Magnificent Bastard

According to TVTropes, the **Magnificent Bastard** (or **Magnificent Bitch** if the character's a female) is a villain or anti-hero who earns the title of "Magnificent" by capturing the audience with their charisma, incredible intellect, mastery of manipulation, and boldness of action. These character are very often show-stealers, demanding the audience's reverence at every turn. The character's usually a magnificent bastard/bitch if they meet the following criteria:

* They are brilliant and utterly devious, a smooth operator. They are also savvy and do not fall for obvious traps. A smug over-confident baddie who prides themself as more skillful and powerful than they actually are, isn't going to work.
* They have a goal, they're not going to stop until they've completed it. Even when the goal is suicidally over-ambitious, they succeed with style.
* He or she must live up to the "Bastard" part of their name. Maybe they're an out-and-out antagonist in the work, or an evil protagonist, or something in between, but they at least have some unscrupulous qualities to qualify for the trope.
* They are charismatic, often charming, their personality is like a physical force. While they exist on the darker end of the moral spectrum, they never take disgusting actions that undermine their magnificence. There's a limit to how far a villain can go before they go from being an MB to just being too detestable. A genocidal racist or child-raping sadist, for example, aren't going to make the cut.
* It's possible for a Complete Monster to also qualify as a Magnificent Bastard, but due to heinousness restrictions, it's extremely rare. Hans Gruber, The "UNIT Years" and "Tremas" Masters and V.V. Argost are all great examples of a CM who also works as an MB.
* They must be able to think in tight spots, or come up with a reasonable strategy to make up for lost time if they're initial plan fails. If they somehow manage to get defeated completely, the character should be graceful with that defeat.
* He or she cannot be a coward, callously abandon their close ones, or leave them to die just to save their own skin from harm.

## Examples of Magnificent Bastards

### Anime and Manga

* Diaboromon (Digimon: The Movie)
* Mercurymon (Digimon Frontier)
* Murmukusmon (Digimon Frontier)
* Nanami (Digimon Data Squad)
* DarkKnightmon/AxeKnightmon (Digimon Fusion)
* Lord Bagramon (Digimon Fusion)
* Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist manga/Brotherhood)
* Solf J. Kimblee (Fullmetal Alchemist manga/Brotherhood)
* Lieutenant General Grumman (Fullmetal Alchemist manga/Brotherhood)
* Isaac McDougal (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
* Colonel Herschel/Ashleigh Crichton (Fullmetal Alchemis: The Sacred Star of Milos)
* Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist 2003)
* Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist 2003)
* Psiren (Fullmetal Alchemist 2003)
* Char Aznable/Casval Deikun (Gundam)
* Kycilia Zabi (Mobile Suit Gundam)
* Paptimus Scirocco (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)
* Haman Khan (Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ)
* Cima Garahau (Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory)
* Kars (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency)
* Esidisi (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency)
* N'Doul (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders)
* Yoshikage Kira (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable)
* Kirei Kotomine (Nasuverse)
* Kiritsugu Emiya (Nasuverse)
* Archer (Nasuverse)
* Shirou Kotomine (Nasuverse)
* Semiramis (Nasuverse)
* Caster of Red/William Shakespeare (Nasuverse)
* Giovanni (Pokémon Anime)
* Brodie, the Man of a Thousand Faces (Pokémon Anime)
* Colress (Pokémon Anime)
* Mewtwo (Pokémon: The First Movie)
* Butler (Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker)

### Comic Books

* DC Examples
	+ Etrigan
	+ Lady Shiva (Batgirl)
	+ Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Batman)
	+ Ra's Al-Ghul (Batman)
	+ Talia Al-Ghul (Batman)
	+ Bane (Batman)
	+ Thaal Sinestro (Green Lantern)
	+ Mary the Queen of Blood (I, Vampire)
	+ John Constantine (John Constantine)
	+ Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer)
	+ Richard Swift/The Shade (Starman)
	+ Amanda Waller (Suicide Squad)
	+ Lex Luthor (Superman)
	+ General Dru-Zod II (Superman)
	+ Lord Gerald Shilling (Tomahawk)
* Marvel Examples
	+ Baron Helmut Zemo
	+ Doctor Doom
	+ Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk
	+ Loki
	+ Magneto
	+ The Mandarin
	+ Thanos the Mad Titan
	+ Kang the Conqueror (Avengers)
	+ Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter (Spider-Man)
	+ Roderick Kingsley (Spider-Man)
* Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra (Star Wars: Doctor Aphra)
* Ferren Barr (Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith)

### Animated Films

* BurgerBeard (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water)

### Live-Action Films

* Addison DeWitt (All About Eve)
* Rick Blaine (Casablanca)
* Tony Wendice (Dial M for Murder)
* Django Freeman (Django Unchained)
* King Schultz (Django Unchained)
* Vito Corleone (The Godfather)
* Aldo Raine (Inglorious Basterds)
* Shosanna Dreyfuss (Inglorious Basterds)
* James Bond Examples
	+ Dr. Julius No (Dr. No)
	+ Dr. Kananga (Live and Let Die)
	+ Francisco Scaramanga (The Man with the Golden Gun)
	+ May Day (A View to a Kill)
	+ Alec Trevelyan (GoldenEye)
	+ Elektra King (The World Is Not Enough)
	+ "Mr. White" (Reboot Series)
	+ Tiago Rodriguez (Skyfall)
* Bill (Kill Bill)
* O-Ren Ishii (Kill Bill)
* Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon (1941))
* Kasper Gutman (The Maltese Falcon (1941))
* Count Rupert of Hentzau (The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 and 1952))
* Jules Winfield (Pulp Fiction)
* Detective Holdaway (Reservoir Dogs)
* Tobias Beckett (Solo)
* Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek)
* Gaston Monescu (Trouble in Paradise)

### Literature

* Frankenstein's Monster (Frankenstein)
* Iden Versio (Inferno Squad)

### Live-Action TV

* Romo Lampkin (Battlestar Galactica (2003))
* Mayor Richard Wilkins (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
	+ Daniel Holtz (Angel)
* Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek)

### Video Games

* Ganondorf Dragmire (The Legend of Zelda)
* Iden Versio (Star Wars Battlefront II)
* Orgrim Doomhammer (World of Warcraft)
* Illidan Stormrage (World of Warcraft)
* Onyxia (World of Warcraft)
* Loken (World of Warcraft)
* Bwonsamdi (World of Warcraft)
* Lucifer (Shin Megami Tensei)
* Stephen (Shin Megami Tensei)

### Western Animation

* Princess Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
* The Simpsons:
	+ Molloy
	+ Hank Scorpio
	+ Gina Vendetti
	+ Donny
* Spongebob SquarePants:
	+ No Name
	+ "Master" Udon
	+ Madame Hagfish
	+ Don Grouper
	+ PlanKrab
* Star Wars examples:
	+ The Clone Wars
		- Asajj Ventress
		- Hondo Ohnaka
		- Cad Bane
		- Mother Talzin
	+ Rebels
		- The Grand Inquisitor
		- Grand Admiral Thrawn