Top 10 Movie Villains of All Time | A CineFix Movie List

If any story is only as good as the antagonist, does that mean a good villain is even more important than the hero? We tend to think so! So what are the elements that build up to a perfect big bad? Is it an air of inevitability? A great plan? Just plain scary? All of the above? Let’s hash it out with CineFix's Top 10 Movie Villains of All Time.

From horror movie slashers stalking the final girl to good guys doing bad guy things for good guy reasons, a villain's motives are of course unlimited. What sets the truly great ones apart from their mustache twirling counterparts is, our favorite thing here at CineFix, a complicated stew of characteristics. From a tragic backstory like Lotso Huggin’ Bear from Toy Story 3, to the unstoppable killing machine AI in The Terminator, to villains that are just SO hateable like Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator or Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life, to the charming and relatable wing of villainy with The Avengers Loki or Bodhi from Point Break.

The point is, what we love about villains is an evil and entertaining cocktail of traits that are ALL worth diving into.

This list was written by Clint Gage and edited by Justin Donaldson.

The Picks:

10 - Just Plain Scary - Michael Myers from Halloween (1978) dir. John Carpenter
9 - Hopelessly Unstoppable - Sauron from The Lord of the Rings (2001) dir. Peter Jackson
8 - Hateable - Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) dir. Milos Forman
7 - Chaotic - Li’l Ze from City of God (2003) dir. Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
6 - Goal Focused - Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction (1987) dir. Adrian Lyne
5 - Relatable - Count Dracula from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
4 - Are THEY the hero? - Roy Batty from Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott
3 - Hero’s Foil - The Joker from The Dark Knight (2008) dir. Christopher Nolan
2 - Hiding in Plain Sight - The Armitage Family from Get Out (2017) dir. Jordan Peele
1 - Our Own Darkest Desires - Frank Booth from Blue Velvet (1986) dir. David Lynch

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[williamnichols]

I still think Javier Bardem is one of the most deserving oscar winners of all time for his role as Anton Chigurh. I can't remember the last time a character unsettled me so much as a villain. The movie does an incredible job at making him feel relentless and inescapable

[horstdieter]

I would have liked to see Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds, Warden Norton from Shawshank, and Le Chiffre from Casino Royale :)

[Mosf]

Fun Fact: Rutger Hauer's role in 'The Hitcher' served as the inspiration for Heath Ledger's joker in 'The Dark Knight'. It's also one of Christopher Nolan's favorite films.

[jongon]

Captain Vidal from Pan's Labyrinth is one of the most underrated villains of all time.

[theczar]

I think the omission of John Doe from Se7en is a bit unfortunate. Truly an iconic movie villain whose final act of violence was nothing short of genius and made movie history ("What's in the box?!).

[dgbte]

Glad to see Lil Ze included here, a truly terrifying entity in one of my all-time favorite films.

[axnyslie]

Maybe it wouldn't count since he wasn't a mere fictitious movie villain but a real person, but Amon Goeth in Schindler's List is a very memorable villain in cinema. Ralph Fiennes' portrayal was so good his presence on the set was disturbing to some who lived through the war.

[deadmedowns]

I absolutely love that you picked Frank Booth. Having been trapped in the orbit of a guy like that, I think that is the most real and terrifying villain in cinema.

[bendegen]

Bill the Butcher snubbed, absolutely one of DDL’s best ever performances

[colleenemmerson]

I just love these lists...Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet made an excellent villain. Also, the mayor in Jaws and his sport coat lol. Oh yeah, and Ed Norton in Primal Fear.

Now I can’t stop thinking of good villains. Adding Leonard Nimoy and the pod people in the ‘78 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

[bigschank]

How is Hans Landa not even mentioned in this episode? Especially since CineFix loves Quentin Tarantino movies so much.

[fragrf]

I know Cinefix isn't one to always pick mainstream but I do think not having Vader on this is a bit unfortunate.

I'm not even a big Star Wars fan, but the craft in putting together a villain so iconic that his breathing is more iconic than entire franchises needs to be respected and recognised.

[CSHallo]

Cinefix made a conceptual error, I believe. They made the category mistake of confusing all antagonists as villains. Roy Batty is an antagonist, but he is no villain.

[maartenn]

One of the reasons I watch your videos is to fill up my watchlist. You mention a hundred movies in a top ten list, theres bound to be a couple I still want to watch!

[Jiddy]

Speaking of Cape Fear, gotta mention Robert Mitchum as Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter

[Mosf]

An extremely underrated movie villain is Choi Min Sik's character in 'I Saw the Devil'. Imagine if Frank Booth, Heath Ledger's Joker, Hans Landa and Anton Chigurh was combined into one.

[austinuhr]

I'd have added Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix's Dolores Umbridge to the Hateable Villain category

[zaydfarzad]

it's like christmas when a new cinefix top 10 drops

[kirbyhater]

Frank from Once Upon a Time in the West should've been on here.

[latissimusdomsi]

I think Spectacle should have definitely been a category here. So many important representatives like Scar, Vader, Voldemort, the T-rex and Thanos sadly weren't given their dues.