As Lord Dark Helmet put it: "Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb!" Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for some of the most vile, sadistic, and evil villains in fiction.
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00:00 "There's no going back. You've changed things. Forever."
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for some of the most vile, sadistic, and evil villains in fiction.
00:12 "Break me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete."
00:19 Number 30, The Sheriff of Nottingham.
00:22 "That's it!"
00:25 "Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans. No more merciful beheadings. And call off Christmas."
00:33 The Sheriff of Nottingham serves largely as a representation, and the metaphor is pretty clear.
00:39 The Sheriff is the main antagonist in the legend of Robin Hood, and as you all know, Robin Hood steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
00:46 "Robin Hood steals money from my pocket, forcing me to hurt the public, and they love him for it?"
00:56 "Yes."
00:57 The Sheriff is the very embodiment of said rich. He is covetous, he is selfish, and he imposes unaffordable taxes on the citizens of Nottinghamshire.
01:05 He is the very personification of greed and avarice. He's also been portrayed by some true movie legends,
01:11 perhaps most famously by Alan Rickman in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
01:15 "Robin!"
01:17 "Do you mind, Loxley? We've just been married."
01:26 Number 29, The Grand High Witch of All the World.
01:32 Roald Dahl's 1983 dark fantasy story The Witches was adapted to film twice.
01:37 In every version of the tale, the Grand High Witch is the queen of the baddies.
01:41 "Either I demand maximum results!"
01:47 She rules over a secret cabal of witches hiding among humanity.
01:51 As their ancient and terrible leader, she's held power through viciousness and fear.
01:56 These qualities are matched only by her thirst for blood.
01:59 She's quite literally dubbed, quote, "the most evil and appalling woman in the world," so, you know.
02:05 In both the books and the films, she is portrayed as a terrifying hag.
02:09 "Now I've got you!"
02:11 And her goal? She tries to turn every child in the country into a rodent.
02:23 She figures the parents will take care of the rest.
02:25 Number 28, Claude Frollo.
02:28 Claude Frollo is as evil as they come in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
02:31 Despite his piety and his rescue of a baby Quasimodo, he is a man with few virtues.
02:37 "And who knows, our lord works in mysterious ways."
02:40 "Even this foul creature may yet prove one day to be of use to me."
02:50 In Victor Hugo's book, he is ruled by his lust for Esmeralda.
02:56 That lust grows into a singular obsession.
02:58 Somehow, the Disney version of Frollo, the character most of us know and hate, is even worse.
03:04 This take on the antagonist also emphasizes his bigotry against the Romani.
03:08 "How dare you defy me?"
03:11 "You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people."
03:15 "You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help."
03:19 "Silence!"
03:19 "Justice!"
03:20 He is driven to eradicate them from the streets of Paris,
03:23 even as he longs to possess Esmeralda as his own.
03:27 He manipulates Quasimodo for his own ends and hides his own sin behind his faith.
03:32 It's horrid.
03:33 Number 27.
03:35 The Borg
03:36 The original Star Trek series aired amid the Cold War,
03:39 and its antagonists reflected the sentiments at the time.
03:42 The Klingons and Romulans respectively came to represent America's geopolitical foes,
03:47 the warlike Soviet Union and the subtle communist China.
03:51 When Star Trek The Next Generation aired 20 years later, they needed something new.
03:55 "Interesting, isn't it? Not a he, not a she.
03:59 Not like anything you've ever seen. An enhanced humanoid."
04:03 "What is it you want?"
04:05 Enter The Borg, a cybernetic race bent on absorbing every other species
04:10 into a hive mind known as The Collective.
04:13 For decades across television and film,
04:15 The Borg have haunted the likes of captains Jean-Luc Picard and Catherine Janeway.
04:20 Oh, and all of us.
04:21 "Do what all good pragmatists do, Admiral. Compromise."
04:27 When the main words a group speaks are "resistance is futile,"
04:32 you know you're not in friendly company.
04:34 Vas Montenegro is only the secondary bad guy in the 2012 Far Cry 3 game,
04:42 but you wouldn't know that given how much they featured him in promotional materials.
04:45 When Michael Mando showed up to audition, he decided to wing it.
