Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: Ramona Flowers' Evil Exes, Ranked

Relatability is crucial in cinema — and there's basically nothing more relatable than the idea that all of your exes are evil and are hellbent in getting in the way of a good relationship and thus make an official league where they make your new partner fight them. Too much? OK, maybe. But there's something there to connect with, especially as it's presented to us in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," Edgar Wright's masterful 2010 live-action adaptation and one of the most unique comic book movies ever. 

There's a lot to be said about what Ramona Flowers, the film's central love interest (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), goes through in her past to get to where she is when we meet her, because how she goes about her relationship with the title character Scott (Michael Cera) speaks to the confusion that washes over you when love becomes challenging.

But we're not actually going to go into all of that. Instead, we're going to rank Ramona's seven evil exes on coolness (from least to most) and how toxic they are as people (most to least), using elements like their character design, their personalities, their actions, and their intentions as a litmus. What can I say, Ramona's roster is impossibly cool, despite mostly being kind of the worst. It's a skill.

Plus, the performances from the actors who play the exes in the film are going to factor into the ranking a bit as well, mainly because they're all so spot on. Moral of the story is, we're just trying to have a good time here, so we're going to do this ranking the fun way. 

Without further ado, here are all seven of Ramona Flowers' evil exes from "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," ranked from worst to best.

The original leader of the League of Evil Exes, Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman) is easily the worst of all of Ramona's past beaus. Literally, how awful do you have to be to create a club of evil exes and perpetually bother your former girlfriend? It's pretty childish if you ask me. And you know what's funny about Gideon? He's mainly just jealous about being usurped in Ramona's life by Scott, when it's clear he didn't even care that much about her to begin with. Ah, a tale as old as time.

Ultimately, Gideon and Ramona clearly didn't have much real love between them, because it's clear by his speech at the end of "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" that he was more invested in status, wealth, notoriety, and having someone beautifully interesting on his arm than he was in Ramona herself and what they could've had. The way he seemingly lords over Ramona, particularly in the film's climactic arc, gives off a controlling vibe, on top of having a chip installed on Ramona's neck, and it just feels icky and gross. Plus, when you consider how he ends up losing his entire empire and becoming a useless bum that's being waited on hand and foot by his girlfriend Julie Powers in the film's spinoff TV series "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off," it's clear Gideon is the biggest loser of the exes. He's a pathetic, attention-seeking billionaire who can't even keep his hands on his fame and fortune, let alone the girl. Lame!

That said, Schwartzman nails the performance here, making Gideon slimy and subtly charming in all the right and wrong ways. It's because of his turn that you feel like you want to take a shower every time Gideon shows up on screen — and it works, so he's definitely the worst ex on the list.

Here's the thing about Todd Ingram: He's a somewhat conflicting ex. On the one hand, he's the bass player for Envy Adams' band The Clash at Demonhead, which certainly earns him some coolness points. He's also a proud vegan, which is indubitably cool simply because standing for something good with such conviction can rarely be a bad thing. Plus, the potentially coolest thing about him is that he used his vegan powers to blast a crater into the moon to prove his love for Ramona in high school, which is pretty romantic if you ask me and thus innately cool.

But Todd also has some of the worst qualities of the exes. He's a cheater and he's a huge liar, particularly about his relationship with Envy — which is fraught with infidelity — and also his being vegan is just a front, because he eats chicken! So scratch those cool points, because he doesn't actually stand for anything other than trying to look cool, which is poser behavior. Then, as if that all wasn't enough to begin with, he commits a truly unforgivable sin in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World." Todd (played perfectly by Brandon Routh, one of our previous Men of Steel) punched Scott's pseudo-girlfriend Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) so hard that her highlights were quite literally punched out of her hair.

Needless to say, Todd has made way more wrongs than he has rights. He wasn't actually bad when it comes to Ramona and their relationship, and their relationship ended amicably, but his other transgressions kind of seal his deal when it comes to his ranking in this list. Sorry Todd, try being less of a spineless jerk next time.

On his face, Lucas Lee comes off as the biggest jerk of the exes. He's extremely cocky and self-assured, pampered, and spoiled, as you'd expect from any celebrity — and in the world of "Scott Pilgrim," he's one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, so that kind of attitude isn't a far cry from normal. He's not particularly nice to Scott, or anyone around him, but it does seem that where Ramona is concerned, he's still a bit torn up over being cheated on in high school (with Todd, no less), which is pretty justified.

