Empire's Top 20 List For The Greatest Movie Villains Of All Time

[Mitch Henessey]

20. Michael Myers
19. T-1000
18. Freddy Krueger
17. Agent Smith
16. Norman Bates
15. Palpatine
14. The Sheriff of Nottingham
13. Nurse Ratched
12. Sauron
11. Gollum
10. The Alien (the Xenomorph from the Alien films)
9. Voldemort
8. Anton Chigurh
7. Kylo Ren
6. Hans Landa
5. Hannibal Lecter
4. Hans Gruber
3. Loki
2. The Joker
1. Darth Vader

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-movie-villains/

The list was made up of submitted votes, and it's no surprise Darth Vader is in the top spot. The rich legacy behind Star Wars, James Earl Jones' iconic work for the voice, and Vader is one of the more talked about picks for representing pure evil.

Voldemort is by far one of my favorite all time villains, but I always thought he was more evil in the movies and the books as Tom Riddle. I always think back to that scene in The Chamber Of Secrets, where he reveals his plan to Harry, and it's one of the reminders for just how far he was willing to go to become Lord Voldemort.

I know it's only two spots, but Myers should be ahead of Krueger. Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street have their share of awful sequels, but they turned Freddy into a full blown jokey and cartoonish villain with corny one-liners after Dream Warriors (to be fair, you could see signs of it in Freddy's Revenge), while Michael was still able to maintain some of the dark mystique as an unstoppable killing machine.

And I know it's a stretch, because his screen time might add up to ten minutes, but I would find a way to squeeze in rich Biff from the alternate 1985 in Back To The Future II. It's the only film, where Biff was more than a pesky and obnoxious bully. Rich Biff was a greedy womanizing asshole, who turned Hill Valley into a trashy hellhole, and he wanted to make sure he always had complete control over Lorraine.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

3 from Star Wars alone, I love it. No Jason on the list? I'd have Jason as high as 10th spot! Where is the Jason love?

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

I'm surprised (in a good way) to see Kylo so high on the list. I was a big fan of him and TLJ solidified him as one of my favorite film characters of all-time... granted I'm a biased Star Wars fan, but yeah.

There's nothing really that bad or surprising about the list. The placement of a few names is a little odd, but it's really not based on any objective criteria, it's just a readers list.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Hans Landa has gotta be a shocker. Not saying it isn't warranted, but for him to pull through in votes and not well-known villains like Scar, The Wicked Witch, Auric Goldfinger, etc is strange to see.

 

[Lowdown]

I think Jason Voorhees and Chucky should be in the top twenty for sure. Much like Freddy and Michael Myers, both Jason and Chucky had their share of bad sequels. But their mythos remained the same. Truthfully, they both were a part of pop culture throughout the 80's and 90's.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Palpatine- In secret almost by himself built The Empire against all odds and all those pesky Jedi around by creating a war where he would won if either side won or lost.

Kylo- emo kid who is just throwing tantrums and cant even beat someone who has lightsabre for the first time.

Palpatine place- 15

Kylo place- 7

Never change audience, never change...

 

[THTRobtaylor]

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-movie-villains/

The list was made up of submitted votes, and it's no surprise Darth Vader is in the top spot. The rich legacy behind Star Wars, James Earl Jones' iconic work for the voice, and Vader is one of the more talked about picks for representing pure evil.

Voldemort is by far one of my favorite all time villains, but I always thought he was more evil in the movies and the books as Tom Riddle. I always think back to that scene in The Chamber Of Secrets, where he reveals his plan to Harry, and it's one of the reminders for just how far he was willing to go to become Lord Voldemort.

I know it's only two spots, but Myers should be ahead of Krueger. Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street have their share of awful sequels, but they turned Freddy into a full blown jokey and cartoonish villain with corny one-liners after Dream Warriors (to be fair, you could see signs of it in Freddy's Revenge), while Michael was still able to maintain some of mystique as an unstoppable killing machine.

And I know it's a stretch, because his screen time might add up to ten minutes, but I would find a way to squeeze in rich Biff from the alternate 1985 in Back To The Future II. It's the only film, where Biff was more than a pesky and obnoxious bully. Rich Biff was a greedy womanizing asshole, who turned Hill Valley into a trashy hellhole, and he wanted to make sure he always had complete control over Lorraine.

In Freddy/Myer's case I think that backstory plays a lot into it... Remember how Freddy murdered/raped all the kids? so even if he was more jokey later, he still did all that. Myers basically is Jaws the equivalent of a shark in the shape of a man... Jason is similar.

Liked seeing 2 Rickman characters although honestly only Hans Gruber deserves top 20 and I am very happy to see him in the top 5... I'd say Simon in Vengance would make top 30 too, so the Gruber boys done good lol.

The only disappointments here are the sheer numbers of sci-fi/powered villains. There aren't as many flat out evil bastards as there are robots, gods, monsters and serial killers. That there is no Blofeld is pretty bad too...

If I could remove and add two, I'd take out Sauron, as he doesn't actually do anything other than be the "eye" and replace him with Ozymandias from Watchmen... that is a great villain. I'd also take out Sherrif and replace him with Alex from Clockwork Orange... other than that, hard to argue.