05:01 He crushed it, and Ubisoft seemingly knew they had something special on their hands.
05:05 So they rewrote the character, a criminal with substance use disorder, around the actor.
05:10 Montenegro is an absolutely off-the-wall monster with a love for violence.
05:14 In other words, he's a nightmare.
05:16 And the perfect foil for protagonist Jason Brody.
05:19 "Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?"
05:30 "Oh, Jesus."
05:30 After all, Vas is who Brody could become if he allows himself to go dark.
05:37 Nobody wants to confront that version of themselves.
05:39 Before Cersei Lannister, there was Lady Macbeth.
05:45 "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts. Unsex me here.
05:51 And fill me from the crown to the toe-top full of direst cruelty."
05:58 Both were noble women using their positions to leverage whatever power they could in a
06:02 cruel patriarchal system.
06:04 Things ultimately end poorly for both of them.
06:07 Similarly to Iago in Othello, Lady Macbeth manipulates behind the scenes.
06:12 She whispers poison into her husband's ear and sets him on a murderous path.
06:16 And even though she winds up a tragic figure, she's also something of a monster,
06:21 even if it's not the traditional kind.
06:23 After all, the consequences of her actions are brutal and real,
06:27 and wind up affecting her too.
06:29 In the play's final act, she loses her grip on reality,
06:33 imagining blood on her hands that won't wash off.
06:35 Overwhelmed, she takes her own life.
06:53 Despite being introduced way back in 1886, Mr. Hyde is still synonymous with evil.
06:58 Such is the staying power of a wonderfully written villain.
07:01 As you probably all know, Edward Hyde represents the evil traits of protagonist Henry Jekyll.
07:06 Unlike his kind and moral counterpart, Mr. Hyde is completely merciless
07:16 and is willing to indulge in vices and perform actions that Jekyll is not willing to do,
07:21 including murder.
07:23 Perhaps the story has remained so relevant due to its topicality and universality.
07:38 After all, who among us hasn't had to repress sinful or perhaps even violent urges
07:44 throughout our lives?
07:45 Jekyll could not resist the temptation, and it completely ruined his life.
07:49 Now, let that be a lesson to you.
07:51 - There.
07:52 There he is.
07:54 There's your man.
07:55 Number 23, Carnage, Cletus Kasady.
07:58 Part red alien symbiote, part murderer Cletus Kasady,
08:02 there's no denying that Carnage is one of the most deranged villains in all of Marvel comics.
08:07 As a child, Kasady was a well-established killer before he even learned how to drive.
08:11 When he becomes the symbiote's first host,
08:14 Carnage is cemented as a truly unparalleled menace.
08:17 - Woo!
08:23 In the maximum Carnage storyline of the 1990s,
08:26 the villain drenches the streets of New York in blood.
08:30 It doesn't stop there either, also causing destruction in Texas, among other places.
08:34 Carnage's ruthlessness is profound, and its powers are nothing short of impressive,
08:39 an evil and dangerous combination that makes for one of Spider-Man's scariest foes.
08:43 - There you are.
08:46 Death to you, father.
08:48 - No!
08:48 - Not you, father.
08:50 You.
08:52 Number 22, Ganon, Ganondorf.
08:55 Ganon is much like Shao Kahn.
09:07 He is massive, he wields some incredible pieces of mystical magic,
09:11 and he wants nothing more than to rule the world.
09:14 He originally appeared in an imposing boar-like form
09:17 before obtaining his signature humanoid appearance in Ocarina of Time.
09:21 Still imposing, just in a different way.
09:28 He also serves as the very embodiment of evil,
09:31 not just because of his awesome stature, dangerous abilities,
09:34 and the use of the Triforce of Power,
09:36 but also because he'll use a variety of evil methods to obtain his desires,
09:40 including political manipulation.
09:42 Ganon is easily one of gaming's most iconic and most unstoppable villains.
09:46 Number 21, Fire Lord Ozai.
09:56 Despite originally being the primary antagonist of the show,
09:59 Fire Lord Ozai is a villain with surprising depth for media aimed at children.
10:03 - Well, that's just beautiful.
