Nailing the villain is a crucial part of every story. Sometimes the best villains have something that makes you feel bad for them, such as a tragic backstory, redeeming qualities, or a compelling motive. Some antagonists, however, have no such things, and are unapologetically the worst. There’s nothing to make the viewer sympathize with them in any way.
On r/AskReddit, Reddit’s open-ended discussion forum, a user named Family_Man_On_TV asked users which fictional villain was evil incarnate. Many answers came from all corners of the site. Some listed TV or comic book villains, while others listed movie villains.
10 Sauron – ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy (2001-2003)
The user Emu_on_the_Loose put forth this answer, stating, “I have been rereading The Lord of the Rings lately, and it has been striking me that Sauron has no redeeming qualities at all, nothing to be sympathetic toward, nothing to aspire to. Tolkien wrote him as a satanic evil with no goodness whatsoever other than a lingering living memory in some ancient beings of a time when he was not yet so evil. I usually identify with villains at least a little, but Sauron is utterly unlikeable and completely horrible.” This answer ended up being the top comment on the thread.
The movie version of Sauron (Alan Howard) proves to be just as despicable in every way. His ring of power is the main plot point for the film trilogy, and its evil is enough to make best friends and even family members turn on each other. In the case of Gollum, (Andy Serkis), it was literally enough to make him murder his cousin. This horrific, corrupting power is what makes Sauron one of the most evil villains in cinema.
9 Emperor Palpatine – ‘Star Wars’ Series (1977-)
The user HelpMeLoseMyFat put this answer forward, writing a bit of a poem. “Just raw evil incarnate. The king of evil. The type of evil that starts a war, is both sides of the war so he cannot lose, because he is literarily both sides of the war. Close your eyes, search your heart and hear his laugh. You can hear it.”
Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) didn’t become the Emperor of the galaxy far, far away by being nice. He did it by manipulating and murdering his way into a position of power, all so that the Sith could control the galaxy and everyone within it. His horrid laugh is made worse by the fact that he enjoys seeing people suffer, which is when he tends to laugh the most.
8 Dolores Umbridge – ‘Harry Potter’ Series (2001-2011)
Few characters have been so widely-despised as Professor Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). Appearing primarily in the series’fifth instalment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), she is a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor sent to Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic to maintain the lie that Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has not returned.
Apart from being a filthy liar, she is way too instrusive and uptight. She can be seen walking the halls of Hogwarts, happily punishing students for trivial reasons. She also fires a beloved professor for no valid reason. But perhaps worst of all, one of her favourite punishments involves making Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) write lines using an enchanted quill that cuts his skin and uses his own blood as ink. The user Possession-Other put this answer forward, with another user adding onto it, stating that Staunton played Umbridge so well that they kind of hate every other role she plays because all they can think of when they see her is the pink-clad professor of punishment.
7 Anton Chigurh – ‘No Country For Old Men’ (2007)
Anton (Javier Bardem) is the main antagonist of No Country For Old Men. He is, as one user stated, “an amoral personification of death.” The man really doesn’t have any remorse or set of principles. He is a hitman, which makes him a cold, calculated professional. It certainly doesn’t help that his weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and that he sometimes leaves the fate of his victims up to the flip of a coin. Others he kills for no reason at all.
User Cw2e stated this answer, and was met with several replies discussing the implications of the character in the story. Although, many agreed on one thing: the man is evil, no questions asked.
6 Judge Doom – ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ (1988)
Aside from his absolutely nightmarish true form, Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) has a terrible motive with no real basis. His goal is to exterminate all of the living cartoons from the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which really doesn’t make a lot of sense considering he is secretly a cartoon himself. Apart from that, he is also a murderer of humans too, as he reveals in the end that he killed the main character’s brother.
It was the user plusoneforautism who gave this answer. Though, another user did state that either in the original novel or in a deleted scene, there was a tragic backstory present. Still, this obviously didn’t make it to the final cut of the movie, making Doom’s behaviour and motivations completely inexcusable.
5 Michael Myers – ‘Halloween’ Series (1978-2022)
Throughout the multiple Halloween films Michael Myers has appeared in, it is made abundantly clear that he has little room for redemption. He is a serial killer, and only kills people because he finds it enjoyable. There isn’t much else known about his backstory other than the fact that his main hobby is murder.
The user Bribase gave this answer, but excluded the version from the Rob Zombie reboot. They also stated that they enjoyed the reboot, but it just wasn’t as true to the character.
4 Cruella de Vil – ‘101 Dalmatians’ (1996)
The user BFG_TimtheCaptain stated this answer, clarifying that they meant the incarnation from the original 101 Dalmatians cartoon and its live-action couterpart rather than the recent Cruella movie. Another user, alyssimoo, elaborated, saying, “any being willing to slaughter a 100 puppies for a spotted fur coat is unquestionably villainous.”
This is true, as Cruella’s (Glenn Close) only motivation for trying to kill the dogs in the two films is that she wants to turn their hides into a fur coat. The fur trade is already a polarizing issue, but regardless of how you feel about it, there’s no doubt that bringing domestic dogs into it is just downright horrible. There’s a reason her name is a pun on the word “cruel.”
3 Evil Genius – ‘Time Bandits’ (1981)
If his name wasn’t a dead giveaway, it quickly becomes apparent in Time Bandits that Evil Genius, or simply Evil (David Warner), is not a man who really worries about morality. He can be seen throughout the film killing his minions for minor offences, when they outlive their usefulness to him, or even just because he’s bored.
What do you expect from a man who is literally the living embodiment of evil? The user SirElghinn referenced this villain, with the user nawmynameisclarence replying that they agreed and that the film is a great movie nonetheless.
2 Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg – ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997)
Believe it or not, Zorg’s (Gary Oldman) biggest crime isn’t his bizarre fashion sense. It’s the fact that he knows he is a monster. Heck, he literally admits to it. Apart from that, he seems to have entirely the wrong idea about how the world of The Fifth Element works. He famously states that the world is built on death, disorder, and destruction, and that because of it, he has no reason to not participate in the practice. It’s almost a justification for him.
User broke_af_guy gave this answer, with another user replying that it should have received more upvotes (Reddit’s equivalent to “likes”). It was also met with replies agreeing with the original comment.
1 Pennywise – ‘It’ Series (2017-2019)
Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) is based on one of the most prolific serial killers in history. That alone is enough of an indication that he isn’t your typical happy clown. Though he initially appears human, he can change his shape at will, which is when it is revealed that he is a grotesque monster that likes to feed on children.
He is perhaps one of the most famous Stephen King villains due to how terrifying he truly is. The user Dariaskehl seemed to agree, as they were the one who gave the answer.
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