As voters, we should be able to rely on and trust those in charge. They should be beacons of hope of morals, free of corruption and greed. Of course, they just aren't. For every Bill Pullman saving the world in Independence Day, there is a Dick in Frost/Nixon. While Harrison Ford's action-ready President told terrorists to get off his plane in Air Force One, John Hurt ruled a futuristic Britain with an iron fist in V For Vendetta.

Through film, these sometimes cartoonish real life characters can be stretched and pushed to a breaking point in their own dastardly schemes. Below, we rank some of the ones we reckon are the most nefarious, moronic, and memorable.

9 President Camacho - Idiocracy

Former wrestler Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho now finds himself the commander in chief of a world of morons and mountains of garbage in Idiocracy. As the world collapses around them, Camacho is an all singing all dancing machine gun silencing President of the people. In all fairness, he is trying his best. Without any irony, this is somehow perhaps the best and worst President committed to celluloid.

Echoing real life, creator Mike Judge would reincorporate the character alongside a very game Terry Crews to parody Donald Trump's election campaign.

8 Tracy Flick - Election

Again, perhaps not evil, but certainly morally gray, Tracy Flick is the perfect brown-noser, who will do anything to be Student President. Driven and egotistical, Tracy isn't bad per se, but isn't necessarily good either, knowing that if she continues at this pace she can get anything she wants. She's opportunism personified.

Hatching a plan to dethrone the girl, history teacher Jim (Mathew Broderick) urges a likable jock to enter the election against her. But the real battle comes from Tracy and Jim, who are prepared to do anything to get what they need. Election remains a fantastic satire of high school and American politics.

7 Harriet Jones & The Slitheen - Doctor Who

Masquerading as those in power, the Slitheen, bulbous green aliens with baby faces and long arms, are using human skin as suits to hide in plain sight. The Slitheen become favourite new villains for the David Tennant era of Doctor Who, and more than resemble the United Kingdom's current government under an equally evil Tory stranglehold.

Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton, who fans may remember as Shaun of the Dead's mum), who would help save the day against the Slitheen, would eventually work her way up to Prime Minister herself in a later series. Showing her true character, when the Sycorax invaded London at Christmas she would have their ship destroyed as they retreated as a show of force.

6 Mayor West - Family Guy

Voiced by the late, great Adam West, "zany" doesn't cover the half of Mayor West's rule over the city. Crazed and flamboyant (and 95% helium), he would date Meg for a little bit, or flip-flop in radioactive waste in a bid to gain superpowers (he got cancer). He's also seen straight up murdering Quahog citizens on multiple occasions.

Related: Why Family Guy Is Hated By the Creators of South Park, The Simpsons, and More

Following West's one-episode guest spot on Johnny Bravo (of which Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane was a writer), playing the same sort of high caricature of himself, a regular spot on Family Guy made a strange amount of sense. After West's passing, he would be replaced in the show by Sam Elliot for some reason — who has only failed to measure up to the gap left behind by the great actor who played Batman.

5 Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby - The Simpsons

Corrupt and constantly bumbling, Quimby has been a staple of The Simpsons from the start. More than happy to be an adulterer and prepared to take bribes, Quimby represents the fragility of a town as basic as Springfield. In the crossover episode with Family Guy, Quohog's Mayor West and Springfield's Mayor Quimby leave the courtroom to go smoke weed.

During the Covid 19 lockdowns in the United Kingdom, Britain's own Prime Minister at the time (and London's former mayor) Boris Johnson was one of several accused of traveling to a foreign country for a stint away. This mirrored Quimby's own press conference tackling Springfield's own deadly airborne virus, live from the Bahamas.

4 Richard Nixon - Futurama

Re-elected in the future (winning by a single vote), the disembodied head of Richard Nixon is made out to be a straight-up villain in Futurama. On the prospect of winning the election he promises to "sell children's organs to zoos for meat and go into people's houses and wreck up the place."

With the right-hand man in a headless Spiro Agnew, and a gigantic killing death robot as a torso, Nixon is a frequent antagonist for the Planet Express gang while regularly being relied on to be the de facto 'man in charge' in many episodes, despite committing treason and physically destroying the White House.

3 Oswald Cobblepott / The Penguin - Batman Returns

There's something so wonderful that someone so vile and downright evil as The Penguin, who eats raw fish and has black blood, seems the ideal candidate to rule over Gotham City. The disturbing thing is that there's no real problem, only when a tape reveals that Cobblepott (Danny DeVito) is more than happy to sell its citizens down the river for his own purposes.

Related: Best Danny DeVito Voice Acting Performances, Ranked

Outed, Penguin hatches a ludicrous plan to steal all of Gotham's children, just like he was abandoned as a child.

2 Mayor Vaughn - Jaws

Consistently rebuffing Chief Brody's warnings, the mayor of Amity in Jaws is determined to keep the beaches open for summer and the tourism trade. And he's got to, right? A little seaside town like Amity needs all the business it can get! Seen in consistently bad suits, Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) is a skeptic, a no-hoper who stubbornly ignores the signs in front of him for the sight of tourists' dollars. Whereas the shark is the threat of the movie, it's Vaughn who is the story's villain.

A current meme going around at the moment is the importance in showing up to elections. Despite multiple people dying in Jaws, the mayor is still in power by the sequel, where he is arguably even worse of a person.

1 Emperor Palpatine - Star Wars

A living embodiment of power corrupting, the white sagged skin and yellow eyes of Palpatine rule over the galaxy with the unmistakable force of the Galactic Empire. Rising his way up the ranks by shmoozing and manipulating those he wanted close to him and killing all the rest, Palpatine is well-detailed in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and a disturbing overlord in the originals.

Setting himself apart from any others on the list, with lightsaber skills of his own, blue lightning from his fingertips and unstoppable henchman in one Darth Vader, Palpatine remains the Star Wars universe's Big Bad (despite the fact his most recent appearance came off as pandering fan service).