10:05 On the one hand, voice actor Mark Hamill plays him as a straight sadist.
10:09 He's more than willing to kill and burn in order to exert his will on the world.
10:14 As the series goes on, however,
10:15 we understand that Ozai is both a victim and perpetrator of generational trauma.
10:20 His family was brutal, and his relationship with his father,
10:23 whom he ultimately killed, speaks volumes.
10:26 Although he had the opportunity to transcend his past,
10:29 he instead carried on the cycle of abuse with his own children.
10:32 - Rise and fight, Prince Zuko.
10:35 - I won't fight you.
10:36 - You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.
10:43 Number 20, Kevin Thompson, Killgrave, aka Purple Man.
10:48 Marvel's Jessica Jones introduced Killgrave,
10:50 aka the show's take on the Purple Man, into the MCU.
10:54 Killgrave is a textbook example of the popular idiom "hurt people, hurt people."
10:58 - Oh, everyone, calm down. You're killing the mood.
11:02 - Jessica.
11:08 - I'm not surprised to see me. You had to know I'd come for you.
11:14 In the show, we learn that his parents' cruel experiments
11:17 gave him the ability to control people's minds.
11:20 Talk about holding a lot of power.
11:22 And let's just say he doesn't really use it for good,
11:25 making him a villainous force to be reckoned with.
11:28 He could destroy free will with a single spoken word,
11:31 as evidenced by the horrors he inflicts on Jessica Jones and his other victims.
11:34 - You want to death by a thousand cuts? Do it.
11:36 - Two.
11:40 - One.
11:42 - This is an absolute menace.
11:44 Number 19, Pennywise, It.
11:48 Despite a bibliography spanning decades,
11:50 Pennywise is arguably Stephen King's greatest creation.
11:53 - Where you going, It?
11:54 If you lived here, you'd be home by now.
12:00 Come join the clown, It.
12:02 You'll float down here.
12:04 We'll float down here.
12:07 Of course, It serves as the very personification of evil itself,
12:11 as it takes on whatever form its victim is afraid of most.
12:14 And It does this because, get this, It makes its victims tastier.
12:18 Yeah, It's pretty depraved.
12:25 And like Freddy Krueger, It has a massive ego
12:28 and constantly taunts its victims with horrific visuals and cocky asides.
12:32 - You want to play Loogie?
12:37 - Oh, and let's not forget that It is actually a shapeless and eons-old alien
12:43 that comes from something called the Macroverse.
12:46 We've got quite literally a little bit of everything here,
12:49 including some Lovecraftian madness.
12:51 What's not to love?
12:52 Number 18, Darkseid.
12:54 If you take the power and malice of Thanos and add in the Purple Man's mind control ability,
13:00 you basically get Darkseid, one of the worst villains to come out of DC Comics.
13:04 - I will stride across their bones and bask in the glow of anti-life,
13:10 and all of existence shall be mine.
13:15 Darkseid is part of an alien race known as the New Gods, immortal and almost invincible.
13:22 He rules his fiery planet Apokolips without mercy,
13:25 bending his subjects to his will by any means necessary.
13:29 But that's not all.
13:30 He's also in search of the anti-life equation,
13:33 a power that would essentially allow him to enslave all life after taking away free will.
13:38 - Anti-life is found, Isod, and we will stop at nothing to possess it.
13:50 Ready the armada, we will use the old ways.
13:54 Because of that quest, he has destroyed countless lives and done so in brutal fashion.
14:00 Evil barely begins to describe it.
14:02 Number 17, Scar.
14:05 If we're going by the "The Lion King is just Hamlet for kids" argument,
14:08 which we totally should because it's true,
14:10 then Scar is the cartoon equivalent of King Claudius.
14:13 - Life's not fair, is it?
14:23 Only he's a lot worse.
14:25 Whereas Claudius showed some remorse for his actions,
14:28 Scar is totally unrepentant.
14:30 - Long live the king.
14:42 Not only is he conniving,
14:44 he's also not above killing his own nephew to obtain complete and total control.
14:48 This guy is cold.
15:01 Everyone intrinsically hates Scar because we've been living with his misdeeds since childhood.
