ChuckTV.net The CHUCK archive
After several months of voting and crowning villainous winners for each season of Chuck, we’re now down to the final showdown! The winning baddies from each season now go head to head for the title of Ultimate Chuck Villain. Here’s the lineup:
Season 1: Lazlo Manhovski
Played by: Jonathan Sadowski
First appeared: [easyazon-link asin=”B000Y0Q5U0″]Chuck Versus the Sandworm[/easyazon-link]
A child prodigy recruited by the CIA to design weapons, Lazlo resented how he’d been treated by the government, and went rogue. At first Chuck sees him as a kindred spirit, another person the government wants to experiment on/with, but eventually Lazlo’s instability is revealed and Chuck realizes how dangerous he is. When Lazlo attempts to blow up the pier where he was recruited by the CIA, Chuck’s knowledge of James Bond movies helps him disarm the bomb. Manhovski is taken into CIA custody and never seen again.
Season 2: Ted Roark
Played by: Chevy Chase
First appeared: [easyazon-link asin=”B0025WYV24″]Chuck Versus the Dream Job[/easyazon-link]
Head of technology company Roark Instruments, Roark came to the CIA’s attention thanks to some suspicious foreign dealings. He is Stephen Bartowski’s arch-nemesis and kidnaps Chuck and Stephen in order to force Stephen to help him finish his own version of the Intersect for use on Fulcrum agents. Roark was arrested at Ellie & Awesome’s (first) wedding and later executed by a member of The Ring.
Season 3: Daniel Shaw
Played by: Brandon Routh
First appeared: [easyazon-link asin=”B0038A1LSY”]Chuck Versus Operation Awesome[/easyazon-link]
Daniel Shaw was a CIA Special Agent who obsessed with hunting down The Ring, believing that they killed his wife, Evelyn. He is initially tasked with training Chuck to help him take down The Ring. After learning that Sarah Walker’s first kill was his wife, Shaw went rogue and joined The Ring to exact his revenge on Sarah and Chuck. He was arrested by the CIA at the end of season 3, after downloading the Intersect, but escaped in season 5 and took Sarah captive in Castle. He and Chuck, now both de-Intersected, fight hand-to-hand before Ellie clobbers Shaw with a frying pan. He is currently incarcerated again.
Season 4: Clyde Decker
Played by: Richard Burgi
First appeared: [easyazon-link asin=”B00517ESFK”]Chuck Versus The Cliffhanger[/easyazon-link]
Decker was a CIA agent sent to stop Chuck from committing treason by breaking Volkoff out of jail to help him save Sarah who had been infected by the Norseman virus. Decker fires Chuck from the CIA and forcibly removes the Intersect from him. In season 5, Decker continues to work against Chuck and Carmichael Industries as they enter the private security market. It is later revealed the Decker was a corrupt CIA agent who was being blackmailed & manipulated by Daniel Shaw to target Chuck. Gertrude Verbanski killed Decker using an incendiary device.
Season 4: Alexei Volkoff (wildcard pick)
Played by: Timothy Dalton
First appeared: [easyazon-link asin=”B004AECR94″]Chuck Versus the First Fight[/easyazon-link]
A man with many names, and personalities, Volkoff is part of the Intersect mythology. A former MI-6 agent, Hartley Winterbottom was on the original Intersect team with Stephen Bartowski and was the first human Intersect. The Intersect was flawed, however, and when he went undercover as arms dealer Alexei Volkoff, Hartley was “erased”. Chuck’s mom, Mary Bartowski, was sent undercover in Volkoff Industries to protect him and bring down Volkoff Industries, a 20 year assignment. While trying to destroy Stephen’s intelligence about him and the Hydra network, Volkoff attempts to kill Chuck and Sarah. Mary intervenes and a lengthy game of double-crossing ensues before Volkoff is erased and Winterbottom is restored. As his parting gift, Winterbottom bestows all of Volkoff Industries and its assets on Chuck and Sarah as a wedding gift.
