5 Movies with TWO Great Villains

Oftentimes a movie’s villain is just as important as its hero, if not more so. Friday the 13th needed Jason Voorhees to last fifty years, Jack Nicholson’s Joker was an even bigger draw of Tim Burton’s Batman than the title character, in Gladiator we hate Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus just as much as we love Russell Crowe’s Maximus. There is no plot without the villain and, sometimes, that plot needs not one but two (or even three) villains. This is frequently seen in superhero movies, e.g. how Batman Forever had Two-Face and the Riddler, Spider-Man 3 had Sandman, Venom, and New Goblin, and so on.

Those aren’t like Bond movies, where there’s a villain and a head henchman, those are bonafide cases of multiple villains. What follows are movies with a pair of baddies that make it hard for the audience to decide which one is more memorable.

5) Hannibal Lecter & Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs

Quite possibly the definitive cinematic thriller, The Silence of the Lambs is a case of every aspect of a movie falling into place perfectly. Nothing is out of place or weaker than it should be. It’s a movie that is impossible to remake, just like Jaws or The Wizard of Oz.

And, while Hannibal Lecter and his exchanges with Clarice Starling were integral in making the movie so iconic, the cannibalistic doctor is not the main villain. That would be Buffalo Bill, who is just as terrifying and is the true reason the plot exists.

Stream The Silence of the Lambs on Prime Video.

4) Agent Smith & Cypher in The Matrix

The Agents manage to be genuinely frightening every time they pop up in The Matrix. We believe the protagonists believe as though they’re now fighting an insurmountable force even though it’s just a few flatly speaking guys in suits.

And, at the head of those suited guys is Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith, who is particularly interesting in the first film thanks to his one-on-one with Morpheus where he explains that he wants to exit the Matrix as quickly as possible (with a few insults about humanity’s “Stink”). Also interesting is Cypher, who betrays his crew, but we almost can’t blame him. Who wouldn’t want to eat fake, juicy stake when the alternative is realizing you’re in the middle of a desolate hellscape?

Stream The Matrix on YouTube TV.

3) Darth Vader & Emperor Palpatine (& Jabba the Hutt) in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Sure, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has three villains, not two, but we’re including it anyway. In a way, Jabba the Hutt is more like a side villain, considering he’s only in the first act. But what a danger-stuffed first act that is, and Jabba is one of the most grotesque creations in practical effects history.

Plus, perhaps there’s an argument to be made that Darth Vader isn’t really a villain in this one. Even before he finally gets fed up with his evil grin of a master electrifying his son, Vader was starting to waffle on the Dark Side. Either way, Vader continued to be iconic here, Jabba’s true debut after the original film doesn’t disappoint, and no one could have made Sheeve Palpatine as hateful and manipulative as Ian McDiarmid. The movie itself may have been the weakest of the original trilogy, but Palpatine and Jabba go a long way towards elevating it substantially.

Stream Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on Disney+.

2) Dick Jones & Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop

To a degree, there are three villains in RoboCop if you include Miguel Ferrer’s Bob Morton. But, really, Morton’s big crime was being so ambitious he came across as a jerk. There is a true corporate villain, though, and that’s Ronny Cox’s Dick Jones, who is just as unfeeling and has committed actual crimes.

Well, technically, he hired Kurtwood Smith’s Clarence Boddicker to carry out those crimes, including Morton, but hiring a killer is a crime, nonetheless. Cox plays the good idea-deprived Jones to snakelike perfection just as Smith makes Boddicker one of cinema’s great slimy sociopaths.

Stream RoboCop on Prime Video.

1) Billy Loomis & Stu Macher in Scream

Still the two best killers in the Scream franchise, and that’s really saying something, Billy and Stu are a terrifying team. And, while they’ve carried out the same horrific crimes, what’s so great about them is how different they are.

Billy is the mastermind. He’s the one with a more personal motive here (though there’s certainly an argument to be made that Stu wanted revenge on Casey Becker nearly as much as Billy wanted to make Sidney Prescott suffer). Stu is the goofball who likes to have fun without thinking about consequences. Unfortunately for the film’s victims, his definition of fun is far different from that of a mentally healthy person.

Stream Scream on Paramount+.

What is your favorite example of a movie with more than one memorable villain? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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