15:06 He is a fantastic introduction to the elements of depravity, greed, and total selfishness.
15:11 And fascism.
15:13 Children have to learn about it eventually.
15:15 Number 16, Agent Smith.
15:18 Agent Smith is a sentient computer program and the principal villain in the Matrix franchise.
15:23 Smith is essentially the head game warden in the nature preserve called the Matrix.
15:39 His job is to maintain order and hopefully find a way to destroy the free human city of Zion.
15:44 But he's also defined by an utter disdain for humanity,
15:48 and his resentment fuels unforgivable callous behavior.
15:51 When Neo kills Smith at the end of the first film,
15:54 he inadvertently frees him from the confines of the Matrix's laws.
15:58 With his newfound freedom and power,
16:00 Smith seeks to dominate every person and program on Earth.
16:04 We're not here because we're free.
16:06 We're here because we're not free.
16:09 There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose.
16:13 Because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist.
16:19 He threatens all life, both artificial and organic,
16:22 forcing them to join forces to defeat him.
16:25 Yikes.
16:26 Number 15, Jigsaw.
16:28 Hello, Michael.
16:30 I want to play a game.
16:32 It doesn't get much more depraved than the Jigsaw killer.
16:35 Unlike most movies of its ilk,
16:37 the Saw franchise actually personified Jigsaw by giving him a tragic backstory
16:41 and a legitimate motivation.
16:43 But that doesn't make him any less sick.
16:45 Of all the traditional horror movie killers,
16:47 Jigsaw is easily one of the most psychotic.
16:50 Not only because he forces his victims to harm and traumatize themselves if they survive,
16:56 but because he genuinely believes he's doing good.
16:58 Those who don't appreciate life do not deserve life.
17:02 He's not just some mindless and unstoppable killer that walks around in a mask.
17:06 He's just a man with a really sick and twisted sense of righteousness,
17:09 not to mention an obscene imagination.
17:12 Most people are so ungrateful to be alive.
17:17 But not you.
17:19 Not anymore.
17:21 [Screaming]
17:24 Number 14, Hannibal Lecter.
17:26 People will say we're in love.
17:31 Hannibal is a highly intelligent man who once worked as a forensic psychiatrist
17:35 before being imprisoned for, you know, cannibalism.
17:38 There's something intrinsic and primal about fearing Hannibal Lecter.
17:41 One look into his emotionless eyes is enough to set off some instinctual warning bells.
17:46 "Pity about poor Catherine though. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock."
17:50 It's like looking into the eyes of a lion.
17:53 You just know this thing is going to overpower you
17:55 and eat you for dinner without a second thought.
17:57 Plus, Hannibal often uses his intelligence to his benefit,
18:01 resulting in his ever-elusive nature.
18:03 "I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye."
18:12 It doesn't get much scarier than Hannibal Lecter.
18:14 Not when it comes to human villains, anyway.
18:17 Number 13, Homelander.
18:19 While originally written for the Boys comics,
18:21 Homelander has evolved into a pop culture icon in the Amazon Prime Video adaptation.
18:26 "Homelander?"
18:27 "You boys okay?"
18:30 "Can I... can I get a selfie?"
18:36 "Of course you can."
18:38 In a world where most superheroes are also terrible people,
18:43 Homelander is the worst of the worst, draped in the stars and stripes.
18:47 His patriotic facade only serves to mask a self-absorbed sociopathy.
18:52 He isn't just an evil Superman.
18:54 Homelander is worse.
18:55 He's the personification of toxic masculinity at its worst.
18:59 He's a bigot, a misogynist, and a parody of many politicians today.
19:04 "Sometimes, well, these things just happen."
19:07 "Wait, this happened before? How many times?"
19:11 "Well, no, hold on, guys. The point is, we all have the same goals, don't we?"
19:18 Unfortunately, he's not channeling some unrealistic far-fetched villainy.
19:22 That's scary enough.
19:23 To make matters even scarier, though,
19:25 there appears to be a subset of fans who love him unironically.
19:29 The Final Fantasy video game series is host to a wide variety of villains,
19:37 ranging from the evil priests, evil mercenaries, and in one case, an evil tree.
