The 10 Best Star Trek Villains of All Time, Ranked

Star Trek‘s themes of peace, harmony, and curiosity while exploring the universe require the Enterprise and other crews to face off with villains that stand for none of these things. Without the evil characters that try to destroy these values, the franchise would be extremely boring.

Villains in the Star Trek universe often are stand-ins for the horrors of such things as forced assimilation, pursuing power for its own sake, and attempting to oppress or erase those believed to be inferior. The best villains don’t embody these ideas in a heavy-handed manner; instead, villains like Q and General Chang are entertaining in their own right, while others such as the Borg are simply terrifying.

10) Gul Dukat

Deep Space Nine often dealt with Gul Dukat, who was one of the best sci-fi villains in television history. The Cardassian warrior was the quintessential fascist dictator, having overseen the brutal oppression of the Bajorans while still being as charming as he is cunning to the outside world. However, the popularity of this villain is based on his complexity.

Dukat was far from a one-note dictatorial character. Over the course of the series, he takes on many roles, eventually becoming a religious cult leader, and he also has a complicated relationship with his daughter. These aspects of his character keep him fresh and interesting throughout Deep Space Nine‘s run.

9) Kai Winn Adami

Kai Winn Adamai is one of Sisko’s worst enemies in Deep Space Nine. She is a Bajoran religious leader, which should have made her a natural ally of Sisko against Gul Dakat, but unfortunately, she is more interested in power than in the tenets of her faith and thus allies with the dictator who wants to oppress her people.

Adamai’s power-hungry ways eventually lead to her demise, but not before she has caused a lot of trouble. Additionally, she is played by Louise Fletcher, best known as Nurse Rached in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Fletcher’s portrayal adds to the sense of horror with this villain.

8) General Chang

General Chang was one of the most entertaining Klingon villains. Appearing in Star Trek VI, Chang’s main goal was to derail peace talks between the Federation and the Klingons, which he did by accusing Kirk and McCoy of assassination after an attack on the peace conference and manipulating the trial to secure a conviction.

Chang is as charming as he is evil, wearing an eye patch and quoting Shakespeare whenever he feels like it, which is quite often. This allows him to come off as less of a threat than he is, and is one of the ways that he demonstrates that he is a master manipulator.

7) Lore

Lore is a fascinating villain who plays on the evil twin trope — with the twist, of course, that he and Data are both androids and thus are not twins in the conventional sense. Played by Brent Spiner, Lore was an evil android who physically resembled Data and had been deactivated because of his malevolence.

The most interesting thing about Lore is that he was designed to be extremely emotional, while Data is programmed to be logical. Thus, Lore’s existence is a cautionary tale about the danger of unchecked emotion. Additionally, Lore is the perfect foil for Data, as he is built from the same general model but is his polar opposite.

6) Nero

Nero is a Romulan miner from the 24th century whose actions create an entire alternate timeline, demonstrating the power of his villainy. Like all strong Star Trek villains, Nero has good reasons for his evil actions: he blames Spock for failing to save his planet from destruction and therefore travels back in time to destroy the Federation.

While in one sense, Nero’s plans fail, his attack on the Kelvin creates an alternative universe that stems from that attack. This storyline cements Nero as an extremely powerful, time-travelling villain.

5)  The Founders

The Founders were originally a peaceful race of shapeshifters, but had to create the Dominion to protect themselves after the solid-shape races they encountered on other planets feared and attacked them. Their backstory is a chilling warning — their own lack of acceptance led them to not be able to accept others and to believe they had to overpower solid-shape beings for their own protection.

As a result, the Founders are cold, strategic, and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Deep Space Nine‘s Odo’s status as one of the Founders who doesn’t remember it is a fascinating arc, as he is initially considered a traitor to them and his later attempts to reform the Dominion are met with extreme resistance.

4) The Borg Queen

While the Borg itself is one of Star Trek’s most powerful villains, the Borg Queen deserves her own category separate from the rest of the Borg. She is its leader and, as such, is responsible for coordinating Borg drones.

One of the scariest things about the Borg Queen is that she is unkillable. Although Picard and Data seem to destroy her in First Contact, the Collective regenerates her. It is still a strong strategy to attack her, as the Borg Collective is weakened when she is absent, but it is unrealistic and dangerous to expect to be able to eliminate her permanently.

3) Khan Noonien Singh

Singh is one of the few characters from The Original Series to get a movie sequel dedicated to his further trouble-making. He is one of the more terrifying villains, as he is a genetically engineered superhuman whose goal is to eliminate those whom he believes have inferior genes. 

As such, he is hard to defeat physically. He also is able to use charisma and manipulation to get his way — the Enterprise‘s problems wth him began when they unfroze him and treated him as a guest, and because he is so hard to kill, he is often exiled, frozen, or otherwise neutralized in ways that allow him to regain power and terrorize others again later.

2)  Q

Qs are more mischievous than evil, which makes them (and John De Lancie’s most famous example) one of the most entertaining villains in Star Trek history, but there is no doubt they are malevolent. He was an immortal with godlike powers, similar to Doctor Who’s Pantheon, which made him a huge problem for Picard — the Enterprise could never fully get rid of him.

Q’s pranks and attempts to experiment with the universe and its inhabitants caused chaos, but the best thing about him was that Picard didn’t always hate him. Sometimes they had a friendly relationship, though more often Picard had to stop Q from causing trouble while realizing that any victory he scored over Q would be temporary at best.

1) The Borg Collective

The Borg Collective is arguably Star Trek‘s scariest villain, and though they are innumerable, part of their compelling appeal is that they are a single entity. It is the ultimate source of forced assimilation and conformity, seeking to add to its hive mind by trapping those who do not want to be part of the Borg and stripping them of their individuality.

The Borg operates on various planets, kidnapping individuals and using nanoprobes and cybernetic implants to turn them into part of the collective. The Borg’s ability to identify, capture, and destroy the will of those with advanced knowledge and technology makes it especially scary.

Who do you think is the best Star Trek villain of all time? Leave a comment and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum.

8 Great Star Trek Villains Nobody Talks About