling a sob story about his late wife.
* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek:
** Also, the self-aware Moriarty holodeck program. Seriously, the holodeck can create some really cultured foes.
* Peter Stone, the [[Big Bad]] of seasons 5 and 6 of ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]''. [[Executive Meddling]] had him do a [[Heel Face Turn]] in season 7, though. In the meantime, he filmed Manny stripping and sent it over the Internet; took some bikini pictures of Darcy and sent them over the Internet; and planted some weed in Sean's locker.
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{{quote| '''Evil Genius:''' Alas, I ''abhor'' informality.}}
* This phenomenon is very common in ''[[Soap Opera]]''s. Many arch-villains have been featured in this way, including vaguely Italian mobsters Stefano DiMera from ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'' and Carlo Hesser from ''[[One Life to Live]]'', Swedish-born drug smuggler and arms dealer James Stenbeck from ''[[As the World Turns]]'' and cut-throat businessman Roger Thorpe from ''[[Guiding Light]]''. Such wickedly cultured hallmarks of these characters include the almost painfully stereotypical wearing of finely-tailored suits and the drinking of expensive cognac.
* Some of the villains on ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' fall into this category. [[Evil Brit|Sark]] is fond of Chateau Pétrus (one of the world's rarest and most expensive wines). Also, in one episode, the protagonists drug a bad guy's Cristal at a performance of the London Philharmonic (he goes there on the third Saturday of every month).
* Xavier St. Cloud in '[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]''. And Consone.
* Most of the Lannisters from ''[[
** Jamie Lannister implicitly takes pride in his beautiful golden armor being without a single dent. He also pushed a child out of a tower.
** We first meet Tywin Lannister admonishing his son Jamie for his misinterpretation of the philosophical concepts of family honour... as he is [[Rule of Symbolism|skinning a stag]].
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* A few of Agent 47's targets in ''[[Hitman]]'' fall under this heading, though they are particularly rare. The most obvious is Don Fernando Delgado, a drug baron who also produces several highly-regarded wines, plays the cello as a hobby, and collects rare butterflies.
* President Shinra of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' is seen listening to classical music while the Sector 7 Slums are destroyed. Also, Genesis of ''[[Crisis Core]]'' quotes incessantly from the play ''Loveless''.
* Ultimecia of ''[[
* Kuja of ''[[
* Similarly Wilhelm of ''[[
** Also Albedo.
* [[Command and Conquer|Kane.]]
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* Doctor Killjoy of ''[[The Suffering]]'' takes [[Chewing the Scenery|great]] [[Large Ham|delight]] in reciting Shakespearean soliloquies.
* Mr. X from [[Streets of Rage]].
* Mad artist Sander Cohen of ''[[
** Andrew Ryan too, with his pursuit of objectivist philosophy as an end unto itself, and his beliefs that all artists should be free to express their dreams without fear of censorship. Even his passion for Art Deco architecture is obvious in the appearance of Rapture, despite being built thirty years after Art Deco was all the rager.
* General Viggo in ''[[Fur Fighters]]'' tries to come across like this, he succeeds right up until the end when he cracks.
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** You could say [[Incredibly Lame Pun|he developed a taste for it]].
* Played with in ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]] 2''. Archibald Grims, [[Smug Snake]] and [[Card-Carrying Villain|card-carrying]] [[For the Evulz|terrorist without a cause]], invites his most cultured subordinate for a spot of tea. He takes this time to explain that he doesn't actually ''like'' tea, but he likes to drink red tea [[Don't Explain the Joke|because it kind of looks like blood]]. Meanwhile, his subordinate notices that he's using a teabag, so he can't even get the "cultured" part right.
* The Spy from ''[[
** Heavy, meanwhile, definitely counts. He has a Ph.D in Russian Lit. and enjoys himself a nice Peach Bellini. This, in-between screaming at the top of his lungs, chewing through people with a giant mini-gun, and telling stories about choking an Engie with his own wrench as if it were [[Russian Humor|some kind of bawdy anecdote]].
*** [[Eloquent in My Native Tongue|Even more so in the Russian translation.]]
** Between bouts of administering "accidental" not-medicine and blowing up hearts [[For Science!]], Medic's a violinist.
*** The Engineer, to Blutarch Mann's personal care attendant, regarding a painting in Blutarch's mansion: "[[Sophisticated As Hell|Say, ain't that an original]] [[Captain Ersatz|Kicasso?"]]
* Ganondorf. One particular example would be in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', wherein he is playing the organ while awaiting Link's arrival at the castle {{spoiler|to rescue Princess Zelda}}.
* ''[[
** [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|The Illusive Man]] of ''[[
** Donovan Hock from the "Kasumi's Stolen Memories" DLC is also an example, being a ruthless criminal who owns several rare sculptures, including the Lady Liberty's head and Michelangelo's David. Hock even shouts a [[Big No]] if Shepard [[Shut UP, Hannibal|shoots one of his precious sculptures]].
