10 Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Villains Of The 2020s (So Far)
1. Jobu Topaki - Everything Everywhere All At Once
Everyone knows that the best villains are the ones we can empathise with.
There are very few truly evil people; it's often the case that the rotters of the world are simply reacting to the adverse conditions they grew up in. That's definitely the case for Everything Everywhere All at Once's Joy Wong - also known as Jobu Topaki.
A dimension-travelling version of Joy, Jobu is out to destroy the entirety of existence because she is convinced that nothing actually matters. In reality, this is a reflection of how Joy feels neglected and undervalued by her mother Evelyn.
Stephanie Hsu puts in a fantastic dual performance as both Joy and Jobu, with the two characters bearing almost zero resemblance to one another. What they do share is crucial though - they just want their mother to recognise them.
Except one is able to endanger the entire universe to do so.
Everything Everywhere etc. etc. makes great use of grand scenarios to explain very simple things. The way it explores intergenerational relationships via Jobu and Evelyn is just one example of that and the character is all the richer for it.