I'm really shocked by the non-inclusion of Wolfram & Hart's pandimensional evil. Is Angel not sci-fi enough? Especially since Blue Sun is so vague. Certainly Mitellos Bioscience or perhaps even DHARMA (Lost) could have gone on that list, too. And while they're still young, I would argue for a mention of the Dollhouse/Rossum Corp.

[ edited by Liam Mars on 2009-04-18 17:36 ]

Liam Mars | April 18, 17:35 CET

I don't think DHARMA is necessarily evil, unless I'm forgetting some majorly not-good thing they intentionally did.

Jobo | April 18, 17:38 CET

Wow. I've never even made that connection (that River had slashed the Blue Sun logo, as opposed to just randomly slashing Jayne). Did everyone else notice that? I even own a Blue Sun shirt...

ThorpeWithoutShrimp | April 18, 17:43 CET

I think "morally ambiguous" is the flavour on Lost from everything to DHARMA's unethical experiments to Ben Linus and Charles Widmore's perhaps, justified causes. But yes, DHARMA were the most vanilla. Mitellos Bioscience (The Others off-Island), less so.

Back on topic: Mutant Enemy?

Liam Mars | April 18, 17:44 CET

Or, for that matter, FOX?

ThorpeWithoutShrimp | April 18, 17:50 CET

I wonder how Blue Sun even made the list. It was never really established in the show that it was a big "evil" company. The show didn't last long enough to do that. Other than dropping a few hints and signs in a couple of episodes that was it. If the show would have ran a couple seasons, it might have become more clear, but for its actual merits I dont think it belongs on this list.

I agree that Wolfram and Hart should have been on the list and near the top though.

recoil | April 18, 18:21 CET

Oh I think we all knew the Blue Sun was responsible for River's situation when she attacked the soup cans! But I'm disappointed that Wolfram & Hart, and The Dollhouse were left off the list (they are clearly both multi-International conglomerate corporations involved in EVIL! Wait, how about the Evil League of Evil? Or is that too on the nose?

embers | April 18, 18:31 CET

That's a league, not really a company. But I do think the Dollhouse (or possibly Rossum) should've been on there.

Rachelkachel | April 18, 18:41 CET

Yeah, Rossum and Wolfram and Hart should be there. I'm glad Weyland Yutani was there though. Cyberdine... well they were more just stupid.

And we just don't know enough about the Blue Sun, though they are obviously up to no good. Though I am glad to know that I have a shirt depicting the logo of an evil corporation. :)

SteppeMerc | April 18, 18:51 CET

When did they mention that Weyland Yutani was a client of Wolfram & Hart in Angel?

Animal Mother | April 18, 18:59 CET

I just checked, and it's Harm's Way. It also says that it has ties to News Corp and Yoyodyne (whatever that is).

SteppeMerc | April 18, 19:11 CET

Definitely lacking Wolfram and Hart here; in my mind, they are the BEST evil corporation ever written. So unstopable, so EVIL. I honestly think they were the greatest villain in the entirety of the Whedonverse.

CarpeNoctem | April 18, 19:19 CET

Geez what do Umbrella have to do to get on this list?

Simon | April 18, 19:23 CET

Wolfram & Hart should definitely be on the list. You can parse the genre, but there were enough elements in the series to be included.

And how can you reference a comic book and not include A.I.M.? Pretty much set the mould.

jubal lives | April 18, 19:36 CET

Indeed Umbrella is far more obviously evil than Cyberdyne... and I'd argue Veidt Industries, since I really didn't see anything to suggest that the corporation itself is evil, unless you count using Dylan songs to sell male perfume... which I kinda do.

Also, I have to say the use of Cyrillic letters randomly in the Genetic Opera kind of bugs me now that I'm learning Russian. It's just kind of lazy to use ones that look like American letters. Really what they're spelling is "Yaero Mde"... which I really don't think they mean to be saying, since its gibberish.

[ edited by SteppeMerc on 2009-04-18 19:40 ]

[ edited by SteppeMerc on 2009-04-18 19:41 ]

SteppeMerc | April 18, 19:40 CET

Thanks, SteppeMerc. I'll have to look for that the next time I watch that episode. I also have to echo Simon's sentiment that Umbrella really deserves a spot on that list.

Animal Mother | April 18, 20:33 CET

Needs more Rossum. Or W&H.

Also Vault-Tec, and all the others mentioned by all you guys.

Racoon Boy | April 18, 20:40 CET

Also, I have to say the use of Cyrillic letters randomly in the Genetic Opera kind of bugs me now that I'm learning Russian. It's just kind of lazy to use ones that look like American letters. Really what they're spelling is "Yaero Mde"... which I really don't think they mean to be saying, since its gibberish.

This is how I feel about the use of Greek alphabet in a lot of stuff these days, like in the logo for My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Drives me crazy to see capital sigmas used as the letter E.

Maybe ignorance is bliss after all...

Jobo | April 18, 21:40 CET

Rossum and Wolfram&Heart could be featured on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood compared to the Umbrella Corp. Just seeing their name, their logo, takes me right back to all the zombie nightmares I've had since I first saw Resident Evil.

Wolfram&Heart doesn't scare me. They were a complex adversary for Angel but I never really saw them as unstoppable or all-encompassing as Umbrella Corp! For instance Angel usually had no problem sneaking into their headquarters and stealing their stuff whenever he wanted, and eventually they just gave the company to him. They were up to some evil no good, it's true, but then they were lawyers. Plus, their touchstones were the human and cuddly Lindsay and Lilah, not a creepy holographic child Red Queen! Gah thanks for the nightmares.