 

[the_peoples_adam]

I would add MAGNETO and The Penguin from Batman returns to that list..
Also should put Joker on first place because that performance from ledger tops everything..

 

[FlashMarston]

I'm surprised (in a good way) to see Kylo so high on the list. I was a big fan of him and TLJ solidified him as one of my favorite film characters of all-time... granted I'm a biased Star Wars fan, but yeah.

There's nothing really that bad or surprising about the list. The placement of a few names is a little odd, but it's really not based on any objective criteria, it's just a readers list.

Same here. But Kylo has been so well written thus far. It's really cool!

 

[Mitch Henessey]

In Freddy/Myer's case I think that backstory plays a lot into it... Remember how Freddy murdered/raped all the kids? so even if he was more jokey later, he still did all that. Myers basically is Jaws the equivalent of a shark in the shape of a man... Jason is similar.

You also have to add in the grim details behind Freddy's conception. It's truly horrifying and tragic, when you think about how Amanda was accidentally locked in that room at the asylum, and how she was raped repeatedly. The pure and innocent nun giving birth to a monster, or "The Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs" adds another dark layer to Freddy's story, and the aftermath, with an adopted Freddy growing up with an abusive father.

Yeah, I'm sure Freddy's backstory plays a big part in his status as a horror legend, and they actually made an attempt to turn Freddy into a more serious character again in New Nightmare. I've always preferred the look with the long trench coat, the top hat, Freddy having sharp claws instead of a bladed glove, and from what I remember, the New Nightmare version of Freddy was the look Wes Craven wanted for the original film. I definitely get what you're saying, but Super Freddy and Freddy imitating The Wicked Witch Of The West always reminds me of the low points in the series.

Jason not making the list was a little bit of surprise for me. Going on popularity alone, he's definitely in the top tier for horror icons, easily. Not really sure who you could knock off to squeeze Voorhees in, but if it's a case of swapping him out for Michael at 20, I wouldn't do it. Halloween is a landmark film in the horror genre, and Michael was introduced before Jason, so he'll always have the benefit of a head start.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Hans Landa has gotta be a shocker. Not saying it isn't warranted, but for him to pull through in votes and not well-known villains like Scar, The Wicked Witch, Auric Goldfinger, etc is strange to see.

I wouldn't call it a huge shock. People have a really hard dick for that film, despite (in my opinion) it being one of Tarantino's worst efforts. It was because of that film that Waltz really shot into the mainstream, and he deserves it because Landa is the best (and only truly good) part of that film. It was a real treat finding out just how much of an evil and self serving fuck he truly was.

I'm kinda bummed that Jason didn't make the list. His kill count in the movies is over 300+, the most of any slasher film icon. He also didn't suffer the Freddy/Chucky treatment where he transformed from a classic unstoppable mythical killer to a walking pun master. I do enjoy that from Freddy (and Chucky to an extent), but of all the remakes that the slasher icons went through in the mid 2000s, I feel like Friday the 13th was the least awful. They focused wayyyyyy to heavily on the child rape in the Nightmare remake and the Halloween remake went too far in trying to humanize Michael. I'm not even what they are trying to do with the new Child's Play films. At least Jason was fairly true to form, even if that movie was mostly a Skinemax flick with gore.

I am a bit surprised, though the timing of the voting may have impacted it, that Pennywise didn't make the list. People were raving about It recently and even the original 1990 version was a solid film.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While I really enjoyed Tom Hiddleston as Loki, I just don't see him as one of the 20 greatest movie villains of all time, certainly not #3. I think they try to portray him too often as kinda sorta good, a little misunderstood and in need of guidance. That's not to say that he hasn't done villainous things, of course; I mean, in the first Avengers movie, the guy committed cold blooded murder and orchestrated an alien invasion that he kinda sorta regretted after he saw the devastation that was being caused. Loki's just not dark or depraved enough in my opinion.

I'd have put Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest higher on the list. She was such a cold hearted, merciless, uncaring tyrant who delighted in controlling every aspect of the lives of people suffering from mental illness. If possible, she relished seeing the struggles they had to endure just as much as the control and was positively glowing when she dispensed punishment.

Palpatine definitely should be higher on the list. I mean...hell, the man was so butt fuckin' evil that he orchestrated an interstellar war that untold numbers of beings.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I agree with the sentiments of others that Jason should definitely be on the list. I'd actually put Jason on the list before Myers and Freddy. I just enjoy the mythology of the Friday series and how no matter what happens, Jason is always an unstoppable shark on land only out to kill. Except, he doesn't kill children, which only makes sense because of what happened to him as a child. Out of all the other horror icons and slashers, Jason is my all time fave.

I love Loki, anyone knows this, but I don't think that he should be on the list. Hell, he's not even a true villain anyway. He only does what he does to aggravate his brother. Last two Loki appearances have had him teaming up with Thor. Also, his one huge showing as a villain wasn't even his plan or idea. He was carrying out Thanos' orders. Loki shouldn't be on the list.

Joker should be # 1.