19:42 Yet, after 15 installments and countless spin-offs,
19:45 this maniacal gesture from the sixth installment of the series remains the most evil of the lot.
19:50 "Here comes Kefka!"
19:53 "Let's teach them a thing or two! Or three!"
19:56 To put it simply, Kefka views all life, all culture, hell, all of existence as worthless,
20:02 a means to fuel his desire for destruction.
20:04 He'll even betray his own allies without a second thought just because he feels like it.
20:19 Yet even when he manages to devastate the world and obtain godlike powers,
20:23 that's still not enough for him.
20:25 As any loyal Breaking Bad viewer knows,
20:37 Gus Fring was an almost unstoppable villain,
20:40 ruthlessly efficient in running his empire,
20:42 unafraid to "make cuts" if you know what we mean.
20:46 "I don't think we're alike at all, Mr. White.
20:47 You are not a cautious man at all."
20:52 Throughout the series, he buried his true, calculated self behind the mask of a
20:57 respectable local business owner, when in reality, the Chicken Man has a spine of pure steel
21:03 and is someone that you really do not want to mess with.
21:06 Fans were over the moon when the drug lord was brought back in season 3 of Better Call Saul.
21:10 You can't replicate that kind of evil.
21:12 Between his savage rivalry with Lalo Salamanca and his countless misdeeds,
21:17 he is a vile one.
21:18 Despite the campy sequels and his colorful personality,
21:36 Freddy Krueger is undeniably one of the scariest slashers in movie history.
21:40 For one thing, there's literally no escaping him.
21:44 You can't run away, you can't hide, and you can't outthink him.
21:47 You'll have to sleep eventually, and when you do, Freddy will be waiting.
21:51 He was a monster in real life as well,
21:54 as he earned the nickname "Springwood Slasher" due to his propensity for torture and murder.
22:06 His finger knives and horribly burnt face are also literally the stuff of nightmares.
22:11 To make matters worse, he's also incredibly cocky and isn't above
22:15 viciously taunting you before he finishes you off.
22:17 He's a walking smorgasbord of scares.
22:19 The true horror and villainy of Nurse Ratched isn't just that she's a terrible person,
22:30 it's also that she's the callous, unfeeling face of a dehumanizing system.
22:35 "Miss Ratched!"
22:36 "Yes, Mr. Cheswick?"
22:39 "I asked you a question!"
22:41 "I heard your question, Mr. Cheswick,
22:44 and I will answer your question as soon as you've calmed down."
22:48 In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,"
22:52 patients are boxes to check and sources of income rather than people to genuinely treat.
22:57 Their humanity is an inconvenience to Nurse Ratched,
23:00 and she doesn't care to stop to truly see the individuals in her care.
23:04 She has ice in her veins and only cares about things going her way in the psychiatric institution.
23:09 "Don't have to tell her, Miss Ratched."
23:14 "I don't have to tell her?
23:17 Your mother and I are old friends, you know that."
23:22 The fact that there are real-life Nurse Ratcheds out there in the world
23:25 makes her all the more horrifying.
23:27 We see the worst of humanity in her, and it is not pleasant.
23:31 "What's the most you ever lost in a coin toss?"
23:36 "Sir?"
23:38 "The most you ever lost in a coin toss?"
23:41 "I don't know, I couldn't say."
23:45 Cormac McCarthy, the Coen brothers, and of course, Javier Bardem,
23:49 all helped create one of the greatest villains in recent years.
23:52 Anton is the primary antagonist of McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men"
23:55 and the resulting movie adaptation.
23:57 And we never thought a guy with that kind of haircut could be so menacing.
24:01 Like many of McCarthy's villains,
24:02 Chigurh is more of a walking, talking metaphor than a three-dimensional character.
24:06 "You mean the nature of this conversation?"
24:08 "I mean the nature of you."
24:11 And what Chigurh represents is certainly up to interpretation,
24:14 although many fans and scholars have debated elements of death, chance, and fate.
24:19 Is he death himself?
24:20 Does he represent remorseless fate?
24:22 Either way, he's a stone-cold and emotionless killer,
24:26 and there is nothing scarier than that.
