The Top 100 Screen Villains

as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)

as the oily Obadiah Slope of "The Barchester Chronicles" (1982) and as sneering, 'classically educated' terrorist Hans Gruber of Die Hard (1988)

superbly icy as The Borg Queen

a polished performance as the slippery scoundrel Rigaud in "Little Dorrit" (2008)

as intellectual serial killer Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

as mother-fixated Norman Bates of Psycho (1960)

as two evil, manipulating femmes fatale: Phyllis Dietrichson of Double Indemnity (1944) and Martha Ivers of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

the greatest of all swashbuckling villains: as Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), as Levasseur in Captain Blood (1935) and as Captain Esteban Pasquale in The Mark of Zorro (1940)

as manipulating Regina Giddens of The Little Foxes (1941) and as vindictive Baby Jane Hudson of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane ? (1962)

marvellous scene-stealing performance as Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean ("Do you fear death?")

unforgettably creepy as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932); also excellent as murderer and corpse procurer John Gray in The Body Snatcher (1945)

a study in moral decay as Walter White in "Breaking Bad" (2008)

as smiling gunslinger Joe Erin in Vera Cruz (1954) and as unsmiling, manipulating drama critic J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

as the insidious, magisterial Mr. Tulkinghorne of "Bleak House" (2005) and as the Machiavellian Tywin Lannister of "Game of Thrones" (2011)

as genteel Nazi villain Hans Landa in Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" (2009).

always a memorable villain, perhaps best as the demonic Alastair in "Supernatural" and as the Wraith Todd in "Stargate Atlantis".

arguably the best incarnation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula and good value as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy

as the seriously demented persecutor of 'toons' Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

as psychopathic criminal Harry Reikle in The Silent Partner (1976)

as the sardonic, acid-tongued critic (and murderer) Waldo Lydecker of Laura (1944)

larger-than-life as the evil Jaffar of The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and as the archetypal Hollywood Nazi villain Major Heinrich Strasser in Casablanca (1942).

as the murderous Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002)

as reprehensible Justin LaMotte of "North and South" (1985) and, of course, as Bill in the Kill Bill films

as the psychotic 'Governor', primary antagonist in 'The Walking Dead'.

as Reacher Gilt in "Going Postal" (2010), a wonderful old fashioned villain of the moustache-twirling type

as evil genius Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967) and as the psychopathic Preacher Quint in Will Penny (1968)

as Morden, the softly-spoken, manipulative agent of the Shadows, in Babylon 5.

as bandit leader Calvera of The Magnificent Seven (1960) and as the sly thief Tuco, the 'ugly' of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

as Lex Luthor in several instalments of Superman, rather more sinister as Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven (1992) and as Herod in The Quick and the Dead (1995)

charismatic scene stealer, as Hector Barbosa, in The Pirates of the Caribbean films

as icy racketeer Ballin Mundson in Gilda (1946)

a languid, genteel villain in Ivanhoe (1952, as De Bois-Guilbert), pirate captain Billy Leech in The Black Swan (1942) and more scoundrels and cads in films than one can shake a stick at !

as evil mastermind Auric Goldfinger ("No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die !")

as the psychotic, musical pocket watch-carrying murderer El Indio in For a Few Dollars More (1965)

as obsessive stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987)

as the honour-driven, obsessive Feraud in The Duellists (1977)

as the demented Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)

witches don't get much darker than this: Madame Kali in TV's "Penny Dreadful'.

as evil Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter

as the ruthless Lord Wolfingham in The Sea Hawk (1940)

as brutal gunslinger Frank of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

as the ever-present Agent Smith (actually Smiths) in The Matrix Trilogy

as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), as Geoffrey Carroll in The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), as Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

as the insidious Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious

as Ramsay Bolton, easily one of the most unpleasant characters in "Game of Thrones".

a strangely ambivalent and fascinating villain: Al Swearengen of "Deadwood" (2004)

as Joffrey Baratheon, malevolent boy king of "Game of Thrones" (2011) whose closest historical antecedent may have been the short-lived Roman Emperor Heliogabalus (203-222 A.D.)

the ultimate descent into madness, as Jack Torrance in 'The Shining' (1980)

as smiling gunslingers Jack Wilson in Shane (1953) and Curly in A Professional Gun (1968)

as the psychotic gangster Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949)

as the corrupt, homicidal police captain Dudley Smith in 'L.A. Confidential' (1997)

as the manipulative Kate Trask in "East of Eden" (TV miniseries 1981)

as evil mastermind, Professor James Moriarty, a suitably superior menace in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

as the cultured master criminal Simon Gruber in 'Die Hard: With a Vengeance' (1995)

