I've thoroughly enjoyed all the "Best of" lists celebrating the superlatives of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. And I'm going to be fashionably late to the party and make some of my own lists this year, looking at movies and television from 2001 to 2025. However, I'm not going to make "Best Movie" or "Best Show" lists. No, I'm going to do the fun stuff, starting with my favorite villains.
Each list will get 25 entries, but only the top ten will get write-ups. Of course, I plan to cheat, but no antiheroes will be forthcoming. Minor spoilers ahead.
1. Homelander ("The Boys," 2019) - One of the criteria for inclusion on this list was that these villains had to be a reflection of their time, in some way. The 70s birthed serial killers, the 80s brought corporate creeps, and the superhero age gave us a new kind of supervillain - the superhero gone bad. Though similar to Omniman, Sentry, and other evil Superman-type supervillains, Homelander stands out from the crowd for his utter lack of empathy and morals, despite being held up as a symbol of patriotism and justice. His most defining trait is his smile, provided by Anthony Starr - empty, joyless and disturbing.
2. Joker ("The Dark Knight," 2008) - Heath Ledger's performance in "The Dark Knight" was so good, his Joker instantly became iconic. The initial reaction to publicity stills and sneak peeks was fairly negative, but once we got to see the full effect of the anarchic, repulsive Ledger Joker in the haphazard clown makeup who just wants "to watch the world burn," he was undeniable. It influenced every subsequent Joker interpretation - and there have been several. Recent films also gave us Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck from "Joker," but this version strikes me as more of an anti-hero than a villain.
3. Villanelle ("Killing Eve," 2018) - One trend I'm glad to see in recent years is the rise of the female villain - more specifically the self-possessed and self-aware villainess who is acting of her own accord. Female serial killers were fairly rare in fiction for many years, and fun female psychopaths the heroes can banter with are a pretty recent development. Villanelle is easily the most prominent example, a twisted manic pixie dreamgirl with a knack for dispensing violence. "Killing Eve" steadily went downhill after a strong first season, so it's easy to forget the impact she had when she was first introduced to the world.
4. Anton Chigurh ("No Country For Old Men," 2007) - It feels like cheating to include a Coens brothers movie, but Anton Chigurh remains one of the most instantly recognizable villains of the 2000s. Like the Joker, he's symbolic of uncontrollable forces of anarchy, almost like a natural disaster in human form. It's hard to remember sometimes that this was many people's first introduction to Javier Bardem, whose screen persona is usually so charming and urbane. Chigurh, by contrast, is brutal and implacable, somehow both animalistic and mechanically impersonal as a killer. And he's scary as hell too.
5. Amy Dunne ("Gone Girl," 2014) - Amazing Amy, the overachieving "cool girl" turned psycho, is an avatar of modern feminine rage. Fueled by entitlement and resentment, she weaponizes the media and society's fascination with true crime against her cheating husband, going to insane extremes to get what she wants. You could have framed this as an uplifting empowerment story if Amy's revenge weren't so out of proportion with her perceived victimhood, and if her narcissism and vindictiveness weren't so apparent. The horror is so potent, because Amy's brand of evil is both personal and familiar.
6. Killmonger ("Black Panther," 2018) - Killmonger is here as an example of the righteous villain - someone who has a very good reason for doing terrible things, but is trying to right the wrongs through harmful and unacceptable actions. Killmonger is a dark mirror to King T'Challa, a charismatic warrior who is deeply concerned with the injustices done against his people. It doesn't hurt that he's played by Michael B. Jordan, who instantly steals every scene he's in. Other MCU villains I considered were Loki, who evolved into an anti-hero, and Thanos, a solid threat, but rarely compelling. And then there's…
7. Killgrave (Jessica Jones," 2015) - It feels like you can't classify Killgrave as a comic book villain. He's so much more intense and deeply disturbing than the usual superpowered baddies, a man who uses mind control to turn people into his personal playthings. Jessica's past with him is treated as analogous to an abusive intimate relationship, and she's still deeply traumatized from the experience when we meet her. David Tennant, best known for playing everyone's favorite The Doctor, made my skin crawl every time he showed up onscreen. It's no wonder many people treated "Jessica Jones" like it was over when he left.
8. Gus Fring ("Breaking Bad," 2008) - The "Breaking Bad" universe had a lot of great villains, but the one everyone remembers is Gus Fring. Portrayed with unflappable menace by Giancarlo Esposito, Gus has many admirable qualities - he's unfailingly polite, a smart businessman, inspires loyalty from his underlings, and he worked his way up from nothing. However, if you cross him he can make your life a nightmare. There were many points in "Breaking Bad" where I was rooting for Gus as much as I was rooting for Walt and Jesse. Eventually, he had to go, but at least he went out with a fantastic exit.
9. Dolores Umbridge ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," 2007) - I wanted a "Karen" on the list, someone to represent all the privileged, entitled busybodies that seem to exist to make everyone around them miserable. The "Harry Potter" franchise provided me with Dolores Umbridge, who is easily the most hated "Potter" villain after the evil Dark Lord Voldemort - who is pretty generic as genocidal overlords go. Umbridge, however, is very specific and very memorable in her villainy. And as a bureaucrat and administrator, she taps into real world frustrations like no one else on this list.
10. Cersei Lannister ("Game of Thrones," 2011) - Finally, Joffrey was on this list for a long time, but when you look at the "Game of Thrones" villains, the one who got the most done was really Cersei, Joffrey's mother. She instigated many of the main conflicts of the series, and took out more than her share of other power players. However, what lands Cersei a place on the list is how complicated and interesting she is as a character - a natural schemer born to privilege, but constantly stymied by societal expectations, and doomed to endless heartache because she genuinely cares about her family.
The next fifteen, in no particular order:
Kingpin ("Daredevil," 2015)
Hannibal ("Hannibal," 2013)
Alonzo Harris ("Training Day," 2001)
The Trinity Killer ("Dexter," 2009)
Alice Morgan ("Luther," 2010)
Stringer Bell ("The Wire," 2002)
Hans Landa ("Inglorious Basterds," 2009)
King Joffrey ("Game of Thrones," 2011)
Phoenix Buchanan ("Paddington 2," 2017)
Pennywise ("IT: Chapter One," 2017)
Red ("Us," 2019)
Terence Fletcher ("Whiplash," 2014)
Edmund Kemper ("Mindhunter," 2017)
Princess Azula ("Avatar the Last Airbender," 2005)
Mother Gothel ("Tangled," 2010)
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