When trying to compile the top 20 movie villains of all time, Empire Magazine turned to its readers to crowdsource their fans’ opinions. After compiling the results, the magazine has revealed that, amongst a variety of horror movie villains, Loki, The Joker and Darth Vader have all earned top spots.
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The final list is as follows:
20. Michael Myers (Halloween franchise)
19. T-1000 (Terminator 2: Judgement Day)
18. Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise)
17. Agent Smith (The Matrix trilogy)
16. Norman Bates (Psycho)
15. Palpatine (Star Wars franchise)
14. The Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)
13. Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
12. Sauron (The Lord of the Rings franchise)
11. Gollum (The Lord of the Rings franchise)
10. The Alien (Alien franchise)
9. Voldemort (Harry Potter franchise)
8. Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)
7. Kylo Ren (Star Wars franchise)
6. Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds)
5. Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs franchise)
4. Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
3. Loki (Thor franchise)
2. The Joker (Batman franchise)
1. Darth Vader (Star Wars saga)
When looking over the complete list, some fascinating statistics begin to emerge.
Of the top 20, five of the entries are found in horror films or franchises, which is to be expected of a list featuring villains.
Only two of the characters on the list have comic book origins, yet they claim the second and third spots in the ranking. Another surprising detail is that there is only one female villain on the list.
The Star Wars saga has the most entries with three, while the Lord of the Rings franchise has two, which land right next to one another. Star Wars also earns the most contemporary entry on the list, with Kylo Ren only having debuted in 2015 and cracking the top 10.
While some franchises have multiple entries making their way onto the list, only one actor earned multiple spots on the list, as Alan Rickman portrayed both the Sheriff of Nottingham and Hans Gruber.
The xenomorph from the Alien series is the only non-humanoid character on the list, despite Sauron mostly being no more than a watchful eye throughout most of his appearances.
The magazine is based in the UK, with its readership potentially creating different results than if American audiences being the primary contributors.
Check out the full list and learn more about the villains on Empire’s website.
[H/T Empire]