'one of the first 'stalkers' of the movies, unforgettable as the obsessive Evelyn of Play Misty for Me' (1971)

as the snivelling, psychopathic Emperor Commodus in 'Gladiator' (2000)

as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas (1990) and as vicious killer Nicky Santoro (based on real life villain Anthony 'the Ant' Spilotro) in Casino (1995)

as The Master (Doctor Who), evil genius and perpetual nemesis of The Doctor

as the misanthropic Uncle Charlie Oakley in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

unforgettably cold and forbidding as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (1940)

as the cunning and malevolent Annie Wilkes of Misery (1990) and as the monstrous Madame Delphine LaLaurie in "American Horror Story" (2013)

Joseph Mengele -- for all practical purposes -- as Dr. Christian Szell in 'Marathon Man' (1976)

as the manipulating, amoral Cersei Baratheon Lannister of "Game of Thrones" (2011)

Ebenezer Scrooge in all-but-name, as Mr. Potter in 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946)

as the tyrannical Nurse Ratched of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975)

as the vicious, self-deluded Gul Dukat on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993)

who seemed perfect typecasting as The Wicked Witch of the West in 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939)

as Harry Starks, a gangster with ethics, in "The Long Firm" (2004 miniseries); more straightforwardly sinister as Lord Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and suitably evil as Prince John's enforcer Sir Godfrey in Robin Hood (2010)

the oddly likeable king of hell, Crowley, of "Supernatural".

the most eerie of all incarnations of Dracula to date, as Count Orlok in Nosferatu (1922)

as jealous, hate-spewing Emma Small of 'Johnny Guitar' (1954)

as brutish Afrikaner security chief Major Horn in 'The Wilby Conspiracy' (1975)

as child killer Hans Beckert in M (1931) and, popularly, as the cringing henchman Joel Cairo of The Maltese Falcon (1941)

as the murderous General Tanz of 'The Night of the Generals' (1967)

a wonderfully deranged Nero in 'Quo Vadis' (1951) ("Bring me my weeping vase...")

as the sadistic megalomaniac Elkanah Bent of "North and South" (1985) - a terrific performance !

as snarling gunslinger Curly Bill Brocius in Tombstone (1993) and as Senator Roark in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

as Wolf Larsen, a law unto himself, in The Seawolf (1971)

as the demonic Voldemort of the Harry Potter films and as the icy, monstrous death camp commandant Amon Goeth in Schindler's List (1993)

as Khan Noonien Singh, genetically-engineered Nietzschean super villain of Star Trek fame

chilling, as mass murderer John Christie in Ten Rillington Place (1971)

as psychotic killer Tommy Udo in 'Kiss of Death' (1947)

one of the best snarling villains ever, as the Duke de Lorca in the classic swashbuckler 'Adventures of Don Juan' (1948).

as Freddy Kruger, chief antagonist of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' franchise.

two of the most disturbing villains ever: Harry Powell in 'The Night of the Hunter' (1955) and Max Cady in 'Cape Fear' (1962)

as the indestructible android T-1000 of 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' (1992)

as steely-eyed Soviet assassin Red Grant in 'From Russia With Love' (1963)

as the boorish Jud Fry of 'Oklahoma!' (1955), the brutal Victor Komarovsky of 'Doctor Zhivago' (1965) and as mother-fixated serial killer Christopher Gill in 'No Way to Treat a Lady' (1968)

as urban legend 'Candyman' in Clive Barker's 1992 cult slasher film.

as the hideously deformed, revenge-driven Dr. Anton Phibes in 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' (1971), and (the even campier sequel) 'Dr. Phibes Rises Again' (1972)

as the ever-present, insidious 'cancer man' of 'The X-Files'.

as Anthony Falconetti, chief nemesis of 'Rich Man, Poor Man' (1976-77).

as the mutant Sylar in "Heroes" (2006) and as seriously disturbed Dr. Oliver Thredson in "American Horror Story" (2011)

as Ivar the Boneless in Vikings

wonderfully over-the-top as Count Olaf in A Series of Unfortunate Events

one of the screen's most formidable villains of all time: Thanos (Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame)

as the explosive Wilson Fisk in Daredevil and as psychotic mobster 'Chin' Gigante in Godfather of Harlem

megalomaniacal Joseph Wilford in Snowpiercer

one of the best for last: the evil Thor Gundarsson in Hell On Wheels and the monstrous Sam of Van Helsing (add to that the demon Alistair from Supernatural). They don't come darker than this....

Negan in The Walking Dead: from supervillain to good guy (?)