Villains are as crucial a component to a story arc as protagonists in film. They balance out the cinema’s arrogant protagonists, the proverbial yang to a starring role’s yin, and often are the best acting roles in movies themselves. Franchises like James Bond and Mission: Impossible have long sought villains that rise to the level of their counterpart’s intelligence, even exceed them, to raise the stakes for the film’s star. Even Bond seemed more heroic with an anti-hero playing opposite him. The best villains have given us reasons to be in their corner, from traumatic origin stories to extremely low self-esteem, and these roles gave us the arc and depth of character that we crave, something that can’t always be provided with a leading role. We tend to identify more with villains when they are properly scripted.
The most graceful of villains have remained a fixture in popular culture long after their on-screen deaths, some even getting a reboot thanks to their crossover appeal. Indeed, nowadays, the whole concept of a villain has changed, with characters like Loki moving in and out of an audience’s favor throughout the many MCU films they appear in. Still, we’ve grown to expect some depth from our villains, especially ones who toe the line between having a moral compass and tending towards mayhem. Sometimes they are pure evil, other times they are merely caught up in a vicious cycle, but they always provide the balance necessary for a proper action story arc.
The following are 20 villains we hoped would best their on-screen counterpart, or at least we simply admired their villainous vigilance.
20 May Day in A View to a Kill
May Day has become one of our favorite Bond villains over the years, because…Grace Jones. The inimitable model, actress, and singer has been everything from Andy Warhol muse to action film star, strutting her powerfully elongated frame and intimidating screen presence into lovable roles in Conan the Destroyer and A View to a Kill, a Bond film with a much lighter tone than today’s Daniel Craig affairs. Only three years after the release of her sublime single “My Jamaican Guy,” how could we have rooted against the siren when battling the heavily spray-tanned Roger Moore as James Bond?
19 Nino Brown in New Jack City
New Jack City nemesis Nino Brown has permeated The Culture in myriad ways, with rappers and wrestlers adopting the name in homage to the great Wesley Snipes character — the ultra-violent big boss of the Cash Money Brothers gang. Yes, that’s where Cash Money Records culled their name from, and the list of real-world influences goes on, as we rooted for Nino from the first unholstering of his MAC-10. The character recalled Scarface and James Cagney’s 1930s gangsters, and Snipes was so charismatic in the tailor-made role, he cast his influence across a generation of black villains, from the Barksdale-Bell gang on The Wire, to James “Ghost” St. Patrick on Power. Nino Brown broke the mold.
18 Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element
Nobody dials up a role quite like Gary Oldman, who has blessed us with some of our favorite, completely unhinged acting performances. The actor’s 90s run alone gave us Drexl Spivey from True Romance, Norman Stansfield from Leon: The Professional, and the lovably-erratic Zorg in The Fifth Element. It’s hard to blame poor Zorg, who had a giant living fireball from deep space lording over him. Certainly anyone would be persuaded towards evil by an entity that makes you sweat blood when you don’t properly execute its malevolent tasks. Alas, Zorg met his match with Korben Dallas, Leeloo and their rebellious gang, who eventually dispatched of him — and his emo hairstyle that was a mere 260-years-too-late.
17 Mugatu in Zoolander
Poor Mugatu (Will Ferrell) — even his allegiance to Katinka Ingabogovinana (Milla Jovavich) couldn’t spare him the disrepute of opposing the male model of his generation, Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) — who overcame the inherent biases of being really, really, really good-looking to prove his inner beauty to the world in Zoolander. Not even Hansel (despite being so hot right now) could unseat Derek, a crusader for the rights of Mermen the world over. Still, we felt for Mugatu, hungry to maintain his fashion empire by employing the creme-de-la-creme of the modeling world, he alienated the very man that helped him reach his fashion heights in the first place. The rest, as they say, was history.
16 Jean Jacket in Nope
We can’t remember Jean Jacket ever doing anything aggressive to the Haywoods before their crusade to expose his hidden life to cameras in Nope. Still, audiences had to suffer through his pigeonholing, the besmirchment of his dear name, and a physical offensive against the largely harmless alien life form. Granted, hiding behind clouds, eating plastic horses and barfing metal objects on houses is pretty untoward behavior, but Jean Jacket was going through a lot at the time. Luckily, before some balloon-induced acid reflux makes life very difficult for Jean Jacket, we got one of the best villains of the 2020s (that was apparently not of planet earth).
