The greatest sci-fi villains, explained

We here at Polygon love endless possibilities — so we’re all-in on science fiction. We thought of dedicating an issue to science fiction, but as we looked back on our research of utopias & hopeful visions for the future we wondered…

With Quantumania: Ant-Man & the Wasp and the full introduction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new, multiverse-minded baddie Kang on the horizon, now felt like the right time to dip into the darker side of speculative science fiction. From across the mediums, storytellers have always had a place for the evildoers — whether reflections of mankind’s worst impulses or just big A-holes — in their odysseys. This week, we’ll look at evil aliens, killer artificial intelligence, and heroes that are supposed to be doing the right thing but are very much not. We’ll look at classics and new takes on the Big Bad, and feel torn over how much we love Darth Vader. There even be a few good guys who we’ve only now realized are terrible, terrible People robots.

This is Polygon’s [maniacal laugh] Sci-fi Villains Week.

Sci-fi Villains Week illustration: Oliver OnoPolygon

#greatest #scifi #villains #explained