Just like every film needs a hero, a crucial character who is essential for any film or story is the Villain, every film requires a bad guy, who does everything in his power to stop the protagonist, what is a hero without a villain, he does not have a purpose, Villain gives the hero a purpose, seeing unstoppable bad guys being overcome by heroes is what makes any film interesting and rewarding, an antagonist with a great personality can make the film much more charming and interesting, a great villain makes you question things, and can also make you love them and root for them, we have made a list of some of the Greatest Movie Villains Of All Time, let us take a look at them
The Joker – The Dark Knight
We cannot make a list of the Greatest Movie Villains Of All Time and not include Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, in The Dark Knight, often regarded as the best portrayals of the character. Joker is probably one of the best characters seen in the comic books, and many actors such as Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson have done justice to the character, but in 2008 Health ledger dismissed all the arguments, his version of the joker was the perfect counterpart to Batman, he was the evil to batman’s good, and with fantastic acting filled with disturbing moments, Heath Ledger’s Joker might be the greatest villain of all time.
Darth Vader – The Star Wars Trilogy
One of the most popular Villains in the industry, Darth Vader is widely regarded as one of the best evil characters, he has a tragic and compelling back story which makes you feel for the character, he was a hero gave himself to the dark side to save his beloved, slowly losing himself in the process. He looks intimidating, and has one of the best character designs, the skeleton mask, with a billowing cape, and has a deep robotic voice which makes him seem heartless, also Vader has been consistent over the years delivering masterful performances over different films, since his debut over 40 years ago, this certainly makes him one of the if not the greatest villain.
Hannibal Lector – The Silence Of The Lambs
One of the scariest and creepiest characters you will ever see, Hannibal Lector played by Anthony Hopkins is everything that you would want in a great villain, he is scary, smart, manipulative, intelligent and extremely charming. He is a brilliant psychiatrist and human flesh-eating serial killer, if that doesn’t terrify you, I don’t know what will, what sets him apart is his characteristics, one moment he is a classy charming personality, the other moment he is a psycho killer ripping out faces of people, appearing on over 5 movies, the character has sure left its mark on the minds of many as perhaps one of the greatest villains.
Hans Gruber – Die Hard
Hans Gruber is a cunning thief and terrorist mastermind, who uses wit, intelligence and his charming personality to organize a bank robbery, Gruber has been cemented as one of the most iconic villains in film history, often regarded as the greatest action movie villain of all time and one of Rickman’s most iconic roles. What makes Gruber so dangerous, is that he seems to have an answer to everything that is thrown at him, and leaves nothing to chance, he’s sophisticated, has class and style, making him even more intimidating, the sophistication factor adds depth to the character, and keeps the audience guessing on what’s going to happen next.
T-1000 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day
When he auditioned for the role of T-1000, no one knew about Robert Patrick, James Cameron later told the actor that in his audition, “You were the only one who gave me a little scare there.” Landing him the role of the unstoppable machine, T-1000 adds intensity to the film, he has an eerie calm, which only makes him scarier, T-1000 proves to be one hell of a challenge for our protagonist, he is ridiculously overpowered, and is made out of liquid metal, and there’s no real way to kill him, till the end of the film at least. What makes him even more dangerous is that there’s no reasoning with him and he just has one thing on his mind, killing. All these factors make T-1000 the most ferocious terminator and one of the most hearted and dangerous villains.
Max Cady – Cape Fear
The main antagonist of the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners. He was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s remake. Max Cady was described as the epitome of Creepy, his sole intent was to terrorize the family of his former lawyer Sam Bowden, After serving a 14-year prison sentence for raping a young woman, what makes Max Cady extremely scary is his invasion on the Bowden family, he invades the family emotionally, mentally, and literally, he is hell-bent on revenge makes the lives of Bowdens impossible, all of this enough to make your skin crawl and hate him to your guts. Max Cady is a deranged psycho, and perhaps one of the scariest villains you will ever see.
John Doe – Se7en
John Doe is a psychopathic serial killer, who is obsessed with the Seven Deadly Sins of Christianity, and kills his victims in symbolic to remind the world about the inevitability to avoid these sins. He is a twisted mastermind, who enjoys playing games with the main character, his methods are twisted, sadistic, and cruel, he speaks in a calm and gentle tone, which makes the character even frightening, one of the reasons for John’s insanity is his tragic childhood, he had an alcoholic mother, who used to constantly abuse him, after being cheated on by his wife, he finds a book called The Seven Deadly Sins and finally loses it. We see a character constantly being kicked to the ground, by his family and society, and it finally breaks him, it shows the length that people can go to when they go insane. What really makes John a great villain is how realistic the character is, and how a society can screw up the psyche of a person and make him go insane.
Lord Voldemort – Harry Potter
The most powerful wizard to ever exist, Lord Voldemort or the one who shall not be named is perhaps one of the greatest villains we have ever seen, he is unable to feel love, and is absolutely ruthless, as a child, he was known as Tom Riddle, he was an excellent student, he pieced together information about Horcruxes using both the forbidden section of the library and manipulating one of his teachers, and made himself seven of them making him extremely powerful and almost immortal. His sole purpose throughout 8 films is to Kill Harry and is willing to do everything in his power to accomplish this, also he is extremely hard to kill, he has godly powers and you need to destroy 7 Horcruxes which are hidden in different parts to kill him, there’s no other way, all of this combines in making him a great villain who is a complete badass.
Freddy Kruger – Nightmare On Elm Street
Just one look at him is enough to strike fear in the hearts of many, Freddy Kruger is the spirit of a serial killer who uses a gloved hand with razors to kill his victims in their dreams, causing their deaths in the real world as well. He is a powerful force in the dream world and is almost completely invulnerable to any attacks, the idea behind the character was that people are most vulnerable while sleeping, thus making it nearly impossible to stop Krueger from killing you in your own dreams, or nightmares gory, also, nobody can stay awake forever, so, no matter how much you resist, you will eventually fall asleep and Freddy will kill you and take his time, the character has put several people up at night, and is one of the scariest and gruesome villains.
Magneto – X-men
Probably one of the greatest superhero villains, Magneto’s main motive is to make the mutant population the main population, what sets him apart is that truly believes there is no way to accomplish his goals other than violence and it’s all because of his tragic past, and you can understand the reasons for his decisions, almost so that you can almost agree with his decisions, Magneto is a deep and complicated character, he has a great background story, which is tragic in every way, he’s a Holocaust survivor, and is only concerned about the safety of his people and is willing to do everything to accomplish it, many people also think of Magneto as an Anti-hero, not a villain, and he is a polarizing figure, with many people agreeing to his motives and decisions, both Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen have done a fantastic job of portraying this awesome character, with both of them adding something new and exciting to the character.
