Top Ten Villains

I've done a heroes list, and now, it's time to stop messing around. It's time for the heavy hitters. The guys you love to hate, if you're like me, you actually like these characters a lot just because of how incredible they are. Some of them are flat out overpowering and some of them are flat out messed up, but one thing is common for all of these villains: they gave their opponents a run for their money, and most of them nearly succeeded in their quest for power, vengeance, or just flat out chaos.

Now it is time to look into the eye of the enemy and see what it is I like about them so much, starting off, of course, with my

Honorable Mentions

Darth Vader: The most famous "Star Wars" character himself, Darth Vader is a force (ha) to be reckoned with. He seemed unstoppable in the first movie, and even more so with every victory he scored in the ensuing movie. He also had a chilling sound effect. When you heard the breathing, you knew: I'm dead.

Antelope from The Lion King: I mean, how much explaining do these villains need? Never mind, Scar, he was a weak leader. But these beasts, these, MONSTERS, they killed Mufasa. I can never forgive them for what they've done. And neither can you.

Gaston: I don't think I've every wanted to push a villain off a cliff more than I have with Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Just from the second I saw him, I just hated him. Everything about him is just dumb and arrogant but it makes for a decent villain. If I can hate you as much as I hate Gaston, you're doing some pretty mean stuff.

Galbatorix: The main villain from the "Inheritance Cycle" is one we actually saw very little of for most of the books. All we heard was that he was the most powerful Dragon Rider ever, that there were few who could surpass him. That was enough to scare us, and the fact that he knew the strongest word in the Ancient Language was even more terrifying when Eragon finally got to face him. The mystery around him alone made him a great villain.

Lord Frieza: There was always a sliver of hope that someone could defeat Frieza. Vegeta seemed to be able to defeat him! Nope! Then Piccolo! Nope. Okay, then for sure Goku! HE SURVIVED THE SPIRIT BOMB? And killed Krillin? Cruel. Just...cruel. Frieza was a ruthless, powerful tyrant that just would not stay down, making for such a scary and powerful villain.

Fire Lord Ozai: I consider Ozai more of a villain than Zuko because of the events that took place in Book 3, plus Azula just kind of went crazy. I would consider her a scarier villain if she didn't go crazy and if she didn't stop using lightning. But Fire Lord Ozai was just a menace. We never saw him, well, we did in flash backs, and when we did, he meant serious business. When Aang went to fight him on the eclipse, it was pretty nerve-wracking because we could finally see him in action.

The Joker: Nobody gives Batman and Robin, or heck Gotham in general, more headaches and problems than its very own Joker. He kills for fun and wants nothing more than to have an eternal battle with Batman. He only has one goal: to make Batman crack. To make him break his one rule. "Why so serious?"

The Major: Okay so picture the Joker, like how he loves chaos, and multiply that one-hundred fold and you've got a pretty picture of the Joker. Except this guy is a Nazi and he wants literally nothing more than war, even if his entire army gets wiped out. He goes to war because he gets a thrill from it. There's a scene where they are showing fighting below and he is acting like he is conducting a symphony. It's sickening and evil, and that is what makes him such a great villain for such a great show.

Now, some of these villains might be a little more evil than some of the ones on the list below, but, keep in mind, this is my preference. One of these villains isn't entirely evil at all, but, he is still a villain, yet a compelling one at that. So, let's get into it!

10. Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan--Dragon Ball Z

There was nobody stronger than Broly for the longest time. Sadly, he was only featured in two of the Dragon Ball Z movies, but, the impact he had on both is incredible.

In the first movie, he prove the better of the four Super Saiyans and Piccolo all without being relatively injured. Goku fired an extremely Kame-hame-ha wave that Broly literally just walks through like if a dust-ball were thrown at him instead. It was absolutely horrifying. He's defeated by a deus ex machina.

In the second movie he is in, he loses to another deus ex machina, of course. But even a Gohan who is far stronger than he was in their first encounter is no match for the Legendary Super Saiyan. Even in death Goku has a tough time defeating Broly with Gohan and Goten.

