Science fiction has produced some of the most epic villains of any genre. Characters like Star Wars‘ Darth Vader are so much larger than life that even people who haven’t watched the movie know who they are. However, those iconic villains can often overshadow lesser-known, but equally powerful, antagonists. Some of the best science fiction movie villains are still underrated, despite their ability to wreak havoc with people’s lives and not feel guilt or shame.
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Here are 10 great sci-fi movie villains that don’t get talked about enough.
10) HAL-9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
2001: A Space Odyssey is dated in some ways despite being considered one of the best space movies of all time, but HAL-9000 is a more timely villain than ever in an age where people are frightened that AI is going to take over jobs, creative arts, and the planet itself.
HAL-9000 was one of the earliest evil machines depicted in science fiction movies. He was supposed to run the Discovery One spacecraft, but went rogue after conflicting instructions caused him to malfunction.
Like all strong villains, HAL-9000 believed he was doing the right thing while using his power to hurt and kill others. In his case, he learned that the crew was considering disconnecting him because of the errors he had made, and he fought back by cutting off the ship’s oxygen supply.
9) Roy Batty (Blade Runner)
Roy Batty is that rare villain who is almost completely justified in what he does. He is an android called a replicator who was deliberately created with a short lifespan to ensure that he would do his job, but not develop emotions or be able to overpower humans. As a result, Batty feels oppressed and leads a mutiny.
Many of Batty’s deeds are horrific. The murder of his creator makes more sense than that of the many innocent people who cross paths with him. However, what makes Batty such a great science fiction villain is his redemption right before his death.
Batty has the chance to kill Deckard, the hunter who is after him, but instead saves his life and tells him all about what life has been like for him, shortly before expiring. This final scene puts Batty firmly into the category of tragic figures rather than monstrous villains, and the audience’s ability to empathize and mourn his death despite him being the movie’s antagonist is unique to the genre.
8) Megatron (Transformers)
Megatron has always been the villain in every incarnation of the Transformers franchise, and as the years have gone on, he has become more evil. By the time he appears in the 2007 Transformers movie, he has little to no conscience left and is willing to kill anybody who gets in his way.
Megatron’s awakening and breaking out of his icy prison in the Arctic are creepy, and he immediately kills as many humans as he can see. Like many of the best villains, Megatron has grandiose and dangerous plans to wipe out humanity, making him a formidable foe to Optimus Prime and ratcheting up the tension in the movie.
7) Agent Smith (The Matrix)
The Matrix has become part of the pop culture lexicon. Terms like “red pilled” and “unplugged from the Matrix” have become popular slang, and the film is popular with those who believe others are being brainwashed by society. However, people talk more about the movie’s plot than they do about its villain.
Smith is one of the most powerful villains in science fiction history. He is an example of an evil AI that can wreak havoc because of being a machine empowered to do things that no human would ever be able to or want to do.
Smith’s scariest attribute is his seeming immortality. He is a parasite within the simulation who inhabits host bodies and reforms himself when killed, and Neo’s attempts to delete him only make him stronger and scarier during Matrix: Reloaded. Ultimately, the only way to get rid of Smith is for Neo to sacrifice himself for the good of everyone else in the Matrix, which demonstrates how powerful Smith really is and makes the question of who won the battle debatable.
6) Boba Fett (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)
Darth Vader is so closely identified with Star Wars that other villains tend to get overshadowed. This is especially true for Boba Fett, who is an important antagonist in The Empire Strikes Back but only has four lines in that particular movie, making it seem as if he is not living up to his potential. Newer Star Wars media makes better use of Boba Fett, but that doesn’t negate how underused he is in The Empire Strikes Back.
Boba Fett is a bounty hunter whose main contribution to the original three Star Wars movies is capturing Han Solo shortly before dying. He is modeled on the Man With No Name and other famous Western figures and adheres to his own moral code rather than being strictly good or evil, making him a fascinating, though underused, villain.
Sure, Boba Fett has seen his role in Star Wars blow wide open since Empire, but in terms of time on the big screen, he’s still just a bit character.
5) Ash (Alien)
Ash is one of the creepiest villains in science fiction history. He appears human, but later is revealed to be an android sleeper agent who uses his position as the chief science officer aboard the Nostromo to sabotage the human crew and allow the alien to invade.
There have been many movies about evil androids, but the idea of one infiltrating a human team to sabotage it and kill anyone who gets in its way is particularly scary. Ash’s violence towards Ripley causes her to fear all androids later in the franchise, demonstrating how deeply Ash’s villainy affected her.
4) T-5000 (Terminator: Genisys)
The T-5000 is a physical manifestation of Skynet’s consciousness, which would be scary enough without its ability to infect humans and turn them into killing machines. It is implied that, unlike earlier models, the T-5000 is not detectable by dogs, making it harder to neutralize its threat.
The T-5000 is made even scarier because he’s played by Doctor Who’s Matt Smith (who kept the role secret before the film’s release). Smith is best known for his lighthearted interpretation of the Doctor. For Smith to play such a menacing and evil character was shocking, adding to the terror element of this forgotten antagonist.
3) Dr. William Weir (Event Horizon)
Event Horizon is one of the most underrated and disturbing science fiction movies of the 1990s. Sam Neill’s William Weir is a scary villain because he was a doctor who fell under the influence of evil spirits after an experiment. He starts out as a scientist who is interested in traveling faster than the speed of light; however, his ship is exposed to evil when it encounters a hellish dimension on the other side of a black hole, allowing a demon to possess and corrupt Weir.
This scary premise is made even more terrifying by the level of violence that Weir, who would not have done such things of his own volition, engages in. Under the demonic influence, he focuses on returning to the hellish dimension and kills and destroys anyone and anything to get his way.
2) The Operative (Serenity)
Serenity was supposed to wrap up loose threads from Firefly, but its chief villain is often overlooked. The Operative is one of the scariest science fiction villains in the genre’s history because he is so cold and calculating.
The Operative is often underrated because he ultimately lets the crew go after realizing his mission to stop the truth from being broadcast has failed. However, before that final confrontation, he kills the entire population of a planet to keep the story of how the Alliance created the Reavers from getting out, and that is far from his only violent crime. Thus, his final actions don’t redeem him or make him any weaker of a villain.
1) Carter Burke (Aliens)
Carter Burke’s selfishness and his willingness to allow the aliens to commit heinous acts are made even scarier by the fact that he’s played by comedian Paul Reiser, best known for the 1990s comedy Mad About You.
Burke pretended to be empathetic to gain Ripley’s trust while secretly wanting to bring xenomorphs home to examine them. His behavior when Ripley realized what he was up to was even more disturbing, as he locked her and Newt, a young girl who had already been traumatized, in a lab with a pair of face-huggers in the hopes that the xenomorphs would impregnate them both, making them the perfect doomed vessels to smuggle the xenomorphs back to Earth. As Ripley states in the film, Burke is worse than the alien monsters they’re fighting, because “You don’t see them f*cking each other over for a goddamn percentage.”
Who is your favorite underrated sci-fi movie villain? Leave a comment and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum.
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