Negan vs The Governor: who is the best villain in The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead is one the most critically acclaimed comic-book and TV series today. It is full of memorable characters, some of them extremely evil. We discuss who is the best Walking Dead villain: The Governor or Negan? If you are a fan of the comics, video games or TV series, join our debate and vote below.

Beware the debate below may contain some spoilers of The Walking Dead comic-book and TV series!

The Walking Dead comics and TV show

The Walking Dead is among the most notable comic-book series. First released in October 2003 by Image Comics, this zombie post-apocalyptic saga written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore has already 157 episodes published. The Walking Dead narrates the drama and adventures of sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes and a group of human survivors in a world that has been outrun by "walkers" or zombies. The comic-book series was well received by both the public and the critics to the extent that in 2010 was adapted into a big budget AMC TV drama series. This TV series, after a couple of irregular seasons, also managed to grow in popularity and convince most of the initally reluctant fans of the iconic zombie comic-book, to the extent that many consider the TV adaptation even better than the original. Additionally, in 2012, an interactive episodic graphic adventure was developed by the video game developer and publisher Telltale for PC, PS3 and XBox 360. The Walking Dead video games also reached great success among the public and the critics.

The comic-book and TV series are not identical and differ in several ways. The TV series, although inspired in the comic-book storyline and characters, introduced small twists in the main plot and changed many of the encounters that Rick Grimes and his group faced during their journey for survival. Some new characters were introduced, such as Daryl, and others eliminated from the TV version. These discrepancies allow fans of the series to enjoy the two formats without having certainty on what will happen next in the parallel zombie sagas. Despite these differences, both The Walking Dead Image comics and AMC TV series have granted a central role to two extremely charismatic villains: The Governor and Negan.

Negan vs Governor

The Governor and Negan are among the best comic villains ever. Which of the two do you prefer and why? (beware that the debate below may contain spoilers).

• The Governor. Philip Blake or "The Governor" is one of the toughest and most evil Walking Dead villains. Initially he appeared as a fair and charismatic leader of a large survivors' community in Woodbury, Georgia, in The Walking Dead Season 3, episode 3 ("Walk with me") and in the comic-book issue #27. However, behind a gentle façade a monster hides. The Governor's dark side is quickly revealed. He is shown to be an increasingly paranoid and deranged character, consumed by his sense of power and need for control. He was gradually transformed into an insane and brutal leader traumatized by the fact that his daughter Penny had turned into a zombie. The Governor keeps Penny hidden at home with the hope of finding a cure for her. In the comic-book series The Governor hacks off Rick's hand, tortures Glenn and rapes repeatedly Michonne. In the TV series he has a romantic relationship with Andrea which ends up causing her death. The Governor attacks and causes the destruction of the Prison in which Rick's group of survivors had managed to find peace for a while.

• Negan. "Who is Negan?" was the question many fans were asking on the internet when this character's name was first mentioned in The Walking Dead. Initially it seemed that Negan was not a person but a name that designated all the members of the Saviors, a criminal organization which offers security to survivor's communities in exchange for half of all the goods they produce. However, in the last episode of Season 6 of the TV show "Last Day on Earth" and in the isse #100 of the comic-book series we discover who Negan really is. Negan and Lucille, his baseball bat coated in barb-wired, make a hell of an appearance. Negan decides to kill one the survivors of Rick Grimes' group, who he has previously captured, as a payback for some losses they caused to the Saviors, the powerful group he leads. He chooses who to kill randomly by chanting "eeny, meeny, miney, moe" and then beating to death the designated character (Glenn in the comic-books series). Negan is brutal, foul-mouthed and possessed of a twisted sense of humor. He is a sociopath feared and respected as a king, with a penchant for provocation and power games. He is the main antagonist of Rick and his group during the second half of the Season 6 and Season 7, as well as from volume 17 to 21 of the Image Comics series.

Who do you think makes for a more interesting character The Governor or Negan? Do you prefer, the ruthless man obsessed to find the cure for his zombified daughter Penny, or the leader who loves his baseball bat Lucille, which he regularly feed with blood and brains? Vote and comment below!

List of Walking Dead villains

This is a list of other antagonists and evil characters that Rick Grimes and his group have to face throughout the comic-book, video-game and TV series:

• Alpha: leader of the Whisperer first appeared in issue #132 of the comic-book series.
• Gareth: leader of the Cannibal colony of Terminus in the first half of Season 5 of the AMC TV series.
• Shane: former Sheriff's officer and colleague of Rick, a hero turned into a villain.
• William Carver: leader of a group of survivors which became delusional and starts killing innocent people in Telltale The Walking Dead: Season Two.
• Dawn Lerner: a police lieutenant with a strange sense of legality which controls the group of the Grady Memorial hospital in the TV series.
• Owen: leader of the ruthless raiders group known as The Wolves in Season 5 and 6 of the AMC TV show.
• Joe: psychopath leader of the Claimers which appears in the second half of The Walking Dead Season 4.
• The Stranger: a psychopath seeking for vengeance and the main antagonist of Season 1 of Telltale's episodic video game.
• Dwight: a Savior turned into a murderer in the TV series and comic-book series.
• Merle Dixon: brother of Daryl and racist criminal which end up being the Governor's right-hand.
• Calvin: drug dealer and a sociopath, main antagonist in the pilot episode of AMC spin-off TV series "Fear the Walking Dead."

Watch this comparison between Negan vs Governor:

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