15 Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me
As if we didn’t have enough reason to love all seven feet, two inches of lofty actor Richard Kiel for his performance in Adam Sandler’s incredible Happy Gilmore, he also served as Bond villain Jaws in two films, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. In the former, he introduces us to his metallic grin as Karl Stromberg’s muscled henchman, who gets a couple shots at killing Bond thanks to the MI-6 spy’s entaglements with Soviet KGB agent Anya Amasova. Alas, Jaws lacked brains as big as his teeth, and never quite got his man despite his infectious smile.
14 Dr. Evil in Goldmember
We get to see a softer side of Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) in Goldmember, as the cue-balled convict forges a loving bond with son Scott Evil (Seth Green) while jostling for power with Goldmember. Scott’s tender gift of sharks-with-laser-beams to his suddenly loving father is a real tear-jerker. The film taught us that no relationship is too far gone to patch up and that Dr. Evil has many redeeming qualities. Being born of a man who “made outrageous claims like he invented the question mark” clearly made a long term impression on the Belgian mad genius Dr. Evil, and his plots to hold the world hostage were merely the man lashing out.
13 Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers
Speaking of cue-balled convicts, another one that found his way into our hearts was Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson) in Natural Born Killers. Sure, he terrorizes the Southwestern deserts with a murderous rampage of untold horror, but he’s still a romantic! Mickey seals his love for Mallory with a blood-bond wedding atop the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos, New Mexico, forever burnishing their romance into the annals of film history. Director Oliver Stone sure has an interesting sense of romance, spattering it with blood to heighten the stakes of its success. When Mickey, Mallory and Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.) spring their way out of jail, we find out that Mickey’s sense of love far outweighs his sense of allegiance.
12 Mallory Knox in Natural Born Killers
If there’s a villain one notch above Mickey Knox, it’s surely Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis), a rattlesnake-whisperer of a cohort, who outshines Mickey by the end of Natural Born Killers, when, despite a gut-shot, she helps Mickey battle their way out of the penitentiary with the help of Australian reporter-gone-criminal Wayne Gail (Robert Downey Jr.) Lewis’ performance showed she could be every bit as badass as Mickey, a shotgun-wielding whirlwind of a character who becomes most endearing when she blows an Olympic cyclist clean off his bike with a shotgun.
11 The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters
When Gozer allows Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) the simple option of picking his own villain in Ghostbusters, rather than clear his mind of any thoughts, he thinks of the most innocent thing he can remember from his childhood. It was a seemingly intelligent methodology until the ten-story-tall Marshmallow Man appears and begins to destroy New York City. Still, we love the Marshmallow Man for all the same reason he became a corporate mascot, his chubby cheeks and his cute little sailor outfit. He seemed innocuous enough until the boys had to use their proton packs to cross the streams and fry that Marshamallow into a s’more of discontent.
10 Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York
We’re guessing if William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) were around today, he’d be one of the insurrectionists marching on the Capitol on January 6th, proving to fellow Americans that these colors do not run. He might even have a MAGA glass eye, so passionate was he about his nation’s fate in Gangs of New York. In the New York of corrupt politicians like Boss Tweed (Jim Broadbent) and entertainers like P.T. Barnum (Roger Ashton-Griffiths), Bill held his own as a masterful orator and political strategist, to say nothing of his capabilities with a knife. Between his Rollie Fingers mustache, top hats, and his jovially murderous attitude, Bill had us at hello.
9 Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange
Despite his penchant for ultraviolence, we learn during A Clockwork Orange that Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is merely a product of his environment, and when he signs up for the experimental Ludovico technique, we see him fulfilling all the potential that a dystopian society has robbed him of. Sure, that involves getting his eyes splayed open by the eyelash curlers from hell, but it’s always darkest before the dawn. It didn’t hurt that Alex and his ‘Droogs’ had a killer fashion sense when out on their killing sprees. This film is the rare case where the protagonist and villain are one and the same, a fact that director Stanley Kubrick tapped for everything it was worth.
8 Catherine Trammell in Basic Instinct
Paul Verhoeven has directed his fair share of femme fatale characters, but Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone) took toxic to new levels. Stone’s performance in Basic Instinct caused such a stir that it got spoofed everywhere from Loaded Weapon 1 to Fatal Instinct — she was an iconic villainess that could capture anyone in her clutches, and we found ourselves rooting for just that outcome. This pop-culture-phenomenon of a role cemented Stone’s stardom, giving her the iconic character that seemed a foregone conclusion after she impressed in Total Recall two years earlier.
