Works Of Narrative Fiction Named For The Villain
 

The idea for this thread popped into my brain while I was listening to Pavarotti sing "La Donna e Mobile" from Rigoletto. This can encompass novels, opera, movies, tv shows, short stories...any work of narrative fiction (so no Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (sorry, Mr. Shirer)) the title of which is a direct reference to the villain of the piece. We begin thus...

Lord of the Rings
Rigoletto
The Merchant of Venice

MacBeth
Hannibal


<brain is on strike>

oh geeze. Just before I opened the thread I thought "Why, Blahblah, of course!" . . . and now I can't remember. :sciencefail: I'll get it at 4 AM and be sure to sleep through it

Dracula

The Island of Doctor Moreau

Well then how about Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus? Frankenstein is the real, albeit sympathetic, villain of the piece.

The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mister Hyde.

Richard III

Dr No?
The Last Man on Earth?
Godzilla?
Kill Bill?
The Phantom of the Opera?

This is harder than I thought it'd be.

Godzilla was a hero! except, you know, in the first movie. In the later movies tiny replicas of Tokyo were smashed by accident.

Oh - Goldfinger!

That reminds me: The Terminator.

Grendel

The Monk, by Matthew Gregory Lewis. Probably one of the first fantasy/horror epics, precursor to horror genre and sub-genres that would follow.

The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, and the rest of the series.

The Alien movies.

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler
Fantômas
Zodiac

I guess the Phantom of the Opera would be in this category, too.

Hollow Man

I only thought of "The Man with the Golden Gun" because you said "Mr. No", Maegel.

**racks brains**

The Puppet Masters, by Heinlein, perhaps?

They took away his doctorate?

And "Moby Dick."

Is Moby Dick a villain? I could never read that damn book. But I am going to check out "The Monk".

Eight Legged Freaks

The Invisible Man

I don't think so. I think Moby Dick is more of a force of nature, a la The Perfect Storm.

Certainly the antagonist. Of course, the hero, Captain Ahab, is more than a little evil himself, but Moby Dick is a malevolent, willful antagonist, and not simply a force of nature. He's unknowable, but in a God-like way.

Revenge of the Sith

How about works where the character who inspires the title doesn't start out as a villain, but later becomes one, even if its after the period covered by the work? If we allow those, then I'd like to submit Young George Lucas in Love.

The giraffe boards

Tagger beat you to it.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back!
Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" by Robert Bloch

I disagree. Shylock is hardly the villain, he's the downtrodden puppy that everybody kicks.

Eye of the Needle is all I can think of right now.

Actually, I withdraw that one by virtue of the fact that it's NOT Shylock that's referenced in the title, but Antonio. I let the prevalent pop culture view of the play convince me that I didn't know what I knew.

Come on man, The Big Lebowski.

The Terminator

Jaws

Williard

Santa Claus vs the Martians

2 for 1 !

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Redneck Zombies.

(yes, I'm a fan of Z-grade movies)

wait, what? I thought the dude was the big Lebowski, because of his dudelyness. Your saying it's the Other Lebowski? :smack:

Yeah, at one point Dude refers to him as The Big Lebowski.

All the President's men.

Gremlins
The Devil Wears Prada
Blow (if you sort of squint)
The Adjustment Bureau
Contagion

I struggle with the ones where the protagonists are criminals. Ocean's Eleven is clear on who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are: the bad guy is running a legitimate casino operation and the good ones are trying to rob him. wait.

Are the Usual Suspects the bad guys? I had a few more but now my mind is stuck in an endless loop...