Animation
Scar
The Lion King · 1994
Fratricide, a musical number, and a lifetime of resentment
Threat index 76
Tyrant · Video games
M. Bison
The final boss that taught a generation what a final boss was
Attribute scores
Power88
Intellect76
Menace82
Fear factor64
Cultural impact86
Charisma88
Editorial estimates on a 0–100 scale, calibrated against every other character in the index. Not official canon.
Who they are
Bison runs a criminal organization, wears a red military uniform, and floats across the screen powered by something the games call Psycho Power. In the arcade era he was the wall everyone hit after beating seven opponents, and his combination of absurd difficulty and total confidence made him the definitive fighting game antagonist. The 1994 film performance turned him into a permanent source of quotable dialogue.
Defining traits
Psycho PowerGlobal criminal organizationMind control of fightersBody transfer to survive deathUtter contempt for opponents
What makes them dangerous
He controls an international paramilitary network and can overwrite a fighter's mind.
And what undoes them
His power depends on a physical host body, and destroying it buys the world some time.
Things you might not know
- The names of three of the series' villains were rotated between Japanese and Western releases, causing decades of confusion.
- Raúl Juliá took the film role for his children and gave a performance widely considered better than the film around it.
- The final boss version in the original arcade release was notoriously, deliberately unfair.
Why number 13 in Video Games
The arcade wall an entire generation hit, and the definitive fighting game final boss template.
If you like this villain
Animation
Judge Claude Frollo
The Hunchback of Notre Dame · 1996
The darkest antagonist a major animation studio has ever released
Threat index 77
Animation
Mother Gothel
Tangled · 2010
The villain whose weapon is a compliment with a knife in it
Threat index 73