The Best Villain Lairs Ever

Which Scifi/Action/Fantasy Villain Lair do you find to be the most impressive?



From Volcano Bases to Floating Sky Citadels, Orbital Space Platforms to Underwater Empires, Impregnable Fortresses to Subterranean Strongholds, and Sub-Zero Arctic Stations; which one do you like best?


Feel free to list from any source. (Films, TV, Novels, Comics, Anime etc…)

as a kid I was blown away by the Legion of Doom base from the Super Friends.

I mean, come on...it only had one tiny flaw in it's design. Had the rebels not gotten a hold of the blueprints this thing would have been causing carnage all over the place. PLUS, the power to destroy a whole freaking planet. Also, it does count as a Villain Lair due to the fact Darth Vader 'lives' inside of it throughout most of the series.

Nope, you're all wrong, clearly it's the bases of Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

He has some amazing bases

Latveria.

That's right, Dr. Doom's villain lair is AN ENTIRE FREAKIN' COUNTRY!

Um, I guess it'd be a spoiler to actually say whose it really is, so let's just say Bubastis lived there too. What can I say, I dig Arctic bases, especially when you can have any climate you want inside.

Ur-supervillain Captain Nemo pioneered the concept of the secret volcanic island lair in the novel The Mysterious Island and should be getting royalties from Dr. No and Blofeld.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Primal Um, I guess it'd be a spoiler to actually say whose it really is, so let's just say Bubastis lived there too.

The number of forum members who don't know Watchmen approaches zero, so spoilers ought not to be a concern.

That said, My vote also goes to Watchmen's would-be ubermensch and world savior Adrian Veidt for his Antarctic retreat, Karnak. The locale evokes the Fortress of Solitude of Superman/Doc Savage, but the design advertises "supervillain inside". It's that element of ambiguity that makes Watchmen - the comic, I mean - a masterpiece.

I'm gonna buck the trend and say my favorite villainous lair is the Mound of Forgotten Seeds run by the Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils. (Source: Exalted tabletop RPG)

The Mound of Forgotten Seeds is based in Noss Fens, somewhere in the East.

Static Defenses: None to speak of. Most of the humans living in Noss Fens were raised by the Dowager, but they're simple peasants. (Every decade or so, the Dowager kills the adults in Noss Fens, raises the children, and sends them back to rebuild their villages.)

Active Defenses: None to speak of, though the Dowager is an expert marksman with her soulsteel bow "Root of Scorn". Anyone killed with her bow becomes a ghost bound as her servant. She's also a skilled necromancer and necrosurgeon.

Guardians: A single female child, Shoat of the Mire. An Abyssal Exalted serving the Dowager. When Shoat dies, the Dowager exalts another female child and gives her the same title.

Natural Hazards: The Well of Udr lies within the Dowager's throne room. Even being near it can drive you insane, and looking into it can kill you. (The Dowager and her servants, of course, enjoy protections from its effects.) The Well is a connection point between every universe, and the Dowager spends her time searching the Well for devastation she can unleash upon the world.

I like the idea of a pirate island.......... that's one with wenches and grog not one with nerds and torrents. My base would probably be behind a waterfall on the quite side and I'd have to own the only bar allowed to operate obviously.

To give another defense example: While more neutral than villainous, attempting to access the M'Kraan Crystal takes Defense to an infinite level. If you want to get to the Crystal, you have to defeat an extremely powerful guardian. No biggie, right? Assuming you are either powerful enough or lucky enough to defeat the guardian, guess what? Another guardian appears, who is 1,000 times more powerful than the previous one was.

I think the X-Men were actually able to defeat the first guardian, an android named Jahf. When they did, the massive robot Modt took it's place, and so far, no one in the Marvel Universe has been able to defeat Modt.

......and even if they did, the cycle continues. A guardian 1,000 times more powerful than Modt would appear. (And the line of guardians is stated to be infinite. Even Goku would quickly find his limit if he were to run that gauntlet.)

What an overkill of a defense system.

Dr. Totenkopf's island lair from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is certainly one to consider. Fairly similar to Syndrome's lair, but with more of a pulp feel.

The Labyrinth from the movie Labyrinth. Mostly because I really like mazes and Jareth made one hell of a maze.

The iPad. What can be more secure and easy to access than a lair that fits in your pocket?

Sewer system hasn't been mentioned has it?, using the city's own infrastructure against itself.
Kinda repellant in enviroment, Religious overtones re: Hell and danger coming from underground, and springing up to surprise/snatch you before disappearing back down.

Gene Hackman's Luther setup (abandoned underground railway station) was kinda cool. Refurbished to be very opulant and luxurious. He even had a monologue ready for what 'people were shelling out for a few measly...' above ground.

Spider-Skull Island.
Features include, but are not limited to:
Turret-mounted weaponry
Private marina
Jetport
Museum capable of hosting formal events.

Runner up:
Giant Flying Cocoon.

My favorite would be the space station from Moonraker; I like the idea of a huge city in space.

I would throw in a throne room like this, of course.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodoan I liked the submersible Atlantis base in The Spy Who Loved Me.

That would be my second choice.

my neighbour many many years ago owned one of these



when I was 10 it was impressive.