30+ Most Likeable Movie Villains That We Hate to Love

Kylo Ren is the most emo baddie of them all. Imagine Darth Vader if he grew up with the teenage angst of listening to Billie Eilish. Adam Driver expertly portrays the torn Sith Lord as a petulant, moody child with a demonic temper. Ben Skywalker is emotional, insecure, and unhinged.

Plus he’s so worried he won’t measure up to his evil grandpa that he has anxiety issues. However, his whiny, sullen nature makes him prone to unpredictable, violent outbursts. The things that make us hate Kylo are the same reasons we love him.

The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock’s shocking masterpiece Psycho (1960), changed horror forever. Boogeyman Norman Bates is one of movie history’s most compelling slashers. Anthony Perkins’ friendly boy-next-door smile, quick wit, amity, and hospitality disarm and win over the audience.

Then, quite suddenly, he transforms into a psychopath who takes Marion Crane’s life in that infamous, shocking shower scene. Even after Hitchcock reveals Norman has been bumping off Bates Motel tenants, you still hope the kind-hearted, charming Bates escapes the ghost of his late mother to find peace.

A play on the words cruel and devil, Cruella de Vil is the monstrous anti-heroine who dognaps 15 puppies to make a fur coat in 101 Dalmatians. The erratic, eccentric, snooty, selfish, fashion-obsessed British heiress first appeared in Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel and became a household name in Disney’s beloved 1961 animation.

Glenn Close played her in the live-action remake. The world’s cruelest woman even got a prequel in the underrated Cruella (2021), where she was wonderfully portrayed by Emma Stone.

When Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) meets rookie cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) in 2001’s stunning Training Day, he starts off funny, streetwise, enigmatic, and harsh but fair. But Alonzo’s no-nonsense moral code soon slides into rule-breaking, corruption, lust, full-blown megalomania, and paranoia.

A large part of the crooked cop’s allure is Denzel’s Oscar-winning performance, along with David Ayer’s excellent script and Antoine Fuqua’s assured direction. But we love Detective Alonzo Harris because we’d like to walk the streets of LA in his shoes – even just for one day.

Lord Voldemort is the most powerful and dangerous wizard in J.K. Rowling’s children’s book and film series. According to the prophecy, this magical powerhouse is the only one who can destroy the chosen one, Harry Potter, as he battles to rid the world of “Mudbloods” (non-pure blood wizards).

Brilliantly portrayed by Ralph Fiennes, the Dark Lord is so scary he’s often referred to as He Who Must Not Be Named. The increasingly wicked, truly evil, remorseless devil’s chilling, raspy voice still sends shivers down audiences’ spines.

Die Hard’s antagonist Hans Gruber is a softly-spoken, classically educated East German criminal mastermind and terrorist who takes over the Nakatomi Building on Christmas Eve to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. That is until Bruce Willis’ character John McClane turns up.

Gruber is a ruthless, cold, calm, and calculating intellectual. But, because of Alan Rickman’s charisma, he’s one of cinema’s most iconic scoundrels. He came fourth in Empire magazine’s Greatest Movie Villains of All Time, below only Darth Vader, The Joker, and Loki.

Hans Landa is an evil, intimidating World War II officer in Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 epic, Inglourious Basterds. Hunting WWII-era, German-occupied France for his prey, Landa is a highly intelligent and cold-blooded sociopath who enjoys seeking out and dispatching his enemies and is always one step ahead of them.

Christoph Waltz plays the unstoppably cruel milk-drinking antagonist so politely that it borders on humorous. Even before he switches sides, audiences fall for Waltz’s spine-chilling performance because you simply can’t look away, as you never know what he’ll do next.

Named after Thanatos, the personification of death in ancient Greek mythology, Marvel’s Eternal–Deviant hybrid supervillain, Thanos, blipped half of all life in the universe with the snap of his fingers. The Avengers ultimately saved the day, but Thanos’ actions are perhaps the worst act of terror in cinematic history.

Yet, weirdly, the Mad Titan isn’t universally hated as much as he should be. That’s because his backstory, wanting to rid the universe of overpopulation so everyone could prosper, made logical sense. At least in his gigantic, oversized purple head.

Pure-blood witch Bellatrix Lestrange started the Harry Potter series imprisoned in Azkaban. However, her crazed, bloodthirsty, and unpredictably cruel actions soon see her become Lord Voldemort’s “last, best lieutenant.”

Her loyalty to her master borders on obsession, and she’ll do anything to win his admiration, including interrogating poor Hermione. Helena Bonham Carter was born to play the cold, creepy, emotionless, gothic witch, and her nightmare-inducing performance and insane cackle are one of the franchise’s highlights.

Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty was the replicant’s leader in the 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner. Adapted from Philip K. Dick’s book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ridley Scott’s film tells the tale of bounty hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) hunting down and retiring cyborgs.

Roy Batty is a worthy adversary to Deckard, but he doesn’t come into his own until his truly haunting demise, capped off by one of the best speeches in cinema history. We love Roy Batty’s cyborg because, ultimately, he was more human than most humans.

Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho is a fan fave because he’s relatable. We don’t want his psychopathic tendencies, but we do want his charm, ambition, and success. Unfortunately, success and psychopathy are intertwined. Did you know Forbes magazine reported that as many as 12% of CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits?

That’s much closer to the 15% rate found in prisons than the 1% rate seen in the general population. People love him because our society is secretly full of Patrick Batemans. So, please be careful next time you meet your bank manager!

Unusually, we don’t love Darth Vader because of his tragic backstory, his ideology, or his flaws. Until Anakin Skywalker’s ultimate redemption in The Return of the Jedi, we loved him because he was a baddie. His hulking, intimidating frame, dark samurai-inspired costume, deep booming voice, skills with a lightsaber, and Force mastery made six-year-olds cower behind the couch, trembling in fear.

But going deeper, in a perfect retelling of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey monomyth, Vader subconsciously represents our fear of technology. In Obi-Wan Kenobi’s words, “He’s more machine than man.”

Trickster, mischief-maker, and MCU fan favorite Loki is a malignant narcissist, pathological liar, and, in Thor’s words, the “Worst. Brother. Ever.” Born a blue Jodenheim Frost Giant, the pretender to Asgard’s throne was passed over by his adoptive father and overshadowed by his arrogant brother.

He dispatched hundreds of innocents and helped Thanos bring about the Battle of New York before embarking on an epic redemption arc. We love Loki because of Tom Hiddlestone’s charm and humor… but only because his machiavellian plans always fail.

Hannibal Lecter is the worst kind of butcher because he eats his customers. Yet, you can’t take your eyes off him. FBI behavioral analysts Clarice Starling and Will Graham are the protagonists of Thomas Harris’ books and the screen adaptations, but the stories wouldn’t work without Hannibal the Cannibal.

From Succession’s Brian Cox in Michael Mann’s Red Dragon to Anthony Hopkins’ The Silence of the Lambs performance and Mads Mikkleson’s intimate take on the character in the stunning TV show, Hannibal’s intelligence makes him one of cinema’s most cunning anti-heroes.

First, Dorothy Gale drops a house on The Wicked Witch of the West’s sister. Then, the Kansas farm girl steals the late witch’s favorite ruby slippers. As a result, The Wizard of Oz’s mean, green, malevolent, greedy, tyrannical, and hydrophobic witch (Margaret Hamilton) sets out to destroy Dorothy.

For over 80 years, The Wicked Witch of the West has terrified children, adults, Dorothy, and even her castle guards, who rejoiced when she melted! She ranks fourth in the American Film Institute’s 50 Best Movie Villains.

Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel, David Fincher’s near-perfect psychological thriller Gone Girl tells the tale of Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne’s (Rosamund Pike) perfect marriage going awry when she goes missing. But is Amy really missing, or is she a cold and calculating psychopath who faked her disappearance to frame her husband for murder?

Well, spoiler alert: Amy is a  psychopath. She’s brilliant, dark, complex, twisted, and sadistic. Yet, despite her creepy vengeful behavior, Rosamund Pike elicits sympathy from her audience – just like every covert narcissist.

Gollum is another shape-shifter archetype. Bound to his master, Sauron, he both helps and hinders Frodo and Sam’s epic quest. The Ring of Power has split his personality into Smeagol and Gollum. Helpful Smeagol hates the hold the All-Seeing Eye wields over him. His counterpart, Gollum, is tricksy and manipulative and often tries to lead the Hobbits to their end.

Cinema’s best-ever CGI character was brought to life by Andy Serkis’ incredible motion-captured physicality and voice. We love Smeagol. We hate Gollum. Just never, ever trust him. Nasty little Hobbit!

One of Ralph Fiennes’ greatest miscreants is Julian Slowik in the dark and violent black comedy-horror satire The Menu (2022). The celebrity chef hosts an exclusive event at his restaurant on a private island. But, in the middle of dinner, Chef Slowik reveals that every wealthy diner has somehow wronged him and that none of them will escape his island with their lives.

