In addition to being one of the most mind-bending genres in film and television, science fiction is also one of the medium’s most astute when it comes to displaying a dark reflection of the society we inhabit. A defining component of sci-fi has always been its eagerness to depict the villainy of corporate greed and the disturbing lengths those in power are willing to go to in search of progress.
From all-consuming mega-corporations to unscrupulous tech giants, the genre is littered with companies which care only for their bottom lines. Whether they earn their fortunes in human experimentation, biological weaponry, war profiteering, or simply by becoming a market-dominating conglomerate, there has been no shortage of sci-fi corps which have been found out for their evil ways.
10 The Soylent Corporation – ‘Soylent Green’ (1973)
Soylent Green takes place in a dystopian future where the world’s resources have been depleted by overpopulation, leading to mass starvation and widespread poverty. The Soylent Corporation seems to be humanity’s final beacon of hope, manufacturing a range of nutritious wafers with its latest product, Soylent Green (derived from plankton), the best on the market.
As Charlton Heston’s iconic cries of “Soylent Green is people!” would reveal, the company wasn’t entirely honest about where their nutrients were sourced from. While its reutilization of the euthanized – and its efforts to cover the truth up – was nasty business, it’s probably fairest to view them as a necessary evil given they did successfully feed the starving masses.
9 The Tyrell Corporation – ‘Blade Runner’ (1982)
As one of the most morally questionable corporations in sci-fi, Blade Runner’s Tyrell Corporation is one of the genre’s most enticing and iconic companies. The company is responsible for the creation of the bio-engineered synthetic androids known as replicants to work on space colonies.
While nothing about that seems wickedly evil, the corporation’s CEO – driven by an egomaniacal God complex – goes so far as to imbue the androids false memories to make them more human. It essentially created a legion of mindless slaves and then gave them minds, resulting in the replicants yearning for freedom and necessitating the creation of the Blade Runner squads to hunt them down.
8 Blue Sun – ‘Firefly’ (2002-2003) and ‘Serenity’ (2005)
While shrouded in unresolved mystery, one thing fans of the cult sci-fi series Firefly can be sure of is the Blue Sun corporation is bad news. While it seems to be the go-to conglomerate for all of life’s everyday essentials, River’s (Summer Glau) disdainful reaction to the company’s symbol hints at a much darker depth to the ubiquitous company.
Fan theories on what the company actually does behind closed doors are wide-ranging, but one thing which seems undeniable is the mega-corporation are attached to the human experimentation program River was subjected to. It’s likely that Blue Sun is also connected to the Alliance and other powerful political factions in the Firefly universe.
7 E Corp – ‘Mr. Robot’ (2015-2019)
Greedy and negligent in addition to being entirely corrupt, E Corp – or Evil Corp as Elliot (Rami Malek) calls it – it one seriously bad company. A mega-corporation with a presence in every consumer market, it dominates the market of consumer debt, but it’s the corporation’s hidden dealings which best define the true extent of its evil.
At the heart of Mr. Robot is the company’s ignorance towards a deadly toxic chemical leak – an incident which led to the death of Elliot’s father – and the ensuing and elaborate cover up when the case was taken to court. They also launched E Coin, their own digital currency, and almost achieved their goal of global domination.
6 Buy n Large Corporation – ‘WALL-E’ (2008)
An all-consuming conglomerate which burst into the Pixar universe in WALL-E, the Buy n Large Corporation’s insatiable greed saw the company gain influence in everything from aerospace to food services, and even international politics. As impressive as its variety was, we see the aftermath of their empire in the barren wasteland Earth has become in WALL-E.
The titular robot was himself a creation of Buy n Large, the last of a fleet of trash compacting robots left to clean up the world when humanity evacuates the planet after it’s devastated by environmental neglect and an overwhelming waste problem. The ubiquitous company is so prevalent that it can be seen in the background of many Pixar films released since.
5 Omni Consumer Products – ‘RoboCop’ (1987)
The ever-opportunistic Omni Consumer Products (or OCP) thrives in a dystopian Detroit where they are the leading provider in everyday household needs. That isn’t enough for the technological mega-corporation though, and with the city on the brink of financial and societal collapse, it seizes on the opportunity to be assigned control of the police force.
The result of the privatisation is nothing short of disastrous, with OCP’s intent to install a cyborg police force of RoboCops leading to a police strike that sees crime run rampant as riots break out across the city. Even then, the company still looks only to its own gain, and it’s not until Officer Alex Murphy/RoboCop (Peter Weller) kills the corrupt CEO that order can be restored.
4 Cyberdyne Systems – ‘The Terminator’ Franchise
As the creators of Skynet, one of the deadliest mishaps in science fiction history, Cyberdyne Systems can’t even be redeemed by its good intentions. While the company started off as a small computer parts manufacturer, it soon became one of the biggest corporations in its field and transitioned into military tech work with a focus on AI and advanced computing systems, leading to the inauguration of Skynet.
Blinded by the money on offer, Cyberdyne failed to put in adequate safety measures resulting in the full extent of America’s military might being placed in the control of an artificial intelligence which became self-aware, starting a nuclear war and deploying legions of mechanized killing machines to kill off the survivors. Single-handedly bringing humanity to the brink of extinction makes Cyberdyne Systems one of sci-fi’s most heinous corporations of all time.
3 Biosyn – ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (2022)
For decades, InGen was the overriding villainous corporation of the Jurassic Park franchise, but 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion officially introduced a new evil even more greedy and morally corrupt. Biosyn, another genetics research company, is evil to the core, hiring more lawyers and espionage agents then actual scientists as they routinely steal ideas from other science agencies and reap the financial rewards.
That’s not even the end of their villainy though, as they create a swarm of giant locusts to kill off crops all over the U.S. except for their own to generate a desperate, starving market that they can capitalize on. Defined only by their one-dimensional evil, Biosyn is about as corrupt as science fiction corporations get.
2 Umbrella Corporations – ‘Resident Evil’ Franchise
When you single-handedly and quite purposefully unearth a zombie virus and kickstart the apocalypse you come to be viewed as particularly evil. The Umbrella Corporations’ reputation isn’t helped by the fact that the release of the T-virus was an intentional ploy, and they have waves of agents and soldiers ever-ready to repel anyone who tries to stop them.
The main antagonist of the Resident Evil franchise, Umbrella is as power-hungry as it is relentless, with aspirations to become the most powerful brand name in the field of bio-manufacturing and bio-weaponry. From human experimentation to killing their own employees – and billions of innocent people – there is no low Umbrella Corporations won’t stoop to.
1 Weyland-Yutani Corporation – ‘Alien’ Franchise
A ubiquitous company in the futuristic universe of the Alien franchise, Weyland-Yutani is at the cutting edge of all things related to advanced technology such as synthetic androids, super computers, and off-world colonization. Even then though, their ambition exceeds their reach, leading them to undergo more dangerous pursuits upon the discovery of the xenomorph species.
An advanced killing machine and an elite hunter, obtaining a xenomorph fast becomes the priority of the Weyland-Yutani corporation as they seek to profit off its potential as a biological weapon. They are unrelenting in their endeavor to realize such an aspiration, uncaring of how many innocent people, including their own employees, are killed in the process.