24:28 "You got no cause to hurt me."
24:31 "No. But I gave my word."
24:34 "You gave your word?"
24:37 "To your husband."
24:39 Number 7. Joffrey Baratheon
24:41 "Please, let me go home. I won't do any treason, I swear I'll just--"
24:45 "Mother says I'm still to marry you, so you'll stay here and obey."
24:49 "Game of Thrones" was filled with complex and three-dimensional characters,
24:53 and even the most evil characters weren't portrayed as mustache-twirling cartoon villains.
24:58 Aside from Joffrey Baratheon.
25:00 Well, and Ramsay Bolton.
25:02 "You win the game if you can figure out who I am and why I'm torturing you,
25:07 and I win the game if you beg me to cut off your finger."
25:10 But Joffrey takes the cake.
25:12 He has absolutely zero redeeming qualities,
25:15 and even his selfish and conniving family thinks he's the worst.
25:19 "Killing you would send your brother a message."
25:22 "But my mother insists on keeping you alive."
25:28 He's a perfect representation of a spoiled child given way too much power.
25:31 He kills on a whim, and often without thinking of the consequences,
25:35 treats his citizens and family like dirt,
25:37 and roots his entertainment in the suffering of others.
25:40 And to make matters worse, he's a total crybaby.
25:43 His painful death could not come fast enough.
25:46 "He's choking!"
25:47 "I'm the poor boy!"
25:49 Number 6. Hans Landa
25:51 Landa is arguably Quentin Tarantino's greatest villain.
25:54 "What are you aware of?"
25:55 "That they call you the Jew hunter."
26:08 "Precisely."
26:09 Not only is he a brilliantly written character,
26:11 but he's played with awe-inspiring reverence by Christoph Waltz,
26:15 who went on to win like all of the awards.
26:17 Landa takes pride in being wicked and feared,
26:20 egotistically embodying his nickname by using manipulative tactics
26:24 and a false sense of friendliness to kill Jewish people.
26:26 He's also a complete monster who hides behind his admittedly alluring charm.
26:48 He is fiercely intelligent and is able to outsmart his enemies at every turn.
26:53 Even in the end, he's able to worm his way out of trouble,
26:56 well, mostly, by betraying Hitler and the Nazi party to the inglorious bastards.
27:00 The smartest villains are always the scariest.
27:04 "Gentlemen, I have no intention of killing Hitler and killing Goebbels
27:07 and killing Goering and killing Bormann,
27:08 not to mention winning the war single-handedly for the Allies,
27:11 only later to find myself standing before a Jewish tribunal.
27:15 If you want to win the war tonight,
27:20 we have to make a deal."
27:24 Number 5. Michael Myers
27:27 Don't let the everyday name fool you.
27:29 Michael Myers is not human.
27:32 "I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face
27:40 and the blackest eyes."
27:43 Well, he is, but not really.
27:45 Michael Myers also goes by "The Shape" or "The Boogeyman,"
27:48 which is perhaps a more apt description.
27:51 Michael is arguably the most influential slasher in movie history,
27:55 as his template was used for countless villains throughout the years.
27:58 "All right, all right, come on, where's my beer?"
27:59 "Well, can't you answer me?"
28:07 Slow but menacing and unrelenting,
28:13 totally unkillable,
28:14 completely emotionless and silent,
28:16 and seemingly without a shred of humanity.
28:27 The first Halloween implies that nothing made Michael evil.
28:30 He was simply born into it.
28:32 And that is a horrifying summation of humanity.
28:35 Some people are just empty and soulless,
28:37 and that is not a comforting thought.
28:39 Number 4. Sauron
28:42 Once again, we have a villain that represents the very concept of evil itself.
28:46 Sauron was never meant to be much of a character.
28:48 He was always meant to serve as a representation of evil,
28:51 greed, and the fallibility of man.
28:54 "In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom,
28:58 the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring to control all others.
29:04 And into this ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice,
29:09 and his will to dominate all life."
29:12 He makes a ring to rule Middle-Earth,
29:14 and most people caught in the ring's vicinity, especially humans,
29:17 are drawn to and corrupted by its promises of unimaginable power.