Vengeful Fiennes switches from calm and softly spoken to sinister at the drop of a chef’s hat. The Menu is deliciously entertaining… if you have the stomach for it. It deserves a chef’s kiss!

The T-1000 is the shape-shifting, liquid metal cyborg in James Cameron’s breathtaking, paradigm-shifting Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The antithesis of the original hulking, muscle-bound T-800 machine, the super-advanced T-1000 model, is a cold, calculating, cunning, lithe, and lightning-fast assassin.

Robert Patrick played him as a chilling, relentless killer on the hunt to wipe out John Connor before he grows up to become the leader of the human resistance in their fight against the machines. Like Darth Vader, the T-1000 is another example of humankind’s fear of technology.

The 2000s saw a change in movie and TV sinners. On TV, Tony Soprano, Walter White, and Don Draper were all brilliant anti-heroes – flawed men with relatable backstories. In the X-Men films, we almost rooted for Sir Ian McKellan and Michael Fassbinder’s Magneto because of his tragic childhood as the survivor of genocide.

Inspired by the civil rights movement, all the metal-bending mutant wanted was equal rights for his fellow mutants. It was just his methods that were questionable. While Professor X was based on Martin Luther King, Magneto was based on Malcolm X.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s Nurse Ratched is one of the cruelest, most capricious, and most realistic villainesses in cinema history. When Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) fakes insanity to avoid jail time, he’s sent to an asylum where he rises up against this tyrannical, passive-aggressive nurse who rules with an iron fist.

Nurse Ratched is the antithesis of nursing. The cold, heartless nurse coercively controls her vulnerable patients for her own gain, revoking food, medicine, and privileges. Louis Fletcher deservedly took home the Best Actress Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe for this role.

Skyfall’s Raoul Silva is a great Bond villain. The ex-British Intelligence agent turned rogue doesn’t want to take over the world from a secret volcano lair. Okay, he blows up MI6 headquarters, but his one motivation is to wreak revenge on M (Judi Dench) for her betrayal.

Javier Bardem plays Silva with a flamboyant, soft-spoken charisma. However, inside, he’s a ticking time bomb of rage. Cunning, manipulative, cruel, and just as strategic as James, Silva is 007’s match and one of the reasons Skyfall is Daniel Craig’s most fascinating Bond movie.

Javier Bardem pops up as a bad guy we love to hate in the Coen Brothers’ neo-Western crime thriller No Country for Old Men (2007). He plays mercilessly violent hitman Anton Chigurh, who uses a cow bolt pistol to bump off anyone who gets in his way.

Completely lacking empathy, conscience, and remorse, he’s so emotionless he’ll decide his victim’s fate with the toss of a coin. Psychologists writing in the Journal of Forensic Sciences named Bardem’s portrayal of Chigurh as the most realistic film depiction of a psychopath.

Stephen King’s dark horror film, Misery, sees James Caan play novelist Paul Sheldon while Kathy Bates portrays his number one fan, Annie Wilkes. The obsessive fan nurses her hero back to health after a car crash but then becomes unhinged, trapping Sheldon in her cabin, subjecting him to coercion, violent behavior, and her dark, twisted fantasies.

Wilkes’ character is grounded and superbly realistic. Kathy Bates won the Best Actress Oscar for her outstanding portrayal of this deeply disturbed character.

Every great hero needs a great adversary, and Gladiator’s Maximus certainly had that in Emperor Commodus. Ridley Scott’s epic film is a masterpiece, and the weak Roman Emporer was everything the General-turned-slave was not. While Maximus was brave, strong, honorable, merciful, and warrior-like, Commodus was a toxic, cheating, spoiled brat.

Commodus was the brains, while Maximus was the brawn of the story. Joaquin Phoenix reveled in playing the power-hungry, jealous, manipulative, and corrupt leader with a lisp. His performance is one of the many reasons Ridley Scott’s film rocks!

Head of OsCorp Industries, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, is one of the most loved supervillains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis, the Halloween-costumed Jekyll and Hyde character terrorizes New York City with his devious plans, Jack O’ Lanterns, and Pumpkin Bombs.

From Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy to 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, Willem Dafoe has made the insane role his own with his trademark maniacal grin and spine-tingling cackle. No one else could delight us quite so much playing the Green Goblin as Willem Dafoe does.

In 1999’s Fight Club, Ed Norton’s character, known only as The Narrator, hallucinates an imaginary friend called Tyler Durden. First, the imaginary soap-selling anarchist helps The Narrator form the underground fist-fighting club. Then, they build an army of anti-corporate rebels focused on blowing America’s evil powerful financial organizations to smithereens.

