Hello friends! Welcome back, and thank you for joining me again this week. I know, I know, I’m late again, but better late than never! This week, we’re doing another Top 10 list, but this one will cover multiple genres.
In my opinion, a movie / show / book is often only as good as its antagonist. Why, you may ask? Because the antagonist not only gives our heroes obstacles to overcome and gives them opportunities to grow and develop, they also give us – the viewer/reader – a centralized focus of all of the danger and strife going on in the world. Unlike real life where everything seems chaotic and awful a good majority of the time, in media, the antagonist often gives us one source of “evil” to rally against. With that in mind, for this week’s Top 10 list, I wanted to count down my 10 favorite villains from movies, TV shows, and books. Some make the list because they’re ones that you secretly root for, some make the list because of their cunning and intellect, and some make it simply because they’re people you absolutely love to hate. Standard disclaimer: this list is obviously not as wide-ranging as it could be if I were more of a film/TV/book buff, and I’m sure there will be many truly great villains that I miss, and given the chance and time to really think about it, the list may look different, but these are the first 10 that come to mind. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at some of my favorite baddies.
10. Kingpin – Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
I was very hesitant to place him on this list – and again, given more time to actually sit down and really think hard about it, he very likely wouldn’t have made the list – but given the fact that you’re forced to feel some sympathy toward him in spite of everything, he just scooted in to the #10 spot. Though he’s hardly in the movie, Kingpin is undoubtedly the bad guy of this film. He commissioned a machine to reach in to alternate realities in an attempt to get his wife and son back, no matter the cost. Though it’s insane to think you’d be able to feel any sympathy for a guy knowingly putting the very fabric of our reality at risk just to potentially achieve a personal goal, somehow, a modicum of sympathy and even respect squeaks through. You’re willing to risk everything – even your own survival – for a chance of seeing your wife and son again? You really are a loving and committed husband and father.
9. The Riddler – Gotham (TV Show)
On the surface, The Riddler may not seem like an imposing threat. He’s just a regular guy – no special powers or anything. In this rendition of The Riddler (on Fox’s Gotham) though, we see the transformation of quiet, quirky, misunderstood and mistreated Edward Nigma into the cold, calculating, confident, and ruthless Gotham criminal The Riddler. He always seems to stay a step ahead of the law (as well as other criminals of Gotham that would see him taken down) and cares very little who he harms on his way to the top. Having seen the full transformation though, you can’t help but wonder – could this criminal mastermind have been prevented by people simply…being nice to him?
8. Sauron – Lord of the Rings
Full disclosure on this one – I have not read The Lord of the Rings books, so my exposure to this big bad is strictly pulled from the movies. It’s hard to have any bad guy list without including Sauron. His motives were very straightforward: he just wanted power – all of it – and would stop at nothing to get it back. With seemingly countless numbers of soldiers and an immensely powerful wizard at his disposal, Sauron represents a quintessential Big Bad for us to unite and root against.
7. John Beecham – The Alienist (Book)
The image used for this one is from the TNT TV show of the same name, but not having seen the show, the representation of this character I am using comes from the novel by Caleb Carr. Beecham isn’t even named until very well on in to the book, and is instead referred to mostly as “the killer” (or some variant) by those hunting him down. His place on this list is one of the cases of he’s-so-horrible-he-makes-you-uncomfortable-and-your-skin-crawl. Though the whole book is centered around building the mental profile of the killer based on his upbringing and life experiences (the term “alienist” is actually an archaic term for a forensic psychologist), and we realize Beecham was subjected to a whole lot of awful and horrific things that made him the sadistic violent person he is, it is impossible to feel any type of sympathy for him. Instead, you’re left feeling terrified and uncomfortable at the very thought of him. The mark of a truly horrifying bad guy.
6. The Lord Ruler – Mistborn (Book)
*The photo used is not depicting The Lord Ruler, but rather is a cover art for the book*
Admittedly The Lord Ruler’s inclusion on this list is very likely due to recency bias – I just recently finished this book under a month ago. In the book, The Lord Ruler is a tyrannical ruler that has been in power for generations. It is widely believed that The Lord Ruler is immortal, and has, over the years, actually become regarded as God, though not with the reverence and praise one would expect to be associated with a god. Instead, he is viewed as a God to be feared and appeased. Because of this, he has complete and total rule over the entire realm, from the nobles that run the cities and plantations to the innumerable Skaa workers that are beaten, mistreated, and killed to keep them obedient and productive. He reveals himself to citizens of the city often enough to remind them that he’s there – and his appearances are often accompanied by shows of force and power – but mostly rules from atop his tower overlooking the main city. His complete disregard for human life and the arrogance of thinking himself superior in every way to those he rules over, as well as his seemingly complete rule makes him a bad guy that you love-to-hate.
5. Lord Voldemort – Harry Potter Franchise
By now, you had to know that Lord Voldemort was going to show up somewhere on this list, right? It would be hard not to include the main villain of perhaps the most influential book series of my youth and young-adult life in a list of my top 10 favorite villains. Similarly to Sauron, Voldemort craves power, but unlike Sauron, his motivations were a bit more nuanced. While it is true that he wanted to be the most powerful wizard in the world, he also believed that magic should be reserved for those of pure magical bloodlines (which is ironic, as he himself was a Half-Blood), and also believed that the wizarding world should be exposed to the non-wizarding world and even rule over Muggles (non-magical people) as witches and wizards were superior to Muggles. While we do learn more about Voldemort’s traumatic childhood and upbringing in later books, it’s hard to feel anything but hatred toward him as a reader. He instead symbolizes intolerance, hatred, bigotry, and backwards-thinking, all of which are things we need to rally against.
