League Unlimited's 50 Favourite Villains

[Apey]

I voted for Vegeta.

 

[Misanthrope]

=#24 - Norman Stansfield (Leon/The Professional)

Gary Oldman's greasy, murderous Norman Stansfield from The Professional (Leon) squeezes into the top twenty, although he shares the honour with a few others (see previous entry).

An underrated performance from Oldman, who had cornered the market on playing eccentric, manic villains earlier in his career.

=#19 - Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds)

Christophe Waltz's Hollywood career kicked off with a bang as this well spoken, sociopathic Nazi son of a bitch in Quentin Tarantino's eccentric film about Jews taking the fight to Hitler and friends.

Somehow menacing despite his unremarkable appearance and eloquence, Lander was evil distilled and it was a pleasure to watch.

=#19 - Jack Torrance (The Shining)

Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance brought to life one of Stephen King's most well written and well rounded 'villains', although he didn't start out that way. Driven mad by The Overlook Hotel, King's drunk writer (a clear parody of himself at the time) terrorises his family in a way that only manic Jack Nicholson could pull off.

Heeeeerrrreeeee's Johnny!

#17 - Stringer Bell (The Wire)

A somewhat surprising inclusion so high up the list, Idris Elba's well dressed, well spoken drug Kingpin was perhaps The Wire's most iconic villain. The brains behind the operation 'run' by Avon Barksdale, Bell draws the ire of fan favourite, Omar Little during the show's run and it sets up an explosive confrontation. A fantastic, layered villain from a fantastic show.

#16 - Agent Smith (The Matrix)

There's a lot of well dressed villains in this installment, and Hugo Weaving's monotone, menacing Agent Smith is well known for his suit and glasses combo as well as his ability to control the Matrix to do shit like duplicating himself and generally being an omnipresent and omniscient threat.
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[Parra]

We need more

 

[Game_Breaker]

2 more of mine down, 6 to go

Awesome that Stringer Bell made it so high up the list. Who else voted for him?

 

[Tommy Smith]

I had Stringer Bell at no.2 I believe.

Absolutely brilliant character. The Wire is the best show I've ever seen and Bell was, like all the Wire's characters, so brilliantly written and portrayed. You still couldn't help but root for him.

 

[Game_Breaker]

Did anyone else flip out when they found out Idris Elba a pom?

His gangster accent was spot on

 

[Apey]

I had Stringer Bell and Avon as a duo :lol: Not sure if both were counted or what, probably just Stringer.

 

[Misanthrope]

I had Stringer Bell and Avon as a duo :lol: Not sure if both were counted or what, probably just Stringer.

I gave both Stringer and Avon Barksdale half of your vote.

 

[Parra]

I have season one on dvd. The first episode/pilot just didn't grab me - so it's still there on *very* strong recommendation.

Tip was "It's better than The Sopranos" . First hour suggested it was closer to Sons of Anarchy. I should persist.

Sons of Anarchy is a polar opposite to The Sopranos as far as I am concerned.

 

[Misanthrope]

I've clearly messed up my numbering somewhere along the line, so here's #14-#11.

#14 - Norman Bates (Psycho)

One of cinema's most iconic scenes featured Janet Leigh, a shower, and Anthony Perkins' delightfully creepy, mother obsessed hotel manager.

While he's been reimagined by the likes of Vince Vaughn in the 1998 remake and more recently (and wonderfully, I might add) by Freddie Highmore in Bates Motel, Perkins' portrayal remains the most skin-crawling portrayals of the Ed Gein inspired killer.

#13 - Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street)

Probably the most iconic of the 1980s slasher villains that included Jason, Michael Myers, and Leatherface; Robert Englund's murderous Krueger invades the dreams of sleeping children where he can murder them in creative ways, often with a pun to follow.

A recent reboot featuring Jackie Earle Haley was a commercial success, but was critically panned. It remains to be seen if we've seen the last of the clawed, hat wearing, deranged son of a bitch.

#12 - John Doe (Se7en)

He features so briefly in the film in which he is the primary antagonist, but Kevin Spacey's John Doe is thoroughly chilling. While he lets his artistic murders do his speaking for him, Spacey steals the show when he interacts with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman on the way to completing his religious masterpiece.

One of 1990s cinema's most enduring villains.

#11 - Vince McMahon (WWE)

The fact that Vince McMahon finishes so high on this count-down might seem offensive to some, but to those who have watched WWF/E programming since the mid nineties, there are few more hated figures in the business.

Brash, arrogant, egomaniacal, and in a position of unassailable power, McMahon's feud with Steve Austin elevated professional wrestling to never before seen levels - that was how much people wanted to see him get his own.

While he's, perhaps thankfully, taken a back seat in recent years - he remains a guy who can come out and get the crowd rabid with a few choice words.
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[vvvrulz]

Smith was not omniscient, he wasn't aware of what was going on outside of him
Great villain of course.

And lmao @ Vince McMahon

 

[Red Bear]

I would've had Hans Landa a lot higher than that. Great performance

 

[Misanthrope]

=#10 - Angel Eyes (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)

Sharing spot #10 with our next entry is Lee Van Cleef's Angel Eyes (sometimes known as 'The Bad'). A sociopath and a mercenary, Angel Eyes finishes well above the film's other 'villain', Tuco, who finished at 52nd.