7 Bane in The Dark Knight Rises
Born in the darkness, Bane (Tom Hardy) was on the mask tip way before the pandemic made it a thing. There’s nothing like a villain whose quotes you’re still trying to decipher by the time you’re engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Bane’s icebreakers in The Dark Knight Rises like, “the shadows betray you, because they belong to me” always seem to have Batman a bit flummoxed, as he has often thrived in those shadows himself. It’s also of great benefit when a villain has a completely untraceable accent (any guesses?) and really massive muscles.
6 Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction
Another villainous style icon, Marcellus Wallace of Pulp Fiction fame is where most audiences were introduced to the talents of Ving Rhames. Between his hoop earrings, golden-baubled cordless phone and mustard turtleneck, the gangster-in-chief had a style all his own, and a mansion that demonstrated his power. Did we mention the seemingly innocuous band-aid on the back of his head that may be the key to the film’s entire secret plot? We’ll leave that one to the conspiracy theorists, and meanwhile keep dreaming that we got to see a scene where Wallace’s boys gets Medieval with his blowtorch.
5 Max Cady in Cape Fear
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“Counselorrrrr!” It’s hard to think of someone more terrifying to have stalking your family than Max Cady (Robert DeNiro) in Cape Fear. That “quality” is what makes this Martin Scorsese thriller so effective, whether Cady is cackling his way through a movie or finding new ways to hang upside-down. When it comes to playing a murderous psychopath, DeNiro just brings that little extra, giving Cape Fear all the edge-of-your-seat enjoyment of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the spiritual predecessor of Scorsese’s film. It helped that Nick Nolte’s Sam Bowden character wasn’t too likable a guy — a person more obsessed with his career and reputation than his family’s safety.
4 Alonzo Harris in Training Day
The 1979 Chevy Monte Carlo, the leather trench coats, the ice…Detective Alonzo Harris’ style was so precise, and Denzel Washington’s performance so masterly, we couldn’t help but hope for Harris to escape from justice at the end of Training Day. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences agreed, awarding Denzel with his second Oscar (he won previously for his supporting role in Glory). By then, he had become Hollywood’s preeminent leading man, and King Kong had very little on him, indeed.
3 Bodhi in Point Break
You would think Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) would be a little more grateful that Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) taught him the Zen of surfing, rescued him from War Child and Anthony Kiedis during a “locals-only” showdown, and took him on a sweet skydiving tour in Point Break. Sure, Johnny didn’t have a parachute, but what’s a little fabric between friends? Alas, in the end Utah acted like a total ingrate and tracked down the blonde-buddhist-surf-robber when he couldn’t resist the 100-Year Storm. Our love for Swayze’s most exciting role hath never wavered, so we still don’t use the word “villain” when referring to the Bodhisatva. Namaste.
2 Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs
Regardless of how you decide to pair your fava beans and chianti, you’d be hard-pressed to not root for Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to exact his revenge on Dr. Fredrick Chilton in The Silence of the Lambs. After all, Miggs had it coming when Lecter bit out his tongue, so why, then, did Anthony Heald’s egomaniacal warden offer such harsh punishment? That’s to say nothing of Lecter aiding Clarisse Starling in tracking down Buffalo Bill. Aside from his appetite for human flesh, Hannibal is a man of exquisite taste and utmost class, and should be revered as such.
1 Jack Nicholson as The Joker
“You’re…my number one…guy!” That’s precisely how audiences felt about Jack Nicholson after seeing The Joker in Batman, so persuasive was Nicholson’s off-the-wall performance. Whether he’s dancing to Prince, electrocuting rival bosses, or defacing priceless artwork, Joker always kept us on our toes in Tim Burton’s comic-book epic, which forever changed the landscape of superhero movies. It’s no wonder, then, that Tim Burton, the most goth of directors since Dario Argento, is responsible for some of our favorite villainous characters. Nicholson’s Joker may be the coup-de-gras for Burton, who took a more innocent version of the character from Cesar Romero in the Batman tv series and added a little Jack Nicholson insanity. Nowadays, the character is being used for the musical Joker 2: Folie à Deux.