Usually video game character designers focus on making protagonists more attractive than the antagonists. The approach is pretty formulaic, hunky, good looking hero fighting an ugly or (at best) ordinary looking villain. However, developers are known to have made some really hot female villains every now and then. They’ve been keeping some gamers busy pausing or zooming in to get a better look. The attraction, sometimes distraction, is also the reason we let them kill us repeatedly. Here’s our countdown to the 10 female villains in video games ever:
10. MILEENA FROM MK
Mortal Kombat has quite a few characters worth mentioning on this list. The game is filled with scantily clad warriors with oh-so-hot bodies. If you’re into it, what makes them even more attractive is how cold heartedly dismember whoever they’re fighting against. Mileena’s outfit may not be the most practical for the way she fights but who cares – it looks good. She may have even been placed higher on this list if it weren’t for her mask but then there’s also those teeth to be considered.
9. CHRISTIE FROM DEADORALIVE
Making her arrival on the scene in the third instalment of the Dead or Alive series, Christie has definitely made a lasting impact on the scene. It’s no secret that DOA is more attractive for its appeal than for its gameplay. Accordingly, Christie, a professional assassin, enters the tournament to stop Helena from winning. During the game you get to see her taking a shower, lounging in underwear and even petting her…panther.
8. CATWOMAN FROM ARKHAM CITY
Despite the already allure of this villain-hero, Arkham City turned up the heat a little more when they added more cleavage and a crawl mode. It’s no surprise some of Hollywood’s hottest actresses, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway have portrayed her on the big screen. Zoe Kravitz will be playing her in the next Batman outing in 2022. An old school super-villainess in a skintight leather suit. We had to be feature her on the list of female villains. Catwoman is a classic, you should’ve seen this coming.
7. ANNA WILLIAMS FROM TEKKEN
Anna Williams is to Tekken what Christie is to DeadorAlive. We’re not sure what started her rivalry with her sister, Nina Williams, but the two are often seen battling and battering each other in the arena. Anna uses a cryosleep to travel to the future to sort out the sibling rivalry. Hopefully it works.
6. ULTIMECIA FROM FINAL FANTASY VIII
The creators of Ultimecia, from Final Fantasy VIII, have done a good job to very delicately balance scary. She’s a sorceress with quite a few powerful spells including the ability to control and manipulate time. She made a few appearances earlier but was only given new life in VIII because she’s one of the female villains in the game. The horns, black feathered wings, talons and makeup all say demon. On the other hand, the fur collar on that fashionably plunging neckline teasing with a cleavage, midriff and legs scream “freaky lady”. In a world dominated by mail villains and cookie-cutter female characters, she stands out – she slays.
5. SKARLET FROM MORTAL KOMBAT
Like we said, Mortal Kombat has more than one nice female villain and Skarlet is one such worth mentioning. She originated as a game glitch in 2011. She is one of the adopted daughters of Shao Kahn, an Outworld Emperor and serves as his personal body guard. That in itself says quite a bit about her. Similar to other females in the world of Mortal Kombat, Skarlet’s clothes are skimpy. She was originally thought to be a genetic experiment combining magic and blood from deadwarriors Shao Kahn had killed. Later, it was revealed Skarlet was a starving wretch on the streets and is of Outworld decent. She was taken in by kahn and empowered through sorcery and remains devoted to him. Looking past the fact that she enjoys bathing in the blood of her enemies, she’s definitely one of the nicest female villains ever.
4. KUNIMITSU FROM TEKKEN
Kunimitsu appears in Tekken Tag games and Tekken Revolution. She was a petty thief before joining the Manji Clan, a crime syndicate, to hone her skills. Soon she was stealing from the clan itself to her own benefits. Once the clan’s head, Yoshimitsu, found out, he banished her. Initially she was clothed in a full-body ninja suit with boots and gloves. Later on, in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 she donned a new, outfit of a purple side-tie dress and Fox mask. She is the tallest female in the fighter series and the dress’ slits show off her athletic legs. Kunimitsu was featured in the second game and then vanished. She came back only in the seventh edition because the fans liked and wanted her back – it’s easy to see why.
3. POISON IVY FROM ARKHAM SERIES
An experiment gone wrong turned Botanist, Pamela Lillian Isley, into a plant-human hybrid. Since then she has chlorophyll coursing through her veins instead of blood. She develops a toxic touch and talent for seduction. She is now immune to all poison and her crimes are more ecologically focused. Ivy was an antagonist in Batman: Arkham Asylum and was later sough out by Catwoman in Batman: Arkham City. Later, she also shows up in Batman: Arkham Knight, more as an anti-hero than a villain. If ‘killer kisses’ were a real thing then Poison Ivy would not be merely fictional. What a thing it is for gamers who are also plant lovers.
2. EXCELLA GIONNE FROM RESIDENT EVIL 5
Flaunting her aristocratic qualities, Excella Gionne embodies wit, beauty and some narcissism. One thing that separates her from other women on this list is the fact that she’s more of a boss. Excella doesn’t really get her hands dirty, she mostly works from the shadows and gets other to do the dirty work. That white sheet for a dress she wears is formal and does cover her up more than the others on this list but reveals enough to titillate the senses. As stunning as she may look, she would leave you stunned when you realise that she’s pro genocide and inventing viruses to make zombies. Guess that’s why her [spoiler alert] came at the hands of her lover through mutated Uroboros tentacles.
1. HARLEY QUINN FROM ARKHAM SERIES
The Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series was a tame jester. When she came around in Arkham Asylum, that’s where we got to see the nice nurse, badass biker. Miss Quinn is immune to poisons and toxins. Her otherwise unstable mind is only sane around her main man, The Joker, whatever that means. Her skimpy carnival-coloured nurse outfit along with her gymnast skills and blatant lack of sh*t she gives makes her one of the female villains. This look is what eventually inspired Harley’s appearance in Suicide Squad – played by Margot Robbie no less.
HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR THE NICEST FEMALE VILLAINS IN VIDEO GAMES
There are undoubtedly more names that could be mentioned as the nicest female villains in gaming. We’d need a much larger list and a lot more time. Having said that, there are some honorable mentions we’d like to name, these include: Moxxi from Borderlands, Queelag from Dark Souls, the Dark Lady or Banshee Queen herself – Sylvanas Windrunner from the Warcraft series, Tira from Soulcalibur IV and (if you can remember) Natalya Ivanova of Destroy All Humans 2.
We’re sure there’s at least one villainess you think we should’ve included on the list. Maybe even moved around one or two in the rankings here but to each his own. Let us know what you think, who would you have added to the list and which nice female villain gives you wet…palms.