Like The Joker, Tyler Durden wants to cause mayhem and wake sheeple up to their true selves – agents of disorder unshackled by a materialistic society. We all fell in love with Tyler’s anarchy against The Man… and Brad Pitt’s charisma.

Half-blood wizard and potions master, Hogwarts Professor Severus Snape – expertly played by the late Alan Rickman – is one of the most misunderstood baddies ever. Outwardly cruel, Snape is a lost, frightened little man who was bullied and rejected as a child.

Only in the seventh book and film, when Severus meets his demise at the hands of Lord Voldemort, do we understand why he became a bitter, twisted, and resentful recluse. He lost the love of his life, muggle-born Lily Evans. Snape had a heart all along… it was just broken.

The Joker is Batman’s arch-nemesis because they are polar opposites. Narcissists and codependents, without each other, they have no reason to live. Focusing on the best iteration of this beloved DC Comics character, Heath Ledger’s stunning performance in Christopher Nolan’s near-perfect The Dark Knight, The Joker “just wants to watch the world burn.”

This trickster archetype represents total, unbridled anarchy. He desires to replace the order of everyday life with chaos and demonstrate that no one is incorruptible. In short, there’s a little bit of The Joker in us all.

Baseball bat-wielding, bubble gum-chewing Harley Quinn is one of our most loveable female tricksters. The beautiful, multitalented Margot Robbie shines in the woefully underrated Birds of Prey. But it’s Harley’s anarchistic unpredictability that sets her apart. As crazy as she is clever, former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist Dr. Harleen Quinzell is a shape-shifter archetype.

Her big heart and naive empathy see her switch alliances to use her eccentric charm, deception, psychological manipulation, and ultra-violence to aid both the love of her life, The Joker, and the good guys.

Apollo Creed was Rocky Balboa’s rival in Rocky and Rocky II. He was inspired by the real-life champion heavyweight champion of the world, Muhammad Ali, sharing Ali’s brash, vocal, and theatrical personality, and often rhyming his words and insults.

Audiences love to hate quick-witted, wisecracking showman Apollo because he’s arrogant, looks down on Balboa, and has a temper… while being as charismatic as a rock star! But Apollo’s overconfidence was his downfall, and the underdog beat this worthy adversary… the second time of asking.

Soviet boxer Ivan Drago – played by Swedish actor, martial artist, and man mountain Dolph Lundgren – is the antagonist in Rocky IV. After arriving in America, he fights Rocky’s buddy, Apollo Creed, and ends his life with a high-velocity, million-pound-per-square-inch punch. Seeking revenge, Rocky fights Drago in the Soviet Union… on Christmas Day!

In real life, Stallone asked Lundgren to punch him as hard as he could. The force of the devastating punch smashed Sly’s heart into his ribcage, nearly stopping his heart and ending him on the spot. True story.

Agent Smith (or should we say Agent Smiths?) is Neo’s arch-nemesis. He’s the holographic agent program in charge of clearing out viruses within The Matrix. Hugo Weaving’s serious demeanor, deadpan delivery, and effortless Kung Fu skills are spine-chilling. But the reason Smith is so compelling to watch is that he hates the Matrix and wants out.

Agent Smith is a beautiful contradiction. He recognizes the freedom that humans have on the outside and wants to be human. This makes him a much more relatable character than he could’ve been otherwise.

Fatal Attraction tells the tale of happily married Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), who has a weekend fling with his editor, Alex Forrest (Glenn Close). However, Dan soon falls prey to Alex’s crazed, violent obsession and must protect his family from this bunny boiler.

Glenn Close is incredibly scary as the clingy female stalker. While Forrest is a victim of a male using her and then ghosting her, Alex’s manipulative, psychopathic, and violent actions make sure she’s one of the most terrifying female villains of all time.

The reason we love Dr. Evil is that he’s hardly evil at all. The hilarious bald supervillain is barely competent, as shown by his demand to blow up the world unless he is paid $1 million. A parody of James Bond’s nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Mike Myers plays Austin Powers’ number one enemy as a childish, deeply flawed simpleton.

Along with his tiny bald clone, Mini-Me (Verne Troyer), his equally bald cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, and absurd megalomania, Dr. Evil is the antithesis of evil. That’s why we love him!

Emperor Palpatine is one of the best baddies of all time! For years, Darth Sidious manipulated from the shadows and rose to become the most powerful leader, Sith Lord, and Force user. He could shoot lightning from his fingers and somehow cheated death to become the supervillain behind all three trilogies.

