Steve Bannon at Trump Tower in New York. AP Photo/ Evan Vucci In an interview published Friday, Steve Bannon compared himself positively to both pop-culture villains and one of the least popular US political figures in recent history.

Bannon, who this week was named President-elect Donald Trump's chief White House strategist, told The Hollywood Reporter that he benefited from left-wing media outlets that labeled him as evil.

"Darkness is good," Bannon told the publication.

He added: "Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, Satan. That's power. It only helps us when they get it wrong. When they're blind to who we are and what we're doing."

Bannon's appointment to a top political position in Trump's administration this week resulted in a swift backlash. Critics have assailed his stewardship of Breitbart News, whose coverage has been viewed as anti-Semitic and racially charged.

Both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have called for Trump to rescind Bannon's appointment. They have drawn attention to Bannon's self-professed commitment to providing a platform for the alt-right movement.

During his tenure at Breitbart, Bannon oversaw the publication's transformation into a far-right, antiestablishment, white-nationalist outlet, which found more in common with European far-right parties than the US Republican Party on issues such as immigration and trade.