The ultimate showdown! Top 10 Villains of all time!

Since the beginning of time, mankind has had certain things they just can’t seem to agree on; religion, politics, sports; this struggle has continued, and now, the fiercest battle of them all finally begins here and now, the battle over the most important part of cinema, the villains. Amongst movie geeks, there is no more fierce a struggle, Star Wars versus Star Trek, Kirk versus Picard, whether Guido should shoot first, all of it fails in comparison to the likes of Vader, man in Bambi and Aliens.
In every good movie, the hero, or protagonist must have an antagonist to really prove his position in the movie, as that of the hero, and often times, those antagonists can truly be the best part of the movie. Generally the struggle between the ying and yang, good and evil is the dynamic of the film, and that struggle determines the quality of the movie. Since the beginning, when the antagonist wore a black hat and fought the guys in the white hats, antagonists have captured the imagination of movie goers everywhere, partially because they have fun, but sometimes, it’s because they are so truly evil, no one knows how they can be that way, and often has a deep seeded dread for the villain. This sometimes subconscious dread of people is often the magic that makes the hero shine, not because he is just so good, often because the villain is so bad.
A villain is defined by the American Film Institute as a character(s) whose wickedness of mind, selfishness of character and will to power are sometimes masked by beauty and nobility, while others may rage unmasked. They can be horribly evil or grandiosely funny, but are ultimately tragic. I define a villain a little differently, I say, a villain is the perfect antagonist to the hero, he or she exhibits the traits of pure evil, being driven to evil, and shows no traits society shows as endearing.
Most villains pick one trait that humanity has, that most are often not proud of and brings that out, showing it for all of humanity to see, hence the hatred. The good villains bring out all the traits and shove them in your face. I submit, for you approval my list of the best 10, subject to discussion.

10) Cyrus the Virus – Con Air – John Malkovich plays an intelligent, ruthless, and cold bad guy who hates law, has no regard for life and has really good grammar. Despite Nicholas Cage’s character not living up to the hype of the villain, Cyrus the Virus was a perfect bad guy, and even creepier, Malkovich based that character off a real inmate.
9) Lex Luther – Superman Returns – All great heroes have great villains, villains that challenge the hero and either make or break the hero. In the case of Superman Returns, Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor does both, he shows the good in humanity by showing the true ruthlessness in him, I mean, he kills humanities savior, and tries to destroy the earth, all in with a twisted evil that everyone realizes from the beginning of the mediocre flick.
8) Mrs. Carmony – The Mist – Never has there been a character that showed the ugly side of humanity better than Marcia Gay Hardens Mrs. Carmony. When a little town of people who all know and love each other is trapped inside a small grocery store, you see the terrible side of humanity, showing greed, brutality and a savage everyone for themselves mentality that is not nearly as bad as the creatures outside the store in the Mist (except for those creepy spiders).
7) Bruce the Shark – Jaws – “Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water,” is this movies tagline. This movie kept thousands of beachgoers from the water and gave little kids nightmares, all over a vicious shark. Normally, I don’t see animals, especially sharks as evil; they are simply doing what nature intended. Bruce (the name was affectionately given by the production crew to the animatronic shark) however, was a different story, the shark showed unnatural tenacity, a cunning that puzzled the fisherman until they realized they are not the hunters, they are simply the food. This is a primary fear in many swimmers, and to this day is in the back of the head of anyone swimming off a beach, don’t believe me? Try going in the water and yell ‘shark!’
6) Hans Gruber – Die Hard – Die Hard has one of the most iconic heroes in modern cinema, and it’s only fitting Bruce Willis’s John McClain has an equally iconic adversary in Alan Rickman’s Hans. This guy was cold, calculating and was willing to kill anyone in his way to get what he wanted, without as much as a blink of an eye. Hans toyed with the police and FBI, as he showed he was the superior mind, and even showed a lack of caring for his own men. Truly a great character who exhibits all the traits that make a great villain.


5) Commodus – Gladiator – As I stated above, the best villains are usually a perfect yang to the ying of the hero (or vice versa), and the best villain for Russell Crow’s Maximus is Joaquin Phoenix’s (yeah, the rapper) Commodus, he is the exact opposite of Maximus in every way, he is not a good guy, he is a coward, wimpy, but he is also cunning, and willing to go the dishonorable way and kill his father to get the power he craves, oh, and he has some incestual issues. This guy is another great example of evil, and the worst parts of people being shoved in your face!
4) Hannibal Lecter – Silence of the Lambs - #21 on AFI’s best movie quotes of all time, this character is renowned as being incredibly smart, cunning, and a cannibal. Not only was he vicious, but he generally outsmarted you, and was downright chilling to the bone. One of Anthony Hopkins finest moment, he portrayed a guy that everyone knows as truly evil, able to outsmart nearly everyone and eat their face off at the same times with some fava beans and a nice Chianti; it took a cunning hero and pre-lesbian Jodi Foster to stop this monster.
3) Joker – The Dark Knight – The Joker is one of the best villains, and unlike some, no matter how the Joker is portrayed, be it Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, or the best portrayal, in my opinion, Heath Ledger, the Joker is always a cunning villain, generally mistaken as insane, he is lethal, smart, and is able to make up for his lack of physical prowess with a vicious, lack of regards for life, and some great magic tricks (he can make a pencil disappear). The Joker, even in the face of his adversary, Batman, laughs and shows a true evil…just don’t ask him about his scars.
2) Agent Smith – The Matrix – At first sight, you can tell Agent Smith is evil, as you progress through the story, you start to realize he is just part of a system, then you realize he is more than just system of control, he is evil. For every ying, there must be a yang. Keanu Reeves’ Neo was the hero of mankind, so it is fitting Smith would be the destroyer of mankind. This guy was too evil for his programming, the Matrix and the real world. Hugo Weaving gave an excellent performance as a cold, calculating agent who wanted more than just the destruction of mankind, he wanted the destruction of everything.
1) Darth Vader – Star Wars: A New Hope – At first sight, you see the ultimate depiction of evil, the dark black, the iconic music, the breathing, and finally a voice known throughout the world as evil. Kevin’s Movie Blog’s winner of the ultimate villain is known to be evil, he starts off casually throwing people around, choking fellow empire members from across the room, killing his own men for the slightest mistake and striking down his former mentor, all with a dark and dreading presence. Vader doesn’t only look the part, he is the part, going from bad to worse throughout the movie, you realize, when he is ready to kill his own child, the cold, evil nature of a man that is more machine than man, twisted and evil.



There you have it, the top 10 movie baddies of all time. While no list is perfect for everyone, I would like to hear what you think, did I leave anything out; get them out of order, perhaps?
- No, I got it right, your wrong, but thanks for playing!

Here is a link to the most excellent list my friend posted. Check it out, it is quite insightful, well written, and, well wrong, but really worth the click!
http://impoetry.livejournal.com/133117.html?view=524797#t524797