These characters are a little too good at being bad.
Warner Bros; Columbia Pictures/Everett; Ursula Coyote/AMC
Who doesn’t love a good villain?
From serial killers to a writer’s No.
Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’; Kathy Bates in ‘Misery’; Giancarlo Esposito on ‘Breaking Bad’.Credit:Warner Bros; Columbia Pictures/Everett; Ursula Coyote/AMC
but Alice Krige’s synthetic overlord is the antagonist for the franchise’s whole utopian idea.
Brutally indifferent, she’s the human impulse to explore negated into pure nihilism.
Most evil line:“Resistance is futile.”
Alice Krige in ‘Star Trek: First Contact’.Elliott Marks/Paramount
Mr. Blonde,Reservoir Dogs
The killer other killers worry about.
After a heist goes wrong, Vic Vega smells a rat.
Dr. Evil,Austin Powersfilms
Step 1: Hijack some nuclear weapons.
Michael Madsen in ‘Reservoir Dogs’.Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection
Step 2: Hold the world hostage.
Step 3: Attach laser beams to the heads of killer sharks.
Step 4: Make $1 million.
Mike Myers in ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery’.Kimberly Wright/ New Line
We’ll never look at3rd Rock From the Sunthe same way again.
Most evil move:Killing a woman in a bathtub as a way of reenacting a childhood trauma.
Patrick Bateman,American Psycho
Poor little Patrick (Christian Bale) just wants to be cool.
John Lithgow on ‘Dexter’.Randy Tepper/Showtime
Yes, he kills people.
Yes, he’s got a chainsaw in his closet and a couple of heads in his refrigerator.
Can you blame him?
Christian Bale in ‘American Psycho’.Kerry Hayes/Lionsgate
It’s stressful, the banking life.
Most evil line:“I like to dissect girls.
Did you know I’m utterly insane?”
Nancy Marchand on ‘The Sopranos’.Anthony Neste/ HBO
John Doe,Seven
The movie builds gradually to his first appearance.
First he’s a shadow, then, a myth.
Most evil move:Three words:Gwyneth Paltrow’s head.
Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, and Morgan Freeman in ‘Seven’.New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection
To see him in a vision is to be haunted for years on end.
Most evil move:He finds a creative new use for a cattle gun.
Scar,The Lion King
Really, though, wasn’t Mufasa such a bore?
Frank Silva on ‘Twin Peaks’.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
And wasn’t Simba such a little goody-two-shoes?
The villains always get the best lines askShakespeare and this is as close as Disney’s ever come toHamlet.
Most evil move:Killing his brother while his nephew watches in horror.
Javier Bardem in ‘No Country for Old Men’.Richard Foreman/Miramax
Edwin Epps,12 Years a Slave
Can you feel sympathy for the devil?
He is also a lonely, impotent man.
Most evil quote:“I’ll take the starch outta ya.”
Simba and Scar in ‘The Lion King’.Disney
Hans Landa,Inglourious Basterds
Colonel Landa will talk your ear off in any language.
(He knows them all.)
As played byChristoph Waltz, Hans Landa is a delightfully inquisitive portrait of Nazi horror.
Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor in ‘12 Years a Slave’.Francois Duhamel
Some call him “the Jew Hunter,” but he’s really a detective:Columbofor fascists.
Most evil quote:“What’s that American expression?
‘If the shoe fits, you must wear it.'”
Christoph Waltz in ‘Inglourious Basterds’.Francois Duhamel/Weinstein Company/Everett Collection
Most evil move:His sole hobby is conquering all that has ever been and ever will be.
Most evil move:Replicating himself across the entire digital world.
Most evil quote:Of his daughter, who is in peril: “She’s a pawn.
Sauron of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.New Line Cinema
She means nothing to me.”
Most evil quote:“If you have a go at interfere, this becomes a much simpler matter.
I will kill your wife, I will kill your son, I will kill your infant daughter.”
Hugo Weaving in ‘The Matrix’.Everett Collection
An excellent argument against helicopter parenting.
Most evil move:Cutting off Ned Stark’s head?
Right in front of his daughter?
Michael Emerson on ‘Lost’.MARIO PEREZ/ABC
And the daughter is your bride-to-be?
Most evil quote:“I die a true American.”
Pretty buff, too.
Giancarlo Esposito on ‘Breaking Bad’.Ursula Coyote/AMC
Most evil move:Cutting off Gotham from the mainland one bridge at a time.
Most evil quote:“King Kong ain’t got s— on me.”
Most evil quote:“And like that, he’s gone.”
Ian McKellen in ‘X-Men’.Kerry Hayes/Fox
Cruella de Vil,101 Dalmatians
Photofest
How do you out-cartoon a cartoon?
She’s like a G-rated Tony Montana.
Most evil move:Armblades.
Jack Gleeson on ‘Game of Thrones’.Helen Sloan/HBO
(InStephen King’s original book, she chops off his foot with an ax.)
Most evil move:Killing his own father.
Most evil quote:“Release the hounds!”
Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘Gangs of New York’.Miramax
The Joker,Batmanmovies
Batman’s greatest adversary is ruthlessly, functionally insane.
Most evil quote:“A census taker once tried to test me.
I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
Tom Hardy in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.Ron Phillips/Warner Bros.
Denzel Washington in ‘Training Day’.Robert Zuckerman
Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Spacey in ‘The Usual Suspects’.Linda R. Chen
Glenn Close in ‘101 Dalmatians’.Photofest
Robert De Niro in ‘Cape Fear’.Everett Collection
Robert Patrick in ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’.TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Kathy Bates in ‘Misery’.Merrick Morton
Voldemort in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2’.Warner Bros.
Mr. Burns of ‘The Simpsons’.The Simpsons/Fox
Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’.Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Anthony Hopkins in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’.Orion Pictures