Ian McDiarmid’s performance is as camp as it is sinister. George Lucas based Star Wars on 1930s swashbuckling adventures like Flash Gordon, and Emporer Palpatine is the most powerful mustache-twirling evil-doer in the universe.

Putting in a hammy performance as the odious The Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Alan Rickman won our hearts! Whether he’s sneering, canceling kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, calling off Christmas, cutting hearts out with a spoon, or just rolling his eyes, Rickman’s wildly eccentric, comically over-the-top performance completely stole the show.

Rickman’s Sheriff is the perfect pantomime villain who still elicits boos and hisses – especially from Kevin Costner, who got very grumpy about Rickman robbing him of his limelight.

Swiss artist H.R. Giger’s nightmarish xenomorph isn’t a villain per se, but it deserves a special mention as it’s humankind’s ultimate boogeyman. Tapping into primordial fears of snakes, dragons, and bodily invasion, it’s a perfect hunting organism with acid for blood, thrusting teeth, and impregnating face-hugger offspring.

Worse, its only intention is to take down humans and gestate in their stomachs to breed more terrifying aliens. The almost unkillable alien is super scary, and like Jaws, you can’t help but watch from behind your hands with fascination, awe, and respect.

Three actors have portrayed Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor on the silver screen, and we love to hate all of them for different reasons. The first was Gene Hackman in Superman (1978). Theater-goers loved his take as a comedically cowardly and greedy real-estate developer, yet comic book fans wanted a more powerful adversary.

The less said about Kevin Spacey’s Lex and bland Brandon Routh’s Kryptonian in Superman Returns, the better. In comparison, Jesse Eisenberg’s sarcastic, annoying hipster, Mark Zuckerberg-inspired modern start-up tech entrepreneur Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s films was universally hated.

Jules Winnfield is a professional hitman and enforcer in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Whether Samuel L. Jackson’s character is quoting books, chomping down your Big Kahuna burger breakfast, slurping your tasty beverage, looking like a dork with John Travolta’s Vincent Vega, or saving cafe patrons from a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, his fast-talking mouth is music to our ears.

The reason we love Jules is that, deep down, he’s a good man. Indeed, the events of that fateful, jam-packed day see him give up his life of crime.

Venom is a classic Marvel comic book rogue but has never really worked on the big screen. But all that changed when Tom Hardy took on the role in Sony’s extended superhero universe. The sentient alien symbiote quickly became a hilarious and beloved bad guy.

Okay, Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) aren’t up to much, but Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock being taken over by Venom and then comedically arguing and slapstick fighting with his psychotic, flesh-devouring alter ego have made their way into many fans’ hearts.

Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as 007 descended into farce with an invisible Aston Martin. But his first outing, Goldeneye, was a gritty, grounded affair that saw him finally meet his physical and intellectual equal, Sean Bean’s 006-turned-Soviet traitor, Alec Trevelyan.

Okay, there was Alan Cumming, Xenia Onatopp, exploding pens, and a train that looked like Sam the Eagle from The Muppets. Trevelyan deserves to make this list because he was 007’s most worthy opponent. When Alec and James socked each other, you could feel it, thanks to some of Bond’s best fight choreography.

All the criminals we love to hate are down to the actors playing them. But some actors relish playing baddies more than others. This adage has never been more true than in masterful character actor Gary Oldman’s portrayal of pill-popping, neck-cracking, scenery-chewing Norman Stansfield in Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional (1994).

Stansfield loves violence and pursues evil for one reason alone – because he enjoys it. Oldman delights in the role because Norman Stansfield delights in violence, making the relatively unknown lowlife one of the most intriguing criminal cops in cinema history.

To highlight Gary Oldman’s mastery of character acting, here he is winning hearts again. He’s unrecognizable as Drexl Spivey in the Quentin Tarantino scripted, Tony Scott-helmed underrated gem True Romance. When Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) goes to get his new wife, Alabama’s (Patricia Arquette) clothes from her previous employer, he encounters the first of many scary antagonists.

Drexl is a scarred, gold-toothed, jive-talking, dreadlocked gangster. He’s only in the movie for five minutes, but Oldman blows the audience away. Audiences love Drexl because he leaves you quaking in your boots.

Nicolas Cage is officially a madman, and never more so than in Face/Off. His performance is unhinged, but so is the plot. He plays homicidal sociopath Castor Troy, who’s threatening to blow up Los Angeles. So, FBI Special Agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) has a face transplant to take on Castor Troy’s face, voice, and appearance.

In response, Castor Troy has a face transplant to look like Sean Archer. Both actors relish chewing the scenery, but Nic Cage swallows the whole set and half of Tinseltown. It’s a bonkers film and we highly recommend it!