* [[Batman: Arkham City]]: Subverted with this version of The Penguin - he's [[Jabba Table Manners|a thoroughly coarse]] [[Fat Bastard|and unpleasant]] [[The Bully|individual]], [[Small Name, Big Ego|even if he'd like to think otherwise]].
* Also subverted with Chatterbox, the [[Monster Clown|clown-faced Soho mob boss]] in the videogame version of ''[[The Warriors (
* Relius Clover in ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' while being an utterly ruthless [[Complete Monster]], conducts himself with extreme suave style, dresses very well, his hobby is watching opera shows, and the things he dislikes are just 'disorganized book shelves'. He doesn't use crude language while showing off just how deprived evil he is, as opposed to [[Troll|Hazama]].
* De Killer from [[Ace Attorney]]
** {{spoiler|Kristoph Gavin}} from [[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]
** And before either of them, [[The Perfectionist|Manfred von Karma]].
* Leon Powalski from ''[[Star Fox]]'' is a mix of both this and [[Ax Crazy]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', most Invictus vampires are presented this way, as are the Ordo Dracul and Clan Mekhet; of course, just how evil they are depends on the individual and one's point of view. In the [[Vampire: The Masquerade
== Web Comics ==
* Doc Scratch of ''[[
** He also {{spoiler|kicked off the "Make her pay" subplot, which resulted in one person confined to a wheelchair, one dead, one blind, and one losing an arm and eye as well as being despised by everyone she ever liked.}}
* Mordecai Heller from ''Lackadaisy'' can be considered this.
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== Web Original ==
* Both Dr. Diabolik and his daughter Jadis, in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Jadis Diabolik is only a high school sophomore, and already feared throughout [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]]. She quotes Shakespeare and Yeats, and knows who is the finest butcher in all of New York City. However, do not make her mad at you.
* In [[Tales of MU]], Embries and The Man both qualify. The former has a gloriously-decorated office and snazzy attire, a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|silver tongue]], and a tea set of which he is very fond. He is also an ancient dragon with a [[I Am a Humanitarian|taste for human flesh]]. The Man is a demon who [[Powered
== Western Animation ==
* [[Gargoyles
* Stewie from ''[[Family Guy]]'', some of the time.
** Daggermouth
* The Ultra-Humanite in ''[[Justice League (
** Possibly Vandal Savage, as well. He's smart, but his level of culture is arguable; [[Wonder Woman]] certainly feels he's exactly as barbaric as the caveman he ultimately is.
*** "Hereafter" pretty much confirms it when Superman looks over his library. "Self-help books? You don't seem like the type."
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'''Bob:''' I've been in prison, Cecil. I'll be happy just as long as it doesn't taste like orange drink fermented under a radiator.<br />
'''Cecil:''' That would be the Latour, then. }}
* All things considered, ''[[
** The fact that he bathes with a rubber ducky manages to reduce his cultured aura not one bit, impressively.
** Also note the way he strokes his T-rex head arm while in his robot form, the same way [[James Bond]] villain Blofeld caresses his pet cat.
** The Megatron in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' was obviously inspired by his predecessor. He drinks oil out of a barrel crushed into the shape of a chalice.
* The Grand Duke in ''Rock-A-Doodle'' is not just a evil owl who spits black magic and wears a dracula cape; he also enjoys embroidery and plays a demonic organ that controls the weather. Being voiced by the urbane Christopher Plummer helps.
* Many Disney villains, including [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Jafar]], [[The Lion King|Scar]], [[Sleeping Beauty|Maleficent]], [[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Captain Hook]] and [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Lady Tremaine]].
** And, of course, the elegantly cultured [[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|Shere]] [[Tale Spin
** Also the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of this trope [[The Great Mouse Detective|Professor Ratigan]], which actually enhances his villainy, as it's all a cover for his feral and untamed -- " {{spoiler|rat}}" -- nature.
* Phantom Limb from ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' is a definite example, once called out for having sold out his villainous principles for high culture accoutrements such as dealing in stolen art instead of 'the old stuff'. (In the same episode, he laments how many of his fellow art thieves want to steal the Mona Lisa, for no other reason than it's a famous painting, and not because they appreciate it as art.)
* Monkey from ''[[
** Perhaps you are referring to SIMIAAAAAAAAN!
* Megabyte from ''[[Re Boot]]'', no question. His voice is [[Tony Jay]], after all.
* [[Playing
** This leads to a hilarious moment where Exo Trooper Wolf Bronski, by no means cultured himself, is attempting to save paintings Phaeton has ordered destroyed. During the fights, he yells at the Neo Sapiens, calling them Philistines. Then he turns to the woman with him and asks "Hey, what's a Philistine?"
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'': The Delightful Children From Down The Lane, some of the time.
* Vlad Masters of [[Danny Phantom]], invoked-his accent is very much cultured.
* V.V. Argost, the primary antagonist of [[The Secret Saturdays]], embodies this. Essentially a cross between Doctor Doom and Vincent Price, this should come as no surprise.
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