4. The Joker – Heath Ledger’s Performance in The Dark Knight
In general, the Joker is one of my all-time favorite villains. I like that his origin story is largely unknown. It gives a feeling of “anyone is just one horrible day away from turning into The Joker,” which is in and of itself a terrifying thought. What I like about Ledger’s portrayal of the character is that he amplified that feeling so effortlessly. He gives at least two different accounts of “how he got these scars” on his face, showing that he either revels in the mystery of his past, or that he is so truly disconnected from reality that he doesn’t even accurately recall how he ended up where he is. Throughout the movie, he seems to have very little true motive – he wants to kill The Batman, sure, but it feels more like something he views simply as a test, rather than a deep internal driving force. He has little to no regard for human life, even his own. This is seen when he is thrown from a building and rather than screaming in terror – as would be the normal reaction for almost everyone – he can be heard laughing as he falls. The combination of an ambiguous backstory, lack of clear motive, and complete disregard for life, whether his own or someone else’s, blend together to create one of the most terrifying villains of all time – especially when you realize he could be anyone.
3. Professor Umbridge – Harry Potter Series
Wait, you’ve already included a villain from the Harry Potter franchise! Yes, inner-voice, I have, but I simply can’t overlook Dolores Umbridge. If this list were instead titled “my top 10 most hated characters from TV, movies, and books,” it is entirely possible that she would take the number one spot. It has been nearly two decades since Umbridge first appeared in the pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I still have a very real and adverse physical reaction to hearing her name or seeing her on the screen. She was cruel, sadistic, manipulative, rude, and just all-in-all pure evil. Add to that the fact that she felt herself to be above the law, and that she was given position(s) of great power over others, and it was hard to feel anything but pure hatred, frustration, and anger toward her. And to top it all off, she outwardly portrayed an air of pleasantness and sweetness, though any amount of time interacting with her showed that to be a complete farce, which was even more maddening. The character was so easy-to-hate that I often find myself feeling bad for Imelda Staunton (the actress who portrayed Umbridge in the films) for having to portray such a vile character (though she did a fantastic job of it). I think the reason she’s higher on the list than Voldemort, despite Voldemort having more power and influence, is because she pretended to be something she wasn’t, whereas with Voldemort, what you saw is what you got.
2. Thanos – Avengers: Infinity War (Movie)
Thanos being this high on the list may very well be because of the competition from his peers. For the most part, the bad guys in Marvel movies have been the worst part – they were always one-time bad guys that we knew nothing about before the movie and we were supposed to learn about them and be invested in them in the span of one movie (where we knew they would inevitably be defeated by the end). This means that for the most part, Marvel movie bad guys are big time yawn-fests. Enter: Thanos. He was first introduced to us on the big screen in an end-credits scene in the first Avengers movie, and was threaded in to other movies leading up to Infinity War, in which he was the main antagonist. This gave us a bit more backstory and reason to care about the bad guy. In Infinity War, we get not only a true look at his immense power, with him beating The Hulk unconscious in the film’s opening scene, we also learn of his motivation for seeking out the Infinity Stones. His motivation, counter to what many would believe going in to the movie, was not simply to wield immeasurable power for power’s sake – he wanted to wipe out half of all life in the universe, but only to combat overpopulation. After having seen his home planet suffer and starve and run itself to ruin due to overpopulation, he devised a plan to obtain and use the Infinity Stones to keep other worlds from the same fate. It is a motivation far more complex than any other Marvel movie villain motivation, and even makes you as a viewer…respect?…him for doing something he believed to be right for all of life to continue. So though you ultimately end up rooting against him because you realize that having him unilaterally make the decision to wipe out half of all life is bad and worth stopping…you are able to at least understand and sympathize with him. He’s definitely one of the most complex villains on this list, if nothing else.
1. Professor James Moriarty – BBC Sherlock (TV Show)
While Sherlock Holmes is not my favorite book of all-time, he is my favorite literary character of all-time. He is quirky and socially inept but brilliant beyond compare . . . until Professor James Moriarty enters the scene. Moriarty is the only character (outside of Irene Adler) that has ever proven to be an intellectual match for Sherlock Holmes, and the portrayal of the character in the BBC TV show Sherlock by Andrew Scott is my absolute favorite. He is suave, clever, ruthless, and not only not intimidated by Sherlock’s brilliance, but able to intimidate Sherlock and put him on the defensive. To earn the respect of Sherlock Holmes, you must be a truly outstandingly intelligent and cunning human being. He also shows a complete disregard for human life – in the first in-person confrontation with Sherlock, Sherlock says something along the lines of “people have died” and Moriarty’s only response was to yell back “that’s what people DO!” This shows that, as long as he’s getting Sherlock to “play his games,” there’s nothing Moriarty won’t do. His intellect and composure alone would be enough to land this version of Moriarty on the list, but combining that with his cold indifference for human life lands him as my number one all-time (for now) favorite villain of movies, TV shows, and books.
This was a very fun post to write, and I’m sure there are many that I’ve missed that are worthy of this list. Who are some of your all-time favorite villains in TV shows, movies, and books? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks again for joining me this week, and until next week, stay happy, healthy, and safe! 🙂
Musings Of A Struggling Creator 