March Badness - Sour 16

March Badness is starting to heat up.  Who will survive the Sour 16 and advance to the next round?

Previous rounds:
Explanation / List of contenders
Round 1
Round 2

President Snow (The Hunger Games) vs Agent Smith (The Matrix)

Snow's questionable political tactics (poisoning his enemies) and deceptive propaganda puts him in a tier above Agent Smith.

Winner: President Snow

Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars) vs Loki (Thor, The Avengers)

The Emperor made Darth Vader.  Even though Vader lost to the Joker last round, he's still a top-notch villain.  Palpatine's conversion of a troubled young Jedi into a legendary Sith lord is enough to propel him past Loki.

Winner: Emperor Palpatine

John Doe (Se7en) vs Samara Morgan (The Ring)

Is it worse to be evil for no apparent reason (Samara) or to be evil and believe you're actually doing good (John Doe)?  I think in this case Doe's distorted world views and overall personality give him a slight edge, particularly during the movie's climax. "Become vengeance, David.  Become wrath."

Winner: John Doe

The Joker (Batman, The Dark Knight) vs Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs)

Both of these villains are twisted, psychopathic killers.  But it's the Joker's pure enjoyment over murder and chaos that sets him apart in this one.  "How about a magic trick?"

Winner: The Joker

Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon) vs Scar (The Lion King)

Scar murdered Mufasa in order to become a tyrant.  Hannibal killed and ate countless individuals, just because.  Mr. Lecter is clearly the badder of these two baddies.

Winner: Hannibal Lecter

Pazuzu (The Exorcist) vs *SPOILER ALERT*Amy Dunne (Gone Girl)

Maybe it's just the recency of Gone Girl, but I just don't know if *SPOILER ALERT*Amy has the kind of staying power to be a truly legendary villain.  Only time will tell.  The demon from The Exorcist has already proven his status as an iconic bad guy with incredible moments like this one. *WARNING: CONTAINS STRONGLY OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE AND GRAPHIC/DISTURBING IMAGES*

Winner: Pazuzu

*SPOILER ALERT*HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey) vs Mr. Potter (It's a Wonderful Life)

These two villains don't have much in common, other than their timelessness. But when it comes down to it... *SPOILER ALERT*But when it comes down to it, HAL was just a machine that happened to start malfunctioning in very unfortunate ways (see: trying to kill the crew).  Potter, on the other hand, is 100% self-serving and despicable.

Winner: Mr. Potter

Joffrey Baratheon (Game of Thrones) vs The Governor (The Walking Dead)

Both are easy to hate, but in reality Joffrey is just a spoiled little brat who inherits his power.  The Governor takes what he wants, when he wants.  And if things don't go his way, look out.  When he gets angry, he kills people... Even his own.

Winner: The Governor

The Bracket

At the conclusion of the Sour 16, here's the bracket:

* - denotes a villain's name that was removed to avoid spoilers.  To see the real name, find the matching entry in the list of match-ups above and click the *SPOILER ALERT* link (only if you've already read or seen the book/movie/show or don't mind spoilers)