This paper focuses on the identity of the ‘villain’ by investigating representations of badness in a small selection of feature films belonging to the ‘law and crime’ genre. The films, originally in English and containing diatopic varieties, have all been subtitled into Italian. Some examples are given as to how the identities of the ‘baddies’ have been constructed through verbal and non-verbal multisemiotic channels and how they migrate across the English/Italian language barrier through audiovisual translation (subtitles) and other modes.