I'm also not really fearing Rossum as of yet. Blue Sun intrigues me on the list though! Count me among those who didn't notice Jayne's shirt was River's impetus, or the logos on the cans (I just thought she was up to crazy mischief!). Somehow the fact that I didn't even notice they were evil makes them seem that much more evil. What WERE they up to????

ailiel | April 18, 21:52 CET

Armacham were pretty despicable too, especially when you went into the school in F.E.A.R. 2 and discovered that they had been experimenting on children.

Simon | April 18, 22:00 CET

I think Rossum might be eligible for the list, but lets remember folks that this is a list of most evil companies EVER. Dollhouse has barely shown 10 episodes, and Rossum has shown its face in, what? Two of them?

I dont think its shown enough yet either. If the show lasts a few seasons Ive no doubt they would be worthy of it, but for now its just too soon and too little revealed.

recoil | April 18, 22:58 CET

SteppeMerc, News Corp is another name for Fox (I think that's how it appears on the stock exchange) and Yoyodyne was another evil company mentioned on the list. With ties to those companies AND Weyland Yutani, there's no way Wolfram and Hart is not evil.

I think the only reason it may have been left off the list was because of season 5. Still not a dogooding company, but run in part by a good guy.

InevitableTraitor | April 18, 23:10 CET

The article mentions it, but did we even ever learn what Blue Sun was?

John Darc | April 18, 23:24 CET

I don't know how Blue Sun could be considered more evil than W&H. We actually have no real evidence on how evil Blue Sun actually is, but we know a lot about Wolfram & Hart. Don't we know Blue Sun is evil only because Joss said it was? It never really played out in the series/movie. We all assumed a connection between Blue Sun and The Alliance but was that ever confirmed in the canon?

electricspacegirl | April 18, 23:53 CET

Joss said he imagined Blue Sun as a combination of Coca Cola and... Microsoft, maybe? But we never learned what their involvement in River's tampering was, no, or what was with her hatred of them.

Jobo | April 18, 23:59 CET

I just hope we get to find out more about Rossam than Blue Sun, especially since we don't really even have enough proof that Blue Sun is bad other than River's hatred of them (which is pretty strong proof admitedly.)

And Wolfram and Hart is certainly evil, more so than Primatech or Veidt Industries. They never tried to start the apocalypse. The fact Wolfram and Hart is a more accessible, friendly, clean evil is very interesting, and part of their freakiness. Though I do think that Umbrella probably is equal to them. Vault Tech should be there, but they aren't on the level of Weyland Yutani, or Wolfram and Hart.

And yeah, I knew Newscorp was Fox. I love the jab.

[ edited by SteppeMerc on 2009-04-19 01:30 ]

SteppeMerc | April 19, 01:29 CET

What about the Fast Food joint Buffy worked for? Now that was an evil company! :D

TDBrown | April 19, 02:49 CET

Vault-Tec totally deserve a spot. They used the destruction of the earth as an opportunity to experiment on people. I don't really think Blue Sun should be there, since we don't really know what they do or how bad they are.

Racoon Boy | April 19, 04:37 CET

I think Rossum is too new to make the list, and Wolfram and Hart isn't exactly a corporation, unless it could change its name to Injustice, Inc.

impalergeneral | April 19, 04:40 CET

W&H is definitely a pandimensional corporation with tendrils going everywhere and in everything. It's not just the L.A. branch.

It got the nickname "Evil, Inc." for a reason.

Blue Sun just makes me think of Blue Harvest or blue milk (Star Wars references).

[ edited by NileQT87 on 2009-04-19 13:50 ]

NileQT87 | April 19, 13:49 CET

I think Blue Sun ended up on the list based on River's "Two by two, hands of blue," non sequitur. Well, that and those two ultra creepy suits with the blue gloves. I guess it could be assumed that they were from Blue Sun, although I don't think that was ever spelled out.

Cuz anything blue has just got to do with Blue Sun, right? I mean, they've probably got the patten and the copyrights on anything to do with the color blue. And really...just way creepy.

BreathesStory | April 19, 14:14 CET

Animal Mother; they mentioned it a few episodes into season 5. It was the episode that started with the cheesy voiceover and music...

Archduke Sebassis | April 19, 15:31 CET

How much do we actually know about Blue Sun from canon and from Joss? Well, if we are to belive Joss Blue Sun is Coca Cola-Microsoft and their Chinese counterparts all in one, and they are/own at least half the Alliance government.

Canon/from the show is a tad trickier. We do see that they appear as a common logo on many kinds of foodstuff, general commercials, clothing ect. So they defenitly are a big brand. Then we have the connection between Blue Sun and the Hands of Blue. The connection is never spoken out loud, but implied. If we assume that there is a connection between them, then the Blue Sun we meet is a little more. They have agents who can demand instant cooperation from Alliance cruiser Commanders, Hospital personel as well as private security forces. Not to speak of their unfriendly habit of killing a lot of said people and getting away with it. That takes government connections of a more sinister nature.

Now I cant exactly remember how much we see of Blue Sun in Serenity or in the scripts, but I bet there are some more connections there.

Satai (with Punsch) | April 20, 13:11 CET