Last year, Marie Lu introduced the world to Adelina Amouteru, the dangerous and villainous main character from her highly anticipated new series, The Young Elites. And next month, Adelina will be back to kicking ass and taking names in the sequel, The Rose Society!
In honour of my girl Adelina -- and to distract from these excruciating last few weeks of waiting for The Rose Society -- here's an Ocean's 11 of female supervillains from movies and TV!
P.S. No one from Harry Potter was included, since those villains are all either wizard racists or Dolores Umbridge. I HAVE STANDARDS, Y'ALL.
(Mild spoilers ahead, esp. for Gone Girl and Orphan Black.)
Catwoman (Batman Returns)
I actually prefer the less campy Catwoman from Batman: The Animated Series, but BR's Catwoman totally knows what it's like to become powerful after being constantly mistreated -- just like Adelina.
Glory (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Never shy to voice her thoughts or open a can of whoop-ass, the only thing more indestructible than Glory is her self-confidence.
Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)
She ain't the wicked stepmother for nothin': Lady Tremaine practically makes a sport of out inflicting cruelty, willing to do whatever it takes to keep her and her daughters living the cushy life. (AND THAT WARDROBE.)
Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada)
Sharp-witted, razor tongued, and perfectly coiffed, Miranda is the very definition of LIKE A BOSS.
Amy Dunne (Gone Girl)
Amazing Amy sure is amazing. Amazingly dedicated to ruining the lives of those who wrong her, that is.
O-Ren Ishii (Kill Bill: Volume 1)
Much like Adelina, O-Ren rose from the ashes of her heartbreaking past and became a terrifying badass who's not to be trifled with.
Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
I couldn't figure out why The Little Mermaid never completely worked for me, until I realized that I'm meh on Ariel because Ursula is AWESOME. Also, I was quite young when I first saw this, so the souls or whatever these were* really spooked my shizz.
*Apparently polyps, FYI. (But the sea kind, not the body kind, so that link isn't traumatic to click. UNLESS YOU'RE ME AS A TODDLER.)
Maleficent (Maleficent)
Real talk: I didn't love this version of Maleficent. (Not that I was the only one, but still.) Despite the wasted potential of the brilliant casting, I'm giving her a shout-out anyway for the Maleficent that could have been.
Regina George (Mean Girls)
OK, so Regina isn't as evil -- or murderous** -- as some of the other villains here, but she's def. the expert at high school warfare.
**THAT WE KNOW OF.
Helena (Orphan Black)
Sure, Helena might be (more or less) reformed now, but she didn't always play nicely with her sestras. She still remains the scariest and most dangerous single foe that Clone Club has ever faced.
Lady Deathstrike (X2)
A woman of few words, Lady Deathstrike delivers exactly what her name promises.
Your turn, dear readers: who would be in your supervillain squad? Share your fave baddies in the comments!
The Young Elites is available now in both hardcover and paperback. Its sequel, The Rose Society, will be available on October 13th.