But ultimately, it's clear that Lucas is, more than anything, just a victim of circumstance. Of course he's going to join the League, because Ramona cheated and left him. Of course he's going to end up a rich, entitled celebrity with a bad attitude, but he's only adapting to the world he finds himself in as a major star. Aside from that, he's actually kind of cool. He's a good-looking skateboarder whose cool edge led him to become an action hero staple, and he's even got a sweet gang of stunt doubles.

Ultimately, Lucas is potentially the big red herring of the exes. He comes off nearly worse than Gideon at first glance, but once you take a look at his history with Ramona and the realities of his lifestyle, it's easy to understand him and his attitude, which really is but a facade. Even though Lucas probably isn't the best capital actor in the game — though Chris Evans (who apparently will never say never to a Marvel return) is an excellent jerk — he's still got enough swag (and justified resentment) to be relegated to the middle of this list.

Roxie Richter is the only female ex of the group — and that's where the majority of the justification for her ranking lies, but I'll get to that in a second. To bein, we need to acknowledge a few things. First off, her seriously awesome style. No one rocks the hood-up scowl quite like she does. Plus, her sword is pretty sick (and a worthy match against Ramona's massive hammer). It even turns into a whip for some extra fighting power, and she wields it well. She's certainly a worthy opponent and shows herself to be quite a badass in her battle against Ramona, who takes Scott's place so he doesn't have to fight a girl.

On the slightly negative side, she's a bit of an annoying cry baby, but that's where we come back to my very first point. A big part of the reason why she acts this way in her interactions with Scott and Ramona is because she's scorned over being treated as part of a phase Ramona had in college and not as a fully-fledged human being with feelings who would potentially feel used by being just left high and dry one day. Mae Whitman's Roxie may be one of the most misunderstood exes, which is a real shame because her anger and sadness toward Ramona is pretty easy to understand and sympathize with, if you can't empathize with it specifically.

In fact, I'd even go as far as to say Roxie is the most justified ex, even a smidge more so than Lucas, in the League. Not that there's really any excuse to have a League, period, but if it was a kosher thing to do, Roxie would be getting a get out of jail free card on that one.

Matthew Patel might come off as the lamest ex, but he's truly anything but. Let's start with his endless, undeniable swag. Matthew (embodied hilariously by Satya Bhabha) rocks this awesome indie sleaze pirate-esque look in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" that is way cooler than its given credit for, and he turns his showdown with Scott into an epic Bollywood number. It hardly gets cooler than this, y'all. His demon hipster chicks — yes, vampire-like women putting on a Bollywood dance number who back him up during his battle — are some of the best sidekicks a supervillain could ask for. I mean, they've got extremely cute matching outfits, fangs and wings. They shoot fireballs! And somehow, they get even less credit than Matthew's pirate look, which makes just about zero sense.

But what might just be the most delightful thing about Matthew — potentially even the thing that got him the number two spot on this list — is how he usurps Gideon's empire to become the leader of the League, a major change in the hierarchy that happens in "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off," which is not a remake but a remix of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It's just a great comeback for a character that was relegated to being a silly and unimportant introduction to the League, proving he has so much more up his sleeve than meets the eye and definitely isn't one to be underestimated when it comes to his capacity for wielding power and influence. It's clear that Matthew Patel is the most underrated of the exes, and it's high time we appreciate him like we should.

The top slot on this list just had to go to the Katayanagi Twins, Kyle (Shota Saito) and Ken (Keita Saito). The dynamic duo are definitely the most mysterious of the exes, which is in large part why they're such shoe-ins for this spot. In "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," they never speak a word — but their reputations precede them. Scott knows next to nothing about them (save that Ramona once dated them back in the day, at the same time) besides how badass they are as musicians. That alone has him nervous at first, but it says a lot about the street cred Kyle and Ken already have going into their battle with Scott. A healthy dose of mystery is pretty enticing, let's just say that.

But then there's what actually goes down in the battle, which is one of the greatest music moments in Wright's filmography as a whole. Yeah, Scott ultimately wins the fight, but not before the Katayanagi Twins summon a two-headed dragon spirit that fights Scott and his band, Sex Bob-omb, during a head-to-head amp battle between their bands. That's basically the coolest thing to ever happen at a concert, and certainly the coolest thing that any of the exes have ever done, point blank.

Besides that, they seem like genuinely decent guys. They were the ones scorned by Ramona, not the other way around, and the way they keep things professional and battle it out via the music shows that they haven't let what happened between them and Ramona go to their heads — or their hearts. But again, they summoned dragons with their music, so how could they not be the best exes?