best movie villian?

We really need to define terms as far as "best".

To me, Darth Vader from Episode 4 to Episode 5 was the greatest villain during that time. But he completed his redemption arc in Episode 6. Plus, I think Vader's position as a villain was greatly diminished as we see him as a boy missing his mommy and then later pretty-boy, p-whipped angsty teenager.

Emperor Palpatine on the other hand, is a consequential villain whose manipulative actions affected billions as he ruled over a galaxy for decades. He transcends even death, apparently. Vader was merely an agent of the so-called 'evil empire', the true embodiment of which is Palpatine/Sidious, who moves behind the scenes in the 1977 original, all the way up to Episode 9 in 2019. Palpatine = greatest movie villain in history, IMO.

I give runner up status to Thanos. He was consequential in that he made trillions of lifeforms simply vanish from the universe, after ages of seeking the power to make it happen. Infinity War was an epic film mostly because it's so rare to see the villain actually win. However, his actions were ultimately undone with a simple snap of the finger.

I'd like to also introduce another category of villain: the classic. Think in terms of Dracula, or the Wicked Witch of the West.

Mr. Glass. Unbreakable.

Hannibal Lecter

This guy. I wish this was all just a movie.





Last Edited by Macs Divoc on 12/08/2021 09:21 PM

Daniel LaRusso. Karate Kid.

Vic "Deak" Deakins (John Travolta) Broken Arrow 1996.

Funny villain but also ruthless as shit

Baby Firefly or Mallory Knox.
I'm torn, but lean more toward Mallory.
Ledger's Joker was awesome though. Great loss there.

Darth Maul from Star Wars, Episode I
Wilson from “Shane”
Magua from Last of the Mohicans
Achilles from Troy

Bane from the newer Batman movie was an excellent character, also. Would have been much better if he had been introduced earlier in the series and we saw more character development. Batman’s character annoyed me and he was a fucking stupid hippy for not utilizing firearms.







Last Edited by supergeek on 12/08/2021 09:36 PM

Most of those, listed here, are Great.
Sticking to my theme, I also favorite Etain, from Centurion,
although she is more of an antagonist
than "villain".

Not really a villian, but the conscientious objector photographer in Saving Private Ryan - God I hated that guy when I first saw the movie.

Achilles wasn't a villain. He was a hero.

Best movie villain was Christopher Lee in the Hammer Dracula series of films. And even in James Bond's The Man With the Golden Gun.

I really liked that version of Bane too. What was best about it was it tied back to Ra's Al Ghul' League of Shadows and Batman's training. And of course, the voice.

Kelly Van Ryan—Wild Things

In this vein, Jonathan Price in "Something Wicked This Way Comes".

jack Nicholson the shining

Essentially, Alan Rickman in all of his movies.

John Lithgow: Eric Qualen in Cliffhanger
Best line "you resilient bastard, so your still alive"

Sharlto Copley in "Maleficent".