# Who are the best villians in movie history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131 "2008-12-07T14:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/41 "2008-12-08T01:02:56Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Godzilla. in the first movie, of course. Massacres a whole city. Heavy. Godzilla kind of falls into “Force of Nature” to me…like Galactus. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/42 "2008-12-08T01:09:22Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > And what kind of dental plan did he have? > :rolleyes: Yeah, everyone in the galaxy wants to shank me and take my job. I’m sure it’ll be easy to find someone I can trust to stick sharp motorized instruments in my mouth. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/43 "2008-12-08T01:12:04Z")
To add one to an already great list, Captain Vidal from Pan’s Labyrinth is an especially brutal character. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/44 "2008-12-08T03:22:07Z")
Jack Nicholson as the devil from The Witches of Eastwick. Magnificently depraved. The scene of his corpulent bodyface down humping a bed as some sort of erotic come-on to Cher was so truly and hilariously disgusting that Jack has to feature somewhere, for mine. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/45 "2008-12-08T03:54:17Z")
[Serpentor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentor). This I command. ok, I was only kidding about that. ---
**Author:** ![MizTina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MizTina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizTina)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/46 "2008-12-08T05:16:17Z")
Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie in ‘Shadow of a Doubt’. Great portrayal of a very bad man. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/47 "2008-12-08T05:30:47Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’ll point him out again: Marty Augustine in **[The Long Goodbye](http://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com/2008/10/long-goodbye.html)**. Great because he was utterly unpredictable. With all the others mentioned, you knew what they would do; with Augustine, you never could. He might kill you or he might treat you to dinner – but you could never be sure which it would be. I think another great villain of this ilk was Dustin Hoffmann’s Winston King in _Confidence_. Scared the crap out of me whenever he was on screen, no matter how innocuous the action. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/48 "2008-12-08T05:51:28Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Also, Jack Nicholson’s Joker was a much better than Heath Ledger’s. Not regarding how they were acted or anything The Dark Knight’s Joker was better just because of how successful he was. Pretty much through his actions ended up turning Batman into a villain, killed the D.A., assistant D.A., judge, and commissioner of Gotham City, blew up a hospital, created mass chaos, and finished off the mob, which is gonna leave a power vacuum for more villains. (Which is interesting, he did the job that Batman couldn’t do). And he didn’t die, he just got caught by the Gotham City police, which probably means he would’ve been out in a week. Really, what did Jack Nicholson do that compared to that? ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/49 "2008-12-08T09:27:34Z")
Odd you should say that, as it leads into something I was going to post. > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Really, what did Jack Nicholson do that compared to that? Killed a mob boss played by Jack Palance, who deserves his own mention in this thread. The bad guy he played in “Shane”, Jack Wilson, was a memorable (and nasty) piece of work - including the classic introduction where he walks into the bar and the dog slinks out under the door. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal\_McCoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7993a0/32.png) [@Surreal\_McCoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal_McCoy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/50 "2008-12-08T09:38:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz I’ll unleash a pack of flying monkeys on all who do not agree with the above choice of most evil villian…and your little dog, too! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/51 "2008-12-08T12:48:32Z")
Sid 6.7 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/52 "2008-12-08T12:53:51Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > SID 6.7 How about a NSFW label there? My pick: God, in _The Rapture_. Offstage, but very much there. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/53 "2008-12-08T13:53:29Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > OOOOH! > > Just thought of: Doctor Strangelove. Doctor Strangelove was a villian? Okay - maybe his left hand was, but not the rest of him. General Ripper was a much better villian. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/54 "2008-12-08T15:07:22Z")
Two not yet mentioned, and deserving of the title: Harry Roat Jr in _Wait Until Dark_ Jack the Ripper in _Time After Time_ ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/55 "2008-12-08T16:08:36Z")
Phyllis, in _Double Indemnity_. Lars Thorwald, in _Rear Window_. Kiefer Sutherland’s character in_Phone Booth_. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/56 "2008-12-08T16:38:36Z")
Most of the big bads on Buffy were pretty good villains. My favorites are The Mayor, Glory, and Adam, in that order. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/57 "2008-12-08T16:58:56Z")
The implacable, liquid-metal assassin T-1000 from _Terminator 2_. Keyser Soze from _The Usual Suspects_. Brilliantly devious and unscrupulous. John Doe from _Se7en_. Simply diabolical. Gollum from _LOTR_, all the more so because he was such a tragic figure. Of course, “Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!” Dolores Umbridge. Ooooooo, she’s bad, and cloying too, which is even worse. Magua from _The Last of the Mohicans_. One scary motherfucker, who’d just as soon kill you as look at you. Frank Booth from _Blue Velvet_. Ditto. Jack the Ripper from _Time After Time_. Also ditto, but witty too. Maybe David Warner’s best bad-guy role ever, in a career full of them. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/58 "2008-12-08T17:49:34Z")
Scarlett O’Hara ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/59 "2008-12-08T18:01:01Z")
**Randall Flagg** from _The Stand_. The Walkin’ Dude. StG ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/60 "2008-12-08T18:10:14Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > SID 6.7 Having the advantages of being played by a great actor AND having a really, really cool name. A good villian in an otherwise mediocre movie was Philip Seymour Hoffman’s bad guy in “Mission Impossible III.” I don’t remember much else about the movie, but I remember his villian being so believable. He wasn’t a super evil genius or a wisecracking invincible cartoon bad guy. He was just a sociopathic asshole who had no scruples about killing to get his way. Hoffman played him absolutely straight and he was real as could be. Very nasty peice of work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131.md?page=4)