As we all sit here at Reject HQ, gathered around an absurdly long, but incredibly imposing, table discussing what to do with the nuclear missiles we just “creatively appropriated” from a breakaway Russian republic, it occurs to us that 2011 was a great year to be bad. For every boring, dopey, goody-good hero that popped up on the silver screen, there was a brilliant, super cool, woefully misunderstood villain doing everything he/she/it could to thwart the zero hero at every turn. So when Supreme Commander #1, better known to the world (and those pesky Avengers so they’ll stop blasting our lair) as Neil Miller, issued an official order (delivered by a specially-trained, fire-breathing, gun-toting alligator who lives in the moat) to construct a supersonic death ray…that assignment went to Kate “Femme Fatale” Erbland. But then I got asked to do this list of the 20 Best Villains of 2011, a decided promotion from my usual position as sinister cocktail-fetcher and cleaner of the diabolical gutters.

Last week’s discussion on the sex appeal of animated characters sparked a little offline controversy. Why did we forget to include sexy villains in our list, when everyone knows they can be just as mouthwatering? Now we could spend an entire novel talking about the awkward crushes we have on certain animated villains, just as we could in the opposite direction, however I’m more interested in the modern rejection of Hollywood’s traditional “uglying up” the bad guy. See, this is where movies have always lost me. A true villain, one who is charming, relies on henchmen, and has a bevy of beauties would never be a disgusting, rotted, warted-up mess. In fact, no matter how determined a villain is to get his or her way, their tinge of crazy (read: psychotic levels) often makes them more attractive to those sharing screen time.  This is probably why you feel the need to shower after watching anything starring Vincent Cassel. But recently mainstream films have taken a page out of the indie playbook and started making their villains just a touch more delicious. Movies.com’s Jenni Miller wrote earlier this week about the sexification of the rapist in next month’s Straw Dogs remake. She discusses her discomfort with the film’s marketing decision to highlight the sexiness of the gang of deviants and how the film’s “down home” feel will get lost with such good looking villains. I have to disagree. Although Alexander Skarsgard (Charlie) has made a career of playing a hot Viking [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

A while back we were hearing rumors that in addition to General Zod, the evil Kryptonian revolutionary that Superman fought in Richard Donner’s Superman franchise, Zack Snyder’s upcoming Man of Steel would also be featuring a new female Kryptonian antagonist named Faora. Don’t expect any sort of Batman/Catwoman sexual tension to be going on with the announcement of a female villain though. There are a couple of versions of Faora floating around in the comic verse, and neither of them are as friendly as a sexy jewel thief. The first version of Faora, who debuted in “Action Comics #471,” is a man hating serial killer whose killed 20 some dudes back on Krypton. An updated version, who first appeared in “Action Comics #779,” is an aid to General Zod who has the ability to create a destructive mutagenic virus. It remains to be seen which version of the character is being used for Snyder’s film; perhaps we could even be getting a combination of the two or a take on her that is completely new. But any way you look at it, she doesn’t seem like very much of a warm personality. So what do you do when you have to cast a character that is cold and abrasive? Duh, you cast a German. That’s why Snyder and company are close to signing Pandorum actress Antje Traue to take on the role. She’s so German that I don’t even know how to pronounce her name. I’m not really familiar with [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

I’m a big fan of survival. I figure not matter how bad life is, it’s always at least a step better than being dead. As such, my self-preservation instinct is very high. While I’m not risk averse or danger shy, if I’m faced with a life or death situation, I’m choosing life and doing whatever it takes to come out on top. I naturally assume that most people are like that. Living is pretty awesome. Why then, when faced with death do characters insist on opening their mouths? Many times in movies if you just keep your trap shut you’ll either slip by unnoticed or be allowed to leave. Not keeping your mouth shut is idiotic.

Does that mean that Rourke has turned down a $250,000 check from Marvel? Find out inside.

In what could be the beginning of a new trend, Universal has acquired the rights to a comic book series for adaption into a feature film or possible franchise.

Who should Batman fight in the third installment? Robert Fure hopes none of these bums make the cut.