Top 10 Favorite Movie Villains
Some of the greatest movie characters of all time are the villains, and some of the most important movie characters of all time are villains. So today I wanted to share my 10 favorite movie villains of all time.
Honorable Mentions:
Deckard Shaw (Fast and Furious Franchise)
Kylo Ren (The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy)
Adrian Toomes/The Vulture (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Birds of Prey)
Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)
10. Erik Kilmonger (Black Panther): Now, I’m not the biggest fan of the movie Black Panther but one of the parts about that movie is the villain. And I recently talked about him in my top 10 favorite MCU characters post. I think this one of the more compelling MCU villains, changes our heroes perspective on the world. Where the events at the end of the movie happen because the villain changed the hero to help the world. And that is when you have a great villain when the villain makes the hero question what he is doing, and have the villain change. Michael B. Jordan is just pretty great as the character, and him being a great actor that is no surprise. But his performance is even what kind of changes the audience’s perspective on the movie. And with the heartbreaking death of Chadwick Boseman, rumors say that Jordan is returning for the sequel. And maybe in Black Panther II and III have a redemption arc for his character. Anyway, back to the character itself I love this villain and is one of the best MCU villains.
9. Erik Lansherr/Magneto (X-Men Franchise): I haven’t really talked about the X-Men franchise a whole lot on my blog, but I really enjoy about half of them and the other half not so much. But one of the best and most consistent things in this franchise is the character of Magneto. And I think both Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen did a pretty great job as the character. With how the character was written in the original trilogy, McKellen wasn’t given a whole lot of emotional moments but he did a great job. And with the Fassbender version of the character is where we saw the more emotional side of the character and his origin story. The dynamic and relationship between Erik and Charles is so interesting and their different world views causes the rift in their relationship. Where Charles was raised well in a good house, and Erik was in Nazi camps in WWII, and that is so interesting. Where they can be friends and then evil but they can see where the other people are coming from. So, since I haven’t talked about the X-Men franchise all that much it might be a bit of a surprise he is on the list. But I actually really enjoy this character.
8. Hans Gruber (Die Hard): Of all the villains on this list, he might be the smallest scale. What I mean by that is his plan is just a heist and breaking into a building. Where other villains are out to take over the world or the universe. I like that for a smaller scale film they made a smaller villain out of it. He’s a mastermind, he’s not out there showing punches or getting in gun fights with John McClane, no he has his henchman do the work for me. This was the movie that really made Alan Rickman this A-list actor. And before this he was doing tv shows and tv movies. Alan Rickman plays the character with so much swag and he’s so much fun to see on screen. Maybe part of it is Rickman’s voice adds something to it. But he’s also somebody that you watch the movie and you want to see John McClane take this guy out and defeat him. So when you have him fall from the building it is so satisfying and you cheer when that happens. A movie villain that becomes instantly memorable and makes for one of the great movie villains of all time, when you put together the plan, the characterization, and the acting.
7. Loki (MCU): One of the most interesting and layered characters inside of the MCU. That I think is a pretty fantastic character. Tom Hiddelston is just great as the character and can play the fun side of the character and the evil and mischief side of the character really well. Hiddeslton has great chemistry with Chris Hemsworth and so their dynamic and duo is what I always enjoy in the Thor trilogy. But he’s a villain that got a redemption arc, in Thor, The Avengers, and The Dark World he is a villain but in Ragnarok we start to see the anti-hero side of things. So SPOILER ALERT when he dies in Infinity War he dies a hero and his arc comes on an end. SO this is a character that has a lot of layers to him that make him one of the more interesting characters inside of the MCU. So he’s somebody that whether he is good, bad, or in the middle he is always a lot of fun to see on screen. And I’m very curious on how they will progress his story in his own TV show which is scheduled to come out this May. A character that had a great arc, great chemistry with Thor, and a great performance by Mr. Hiddelston and you get a fantastic movie character.
6. Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter Franchise): I’m a big massive fan of the Harry Potter franchise and I think this franchise has some really solid characters. One of the best characters of the franchise is Voldemort who is the big bad villain of the eight movies. I think what makes him such a great villain is that they built the wait of seeing him in form, for three movies then at the end of the fourth movie we get to see Voldemort in physical form. And they built a mystery on who Voldemort actually is. Once you move into the Deathly Hallows movies that is when we get to see Voldemort in his prime and glory and we get to see the threat that Voldemore actually is. And I think that Ralph Fiennes just does such a great job of playing this character, and the way he moves and the make-up looks really creepy. His rivalry with Harry is one of the best in any movie franchise and Voldemort’s defeat in Deathly Hallows is so satisfying. With the characterization and performance you get one of my favorite movie villains of all time.
5. Scar (The Lion King): This is my personal favorite villain from an animated movie of all time. What makes him such a great villain is that he views himself as the hero of his story. He sees Simba as an animal not worthy to be king. So he tries what he can to make sure that he himself is king of Pride Rock, and so he tries whatever he can to make that happen. And this is a character that is so evil and a character that you want to see Simba take out by the end of the movie. Be Prepared is one of my personal favorite Disney songs and I think that song really does help the audience see Scar as a threat for the movie. Jeremy Irons as the voice of Scar plays the character with so much evilness. I think that so much of this villain is iconic, and he is widely regarded as one of the best Disney villains. And definitely one of the most iconic Disney villains of all time. And this is just a character that is not only one of the best Disney villains, he’s one of the best movie villains, and one of the best Disney characters.
4. Thanos (MCU): The ultimate MCU villain that they were building up to for nearly 6 years, and in Infinity War we got to see Thanos in his prime and glory. What I think makes him such a great villain is that we can sympathize with and see where his plan is coming from. All he wants is for families to have enough food...so the way he goes about it isn’t the right way. Destroying half of the universe isn’t the best way. And Infinity War was when we got to see him in prime, and since all of the other heroes were developed. They could focus the story on Thanos, and that made for one of the best plots for a MCU movie. The visuals for the character and Josh Brolin’s fantastic performance as the character help pull the movie together. And when he is defeated in Endgame it feels satisfying and like did a great job of having the Infinity Saga come to an end. There is a lot of strong competition when it comes to MCU villains, but Thanos is my personal favorite.
3. Dr. Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs): Some people might not count Hannibal Lecter as a villain of this movie, but I personally do think that he is. He does evil things all through-out the movie, he is more of a second villain...but he is still a villain. He’s the great villain mastermind that manipulates a person to choke on his own tongue, and kills people in order to escape a facility. Of course, Anthony Hopkins gives one of the best performances of all time. It’s hard to imagine to be as creepy and disturbing as Hopkins is in this role. He has this odd relationship Starling that adds an interesting layer to the entire thing. And I think the chemistry between Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster helps add the odd dynamic between the two characters. So this is a villain that is so disturbing and creepy and it makes for one of the best movie characters of all time. And I wonder if his character will get better or worse with the sequels...maybe I will watch them in 2021 and I can rank the movies.
2. Darth Vader (Star Wars Franchise): One of the most iconic looking movie characters of all time, that has been a movie villain iconic for the past 44 years. The way he looks and the sound that he makes makes it so iconic, and helps with making him one of the best movie villains of all time. His fantastic end sequence in Rogue One is one of the great moments in the Star Wars franchise, and we hope we get to see more sequences like that in future Star Wars projects. He is involved with one of the great movie plot twists of all time. But besides moments, I think that Darth Vader in the original trilogy is one of the best of Star Wars. In episode 4 and 5 he is evil and is hunting down Luke and friends. But once you move into Return of the Jedi we get to see the more human side of the character, and is willing to turn against the Emperor in order to save his son. There is always something powerful when seeing an evil person get an arc and become a hero by the end of that set trilogy or franchise. So when you put his iconicness, moments, and arc together you get one of the best movie villains of all time.
1. Joker (Various DC Movies): When I say the Joker I mean three different versions with Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Hamill. All three are pretty great in three different versions. Ledger of course gave one of the most iconic movie performances of all time, and we see a different and dark version of the Joker. Nicholson is the most iconic version of the character. In my opinion he’s the gangster that has henchman. And with his look and the stuff he does very like something from the comic books. Hamill being iconic for animation and the video games and the voice that Hamill provides fits the character really well. I don’t think there is a bad verison of the character, and each version adds something that no other version has added. So there is a lot of strong competition from other villains but at the end of the day I think that Joker is my favorite movie villain of all time.
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