People love a good villain, sometimes even more than their heroic counterparts.
Don’t believe me? Loki from the MCU, Malfoy from Harry Potter, and Darth Vader from Star Wars are the ones with enough fanfics, fan arts, and cosplays to put the main characters from their franchises to shame.
The movies don’t often show it, but there is a lot of work going into making a good villain. The best villains are always complex, have depth, and certain physical traits and quirks and mannerisms that are exclusively their.
But which one is the best? Across multiple mediums, including comics, movies, and animations, there are a lot of good villains. Too many to keep track of actually, less alone find out which one is the best.
Until now. To save you the time, and the incessant fighting online, we have compiled a list of the 20 best villains of all time.
#1 Anton Chigurh: No Country for Old Men
Source: imdb
Anton Chigurh was not the first assassin on screen, but he is certainly the most terrifying. Not only because he is relentless in his pursuit, but also because he makes something as harmless as a bolt an instrument of death.
#2 T-1000: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Source: imdb
The T-1000 was terrifying the first time we set eyes on them. The liquid metal robot, with a body that can morph into any sharp weapon to pierce, slash and cut. Or anyone. This lethal killing machine is definitely optimized for assassin work.
#3 Xenomorph: Alien
Source: imdb
One of the most terrifying monsters in cinematic history, the Xenomorph is engineered to kill. Ever since the moment it burst through its victim’s chest, the Xenomorph does only one thing: kill. His tough exoskeleton, monstrous strength, and acidic blood make it deadly even when wounded.
#4 Agent Smith: The Matrix
Source: imdb
Agent Smith is a horrifying villain. Not just because he is an antivirus program giving a human form that hunts down all “bugs” with free will in The Matrix. No, but because he later mutated into a virus and can infect others, turning them into replicas of him.
#5 Jason Voorhees: Friday the 13th
Source: imdb
Who doesn’t know Jason Voorhees? The unstoppable killer who strikes fear into horny campers everywhere… on Camp Crystal Lake. Jason makes hockey masks and a machete into pop culture icons. At least the hockey mask vendors everywhere can thank him for their spike in sales during Halloween.
#6 Darth Maul: Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Source: imdb
Darth Maul is only a minor threat in Episode I, but his role and danger level are highly elevated in other shows in the same franchise, like Clone Wars and Rebels. He has Sith-level skills, is deadly skilled in lightsaber combat, and has claimed lives from many Jedi.
#7 Hans Gruber: Die Hard
Source: imdb
Forget heist movies, Hans Gruber is the most iconic villain when it comes to scheming and staying ten steps ahead of his foes. “Who said we were terrorists?” still remains one of the most iconic lines ever spoken by an action movie villain. But above all, he is suave and likable, like a true gentleman.
#8 Lord Voldemort: Harry Potter
Source: fantasytopics
If you ever heard the reference to you-know-who, it’s thanks to this noseless dark wizard. Lord Voldemort is supposed to be the evilest wizard ever. With his purist view, he and his Death Eaters strike fear into the heart of wizards and witches, even killing many of them alongside Muggles.
#9 Michael Myers: Halloween
Source: imdb
Another iconic killer, Michael Myers makes all kitchen knives look super threatening. Especially to high school babysitters. What makes him so horrifying is that he killed people when he was a child, and among his first victims was his sister. The fact that his power walks faster than we run also amps up the fear factor.
#10 Loki: The MCU
Source: imdb
MCU trickster god with fabulous hair and killer jawline, Loki has earned himself a large fan base. But not just because he is beautiful - although his fans would attest. Loki is one of the rare times when the MCU accidentally makes a good villain. He has depth, humor and quirks. And he comes back to life, more than once.
#11 Hans Landa: Inglourious Basterds
Source: imdb
The Nazi with the uncanny ability to hunt Jews, no matter how well they are hidden. The villain is one of Quentin Tarantino’s best, being intelligent but circumspect, arrogant but charming, ruthless but polite, and incredibly opportunistic and relentless. In fact, he doesn’t care much about the Jews he hunts down or Nazi party, the latter he betrayed when the tide of the war changes.
#12 Sauron: The Lord of the Rings
Source: YouTube
Sauron is as close to evil will embodiment as possible. Most commonly appears as a giant orange eye, Sauron is single-handedly responsible for the evil in Mordor, and aims to rule Middle Earth. He also created the One Ring, in which he poured all his power into corruption and manipulation into.
#13 Pennywise the Dancing Clown: It
Source: vanityfair
The incarnation of fear himself, Pennywise brings nightmares to us as kids. And as adults via the 2017 movie. Thanks to Stephen King conceptualizing him via one of the scary things for children, clown, Pennywise makes all the sewage look ten times scarier.
#14 Bane: The Dark Knight Rises
Source: imdb
In the comics, Bane is iconic due to his venom which enhances his strength. The Dark Knight Rises is responsible for bringing one of the most iconic Batman moments to life: Bane breaking Batman’s back. His triumph over one of the greatest heroes in both brain and brawn makes him one of the best Batman villains.
#15 Palpatine: Star Wars Saga
Source: imdb
You don’t get more evil than the Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Despite his frail appearance, Palpatine, or Darth Sidious, is a bona fide villain. Among his worst deeds include orchestrating the Clone Wars, exterminating the Jedi Order, ending the Galactic Republic, and turning Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Scare yet?
#16 Scar: The Lion King
Source: imdb
Long live the king! One of Disney’s most iconic lines is spoken by a lion. Scar is a ruthless lion who usurps his brother Mufasa by designing a plot that leads to him being trampled to death and banishing his nephew from Pride Land. His sinister musical number with a hyena army marching can still scare plenty of children today.
#17 Thanos: The MCU
Source: imdb
The Mad Titan is a great villain, not because he snaps away half of the universe. It’s because of his relentlessness in gathering the Infinity Stones, his ruthlessness in killing half the population in the universe, and his lack of remorse about it. But this is not because he is evil, but more like his moral compass is too twisted.
#18 Hannibal Lecter: Silence of the Lamb
Source: imdb
Cooking has never looked so threatening. And cannibalism has never looked so sophisticated. The psychopathic Doctor Hannibal Lecter makes criminology looks delicious. And deathly. Hannibal Lecter can kill people with his bare hand, and does so with finesse.
#19 Darth Vader
Source: imdb
The mechanical voice, the mask, the father of both Leia and Luke Skywlaker, Darth Vader is the most iconic villain. With terrifying control over the Force, and deathly lightsaber skills. As the chief enforcer for the Empire, he commits great evils, like mass murders of the Tusken Raiders and young Jedi. But he redeems himself in the end by saving his son, which makes him a great villain.
#20 Joker: The Dark Knight
Source: imdb
The Joker is already a terrifying villain in comics, but on screen, the fear factor is tenfold. A foil to Batman, his genius and insanity make him a scary villain - you never know what, when, how, or why he would kill you. There’s no method to his madness. Oh, and he carves faces, on humans’ faces.