Season 5: Nicholas Quinn
Played by: Angus MacFadyen
First appeared: [easyazon-link asin=”B0081QN67Y”]Chuck Versus Bo[/easyazon-link]
A former CIA agent, Nicholas Quinn is now a rogue freelance spy intent on destroying Chuck who he sees as having the life Quinn was promised, then denied. Quinn was supposed to be the first CIA Intersect, until Bryce Larkin stole the program and sent it to Chuck. As a result, Quinn did not receive the Intersect, failed his mission, and was held captive by his enemies for over a year. He was later discharged from the CIA. He then opened a freelance spy firm and served Fulcrum, The Ring and Volkoff Industries as his clients, all of which Chuck defeated with the help of the Intersect. Intent on securing the Intersect 2.0, Quinn captures Sarah and erases her memories of the past 5 years, then convinces her that he, Quinn, is her handler and that Chuck is her target. Sarah shoots him on the rooftop of the concert hall after the bomb he planted under Beckman’s chair fails to detonate.
Those are our villains in a nutshell. Ready to vote? Round 1 of the final Ultimate Villain Showdown ends Thursday, June 21 at 8AM Pacific.
[polldaddy poll=6323024] [polldaddy poll=6323027] [polldaddy poll=6323031]
WELL NO Contest Here. I know that Quinn,Volkoff,And Shaw will win this hands down!!!!
Shaw was the worst of them all.
The best villains were Daniel Shaw, Ted Roark and Lazlo imo. Their arc was terrific, didn´t feel rushed and they were very well written. Loved Shaw because he kicks butt, Ted Roark for the character and Lazlo for the evil nerdiness.
I can’t believe you pitted Roark against Volkoff. They were both such great characters, as well as being great villains.
Of course, it’s just a matter of weeks now until Shaw gets his ignoble crown.
1. Daniel Shaw
2. Ted Roark
3. Alexei Volkoff
This should be a double elimination. If you put Volkoff or Roark against anyone else, they’d win. They both are infinitely better than Quinn, Decker or Lazlo, and I’d argue, better than Shaw.
If you look at the other comments, you’d see that they rank the villains differently. Thus the polls. 🙂
Alexei Volkoff to the end.
NO I say it’s Volkof, shaw, Quinn. Hands down no Question you have your three top villains!!!!!!! Do you Agree with me Mel?
I think it will come down to “who do we LOVE to HATE”
Volkoff was an awesome character/villain, but I think the ones that really boiled our blood were Shaw and Quinn.
Hence, I predict it will fall between those two, and THAT will be an interesting final round!
For me it comes down to who had the greatest impact on team Bartowski. It’s a hard call between Shaw and Quinn. Shaw killed Chuck’s dad and tried to kill both Chuck and Sarah. Quinn wiped out Sarah’s memory, effectively erasing the core element of the show, Chuck and Sarah’s relationship. If it was purely based on just the character I would say Shaw but when you include the character’s impact on the show it’s a tough call.
For villain I most loved watching in action, it would be Volkoff, easy. For villain that most pissed me off, Shaw or Quinn, tough call.
I think Volkoff was great cuz he had such a wide range of characters and emotions, and could display no heart when called for. But, the biggest badest badass perfectly played villain was SHAW by far.
Mel- any word on whether you will be doing a gig on season 5 “directors commentary”? I really think the guys’ comments deserve our attention. Thanks so much.
Still miss “Chuck”. More please.
To me Shaw is hands down the best played and written villain in the whole series. He had the best storyline and the best motivations to hate Chuck and specially Sarah. He was The villain of the story.
Roark was also very good, and his storyline made sense. Both Chevy Chase and Brandon Routh played their roles really well. They are really my favorite villains from this list, but like you can see in my previous post I also included Volkoff even though I didn’t really like him as a villain. He just made little sense to me. However, Dalton did such a good job playing him that made him kind of endearing and unforgettable.