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Curated playlist

Fictional dictators

  • Kylo RenKylo Ren kills his own father, Han Solo, on Starkiller Base. He later turns back and becomes Ben Solo again.
  • PalpatinePalpatine's first name stayed off screen for decades. Fans learned it was Sheev only in the 2014 novel Tarkin.
  • Lex LuthorLex Luthor has no superpowers, no secret identity and no alien heritage, yet he has outlasted nearly every other enemy of Superman. Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster created him, and he first appeared in Action Comics #23 in April…
  • Jacen SoloJacen Solo, Han and Leia's son, became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. His twin sister Jaina killed him in a duel.
  • SithThe Sith began as rebellious members of the Jedi Order itself. They believed passion was the true path to power.
  • DarkseidDarkseid, the stone-skinned tyrant of the planet Apokolips in DC Comics, has a name that fans have never fully agreed how to say. Mark Evanier spent several years as assistant to the character's creator, Jack Kirby. Evanier says the name…
  • HomelanderGarth Ennis, who created Homelander together with the artist Darick Robertson, offered a blunt way to picture him. In Ennis's words: "It might help to think of the Homelander as having all the self-control of… let's say… a…
  • Doctor DoomDoctor Doom is a comic book villain who answers to no court outside his own country. He rules the fictional eastern European nation of Latveria, and his status as head of state has historically shielded him from prosecution for crimes…
  • Supreme Leader SnokeAndy Serkis first played Snoke without knowing what Snoke looked like. He stood on a 25-foot podium for his first day.
  • Griffith (Berserk)Griffith, a mercenary leader in Berserk, sacrifices his entire band at the Eclipse.
  • Ra's al GhulRa's al Ghul, the DC Comics supervillain best known as Batman's immortal rival, once admitted that he could not keep track of his own age. In Azrael #6, from July 1995 and written by Dennis O'Neil, he tells the young hero Jean-Paul Valley:…
  • Kang the ConquerorKang the Conqueror, the Marvel Comics supervillain whose birth name is Nathaniel Richards, first appeared in Fantastic Four #19, dated October 1963. In that issue he wore the crown of a pharaoh and went by Rama-Tut. He was a criminal from…
  • Daenerys TargaryenDaenerys Targaryen stepped into her husband's funeral fire and walked out unburned.

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