Top 10 Best Movie Villains

David Prowse in "The Star Wars Episode V - Empire Strikes Back." Photo by Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock (5886288fe)

We undoubtedly love our movie heroes, but there are some movie villains that just make us love them although they are doing awful things. The villains in the movies often have some background story which makes us admit that they are right, makes us sympathize with them, but on the other side, they are often scary and creepy. Sometimes the villains even steal the show from the main protagonist, leaving you in mesmerized by their characters. Today we brought you a list of the top 10 best movie villains to tell you our favorites. If you think we missed some, don’t hesitate to tell us.

10. Jack Torrance – The Shining

Played by Jack Nicholson, Jack Torrance is a suburban husband and father, but also The Overlook Hotel’s winter caretaker. Another side of his personality is that he is a psycho and murder and the king of creepy.

9. Norman Bates – Psycho

At first glance, he seems like a nice motelier, mama’s boy, but once the mask is pulled away we can see that it’s only madness beneath it. The famous Psycho scene of the shower curtain ripping, screeching sound and a knife lurching is iconic and it’s all thanks to Hitchcock’s brilliant creation of this man – Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins).

8. Hannibal Lecter – The Silence of the Lambs

The iconic performance of Anthony Hopkins showed how effective a villain can be when presented as calm, intelligent but terrifying. Hannibal is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, he is a charming man of high taste. Too bad that taste is in the human brains.

7. Agent Smith – Matrix

Black suit, dark sunglasses and an emotionless face on this man have the one and only purpose: to stop the rebellion. Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is just an Al program in a virtual reality, designed as a human-hating weapon in the ultimate Man vs. Machines war.

6. Jigsaw Killer – Saw

Portrayed by Tobin Bell, Jigsaw is a cruel character who tests the other’s willingness to live through a psychopathic set of games. His victims seem like they don’t appreciate the life as much as they should, so he puts them into traps where they need to fight for their bare life. Do you want to play a game?

5. Loki – The Avengers

This supervillain has it all: a life story where he was kidnapped and raised by the god, he feels betrayed and he thinks he is doing good. While his brother Thor got the muscles and strength, Loki (Thomas Hiddleston) got the brains. He is charismatic, exciting, witty and keeps Marvel fans to want only more of him on the big screen.

4. Magneto – X-Men

Erik Magnus Lehnsherr (played by Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender) is cruel, violent and dangerous, but if you know the story of how his parents were killed in the holocaust and he had to survive by himself as a mutant chased by humans, maybe his idea of how two sapient species can’t live in the same world doesn’t sound so bad. He is so persuasive that you can hardly help yourself not to stand on his side.

3. Lord Voldemort – Harry Potter

Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) was born as Tom Marvolo Riddle and he is the most powerful Dark Wizard, so powerful that he was just one step away from conquering the wizarding world before Harry Potter stopped him. From the beginning to the end of the franchise, Voldemort embodied the perfect evil, he is so cruel that no-one dares to say his name, except his biggest enemy – Harry Potter.

2. Darth Vader – Star Wars

This iconic villain is the face of Star Wars. He was born in slavery, he joined the Jedi Order that made him one of the most powerful Jedi ever, but turned to the dark side of the force. He was supposed to be the chosen one, but he used his powers to destroy every Jedi alive. Among the fans of the franchise, he became even more popular than the heroes in the Star Wars universe, so there is no wonder he is one of the best movie villains ever.

1. The Joker – Batman: The Dark Knight

Casting Heath Ledger as one of the biggest Batman’s enemy got so much disapproval from the fans, but Ledger proved them wrong. He brought a new life to the Joker, making him maniacal and twisted psychopath, purely cruel, dangerous supervillain. Ledger’s performance was the only one ever to bring an Oscar to a superhero movie character, and got etched into our mid forever and got him at the top of our list of best movie villains.