29:21 "My name is...
29:23 Sauron."
29:28 But even the brief glances of Sauron we do get,
29:32 like his striking immensity,
29:34 formidable armor,
29:35 the fiery eye of Sauron,
29:37 and his guttural whispers are enough to scare us senseless.
29:40 "You cannot hide.
29:43 I see you."
29:49 "I have the power to control all life.
29:53 Be it mortal or living,
29:57 I will rule you forever."
29:59 Even in scenes not directly involving Sauron or the ring,
30:05 his oppressive presence and promises of destruction are felt.
30:08 He is an omnipotent evil incarnate.
30:11 "A great eye, lidless, breathed in flame.
30:18 The eye of Sauron.
30:19 He is gathering all evil to him."
30:22 We've all had bad teachers,
30:25 but none quite like Dolores Umbridge.
30:28 "Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class."
30:31 However, we're starting to realize that some of the greatest villains
30:36 are really just analogs of dictators,
30:38 and that's where "He Who Must Not Be Named" comes in.
30:41 Voldemort is this to the magic world.
30:44 He unequivocally believes in blood purity,
30:46 he leads a devout following of violent and prejudiced minions,
30:49 and he wishes for complete and total control of the magical world.
30:53 "I confess myself disappointed."
30:57 He also has dark magic on his side,
31:00 and people are literally afraid to say his name out of fear
31:03 and traumatic memories of the first Wizarding War.
31:06 You have to be a special kind of evil for people to fear your very name.
31:09 "A few years ago, there was one wizard that went as bad as you can go,
31:13 and his name was...
31:16 his name was..."
31:17 "Or maybe she wrote it down."
31:20 "No, I can't spell it.
31:21 All right. Voldemort."
31:25 Like Sauron, the threat of Voldemort hangs over the early novels,
31:28 even when Voldemort himself is incapacitated.
31:31 He is universally feared, and his evil presence is unrelenting.
31:36 The Joker is easily one of the most prolific villains in modern history.
31:42 "I'm a man of my word."
31:43 Joker is an OG Batman villain,
31:50 having first appeared in the debut issue of Batman in 1940.
31:53 Since then, he and his psychotic ways have popped up in animation,
31:57 video games, movies, TV shows, you name it.
32:00 "Give me one reason why I shouldn't have my boy here pull your head off."
32:03 "How about a magic trick?"
32:05 Joker is one of the most enticing villains,
32:07 not because he's fun and novel, although he certainly is that,
32:10 but because he's cunning, manipulative, and intelligent.
32:13 "I wanted to see what you'd do.
32:15 And you didn't disappoint.
32:18 You let five people die.
32:21 Then you let Dent take your place.
32:26 Even to a guy like me, that's cold."
32:29 This is perhaps best displayed in The Dark Knight,
32:31 when the Joker constantly outsmarts and manipulates everyone,
32:35 and remains one step ahead of his targets.
32:37 Despite displaying no superhuman characteristics,
32:40 the Joker remains the most threatening and dangerous villain in comic book history,
32:44 and that's saying something.
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33:07 Darth Vader certainly is an iconic villain, but he's not the evilest.
33:11 "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?
33:14 What have you done with those plans?"
33:16 No, you know, seeing as how he turns good.
33:18 No, that distinction belongs to Emperor Palpatine.
33:21 Palpatine doesn't get a lot of screen time in the original trilogy,
33:24 but he still makes one sinister impression.
33:26 "What is thy bidding, my master?"
33:29 "There is a great disturbance in the Force."
33:34 Most of Palpatine's characterization comes from the supplemental material and prequel trilogy,
33:38 where we witness his progression from cunning and devious politician to full-blown tyrant.
33:43 "Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?"
33:46 "The Senate will decide your fate."
33:47 "I am the Senate."
33:50 He proceeded to reign over the most tyrannical and abusive regime in history
33:54 and became the very embodiment of evil within the Star Wars Skywalker saga.
33:58 Did our vile machinations keep your favorite villain off our list?
34:02 Let us know in the comments below.
34:03 "I can't wait a problem comes along. You must zip it. Zip it good."
34:08 Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
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34:17 [outro music]
34:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]