=#10 - Tony Soprano (The Sopranos)

More anti-hero than out and out villain, mob boss Tony Soprano is one of the most well recognised characters from television and his treading of the line between sympathetic and violent criminal is a big part of what made The Sopranos (and HBO) such a huge hit.

He showed humanity in incidents like the assault on his psychologist and in protecting his family, but was - at his heart - a murderer and a criminal. A fine addition to the top ten.

#8 - Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)

Javier Bardem's portrayal of this chilling sociopath elevated him into superstardom and his bizarre look and behaviour make him one of the most memorable bad guys in modern cinematic history.

Flipping a coin was never quite as scary a prospect as when Chigurh was asking perfect strangers to live or die based on the flip of a coin.

#7 - Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)

A villain of two halves - the rumours you hear from the stories told by Verbal Kint, and then the man himself as he sheds Kint's weak, cowardly facade and reveals himself to be the mastermind behind the mass murder he'd been acting as witness to.

Kevin Spacey's performance as 'both' characters was nothing short of amazing, and that twist is still talked about today.

#6 - Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

Our highest placed female villain, it's no surprise that it's another cold-hearted fanatic to join the likes of Annie Wilkes and Mrs. Carmody.

It wasn't just that she was up against a very endearing Jack Nicholson that made her a fantastic villain, but that the performance from Louise Fletcher was so good that she went on to win a Best Actress for her performance as the ruthless, authoritarian foil to Nicholson's manic energy.
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[Apey]

Sweet. I was expecting Tony to be higher though, regardless of the anti-hero vs villain debate.

 

[Apey]

Unless I've missed something, 4 on my list must be in the top 5. No idea what order they'll be in.

 

[Game_Breaker]

I wasn't sure whether I should include Keysar Soze, since we didn't know he was a villain until the last 2 minutes of the movie, but that's what made him so evil

Unless I've missed something, 4 on my list must be in the top 5. No idea what order they'll be in.

Same, 3 of them will be obvious picks and we know there's one little shit from GoT still to come.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

Got 2 out 5 left from my list.

Because my list concentrated on movies mostly, there was one TV villain I left out that could have make my Top 15.

That was Joan "The Freak" Ferguson played by Maggie Kirkpatrick in the Aussie show "Prisoner".

If there was ever a bitch that I wanted to jump through the TV screen and kill, it was her.

 

[Misanthrope]

#5 - T-800 (Terminator)

The role that shot Arnold Schwarzenegger to a level of stardom he hadn't previously known, the relentless robot assassin from the future terrorized Linda Hamilton in the suspenseful action movie that launched the franchise.

While he would later become the hero of the sequels the film spawned, it's as the merciless T-800 that Arnold was at his most intimidating.

#4 - Joffrey Baratheon (Game of Thrones)

The highest rated TV villain in the count-down as one who only recently got his much deserved come-uppance; in the form of a painful death at his own wedding, no less!

Jack Gleeson's smarmy, arrogant, sociopathic, and megamaniacal Joffrey Baratheon was a perfect realization of George R R Martin's most hated character from the novels, and the only thing that matched the outrage at some of his actions were the celebrations that took place when he collapsed purple-faced and dead to the ground.

#3 - Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Villains don't come much more iconic than the villain from George Lucas' original Star Wars franchise, and let's just all pretend that some of his mystique wasn't rubbed off by Hayden Christensen's petulant, flat portrayal of the man who would become Darth.

His look - all black - was intimidating, and his deep voice (provided by James Earl Jones) and respirator aided breathing only added to the combination. He could choke people to death with the force, was a master with the light saber, and essentially ruled an intergalactic empire as well. While others were undoubtedly more evil or more menacing, perhaps none are quite as well known.

#2 - Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal series)

Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of the cannibalistic genius in Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon (let's pretend Hannibal didn't happen) will go down as one of Hollywood's greatest theatric performances. He was both chilling and, somehow, likable in his fascination with Clarice Starling as he sought to both help her and engineer his own escape from maximum security prison.

The scene in which he butchers his guards to classical music is a thing of grisly beauty, and he's one of cinema's most quotable bad guys. One you feel dirty for liking, but such is the charm of Hopkins' portrayal.

If you want to see a different, but almost-as-good portrayal of the killer, check out Hannibal in which Mads Mikelsson is perfect.

#1 - The Joker (The Dark Knight)

Some will say that nationalism or a desire to memorialize the dead have biased Heath Ledger's position in this count-down, but the tragically short-lived actor's portrayal of Batman's most beloved villain was nothing short of transformation.

Many bemoaned the casting when he landed the role, but few would argue that he was anything less than perfect for the role. He was both comedic and intimidating, sympathetic and horrendous, and at all times - nothing like the Heath Ledger we had seen in films such as Two Hands, A Knight's Tale, and 10 Things I Hate About You.
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[Game_Breaker]

Great top 4

Terminator too high on the list imo

 

[Parra]

No wonder Lee Van Cleef looks so pissed off.