Broly is such a great villain not necessarily because he is evil, but because of how incredibly strong he is. This guy could break a planet in half probably by looking at it. He was powerful and it was horrifying. There was absolutely nothing the Z-Warriors could do against him that could affect him. Not only that, but when in the show they talked about a "legendary Super Saiyan," I always thought that they meant just a Super Saiyan re-emerging. Then I realized they meant a literal legend, and that legend was Broly. And he lived up to it immensely, for sure.

9. Darth Maul

If the original trilogy of "Star Wars" was a little dry on light-saber action, then Darth Maul had us covered with his double-sided saber. That thing was legit.

Now hold up, why is Darth Vader below Darth Maul?

The prequel trilogy. Simple as that. They added to much to a character, to be honest.

Why's Darth Maul so cool, then? Because we know barely anything about him. Okay, well, with the addition of the TV series, we know a little more, but I have yet to watch the Darth Maul stuff. So I speak strictly for Episode I, here, then.

We know literally nothing about Darth Maul except that he is a Sith. That's it. His appearance alone spat that at us: he has red and black on his face and has horns. What more does a bad guy really need? Nothing.

To be honest, Darth Maul is on this list simply because of his light-saber abilities. He proved to be the better of Qui-Gon Jin and not so much Obi-Wan, but, the movie had to wrap up somehow, right? To me it just seemed that Darth Maul was the best fighter that "Star Wars" has seen so far. All the flips and kicks and cool Force tricks he had were something of a marvel.

Plus, who could forget how he greets the renegade Republic forces on Naboo? Everyone is headed for the room, they're gonna take the palace. Then the doors open, "Duel of the Fates" starts playing, and there stands Darth Maul. And in that moment, you knew, you just knew: it's gonna go down and it's gonna be glorious.

Darth Maul, you were around for one movie and a TV show, but you're still the best fighter in "Star Wars" in my opinion.

8. Roth Ursuul--Way of Shadows

Roth, well, I just really did not like him because of what he did to both Azoth and Durzo. Not so much what he did to Kylar, because, well, Kylar and Roth really did not have much to do with each other until the very end.

Just the way that he made Durzo act, er, the way that Durzo acted around him. Durzo would bow to him, he would concede to his wishes. You've gotta understand that this is Durzo Blint here, people, the immortal guy, bowing down and listening to some punk kid. Granted, the reasons for that are explained, but in the moment, you just can't help but hate Roth.

He eventually pits master and apprentice against each other, too, which I really did not like having to see.

It's his stupid Khalidoran arrogance and attitude that I hate, most, though, but it ultimately makes him a better villain. He knows that Durzo has to listen to him, he knows that he can overpower Azoth through his friends like Jarl and Doll Girl. Roth becomes the unknown crux of the whole book right before our eyes without us even seeing it happen until we reflect and realize almost everything that happened was of his hands and his planning. Well, him and the Godking. Still, though.

I prefer him over the Godking, too, because the Godking was a little too perfect and the twist at who Roth's true identity was I did not see coming at all. Points for that!

7. Joffrey Lannister--Game of Thrones

I just...okay, here's how it is: every time I see Joffrey on screen, I just get filled with this crazy amount of anger because he just sucks. I just hate him. Everything about him. And he has done literally nothing good the entire run of the show. Literally, you cannot name one good thing he has done. He ran away from the Battle on the Blackwater and got credit for it. Like, come on guys!

He has killed a whole lot of people and has gotten in trouble for not a single one of those people. Two of them were by his own hands, a third, a very important one, by his own hands, mind you. It's almost as if Joffrey feels no remorse for anything.

That doesn't mean he's a bad character, no, he's a great character actually. If I can hate him so much to the  point of maddening anger, the character is doing a wonderful job as a villain. And it's not like he has no emotions besides just being mean, no, we see him being scared sometimes. He's a brat when things don't go his way.

Basically, Joffrey is a bratty, spoiled teenager and he is the king of seven Kingdoms. That kind of villain. As such, he deserves a spot on the list.

6. Hatham Kenway--Assassin's Creed 

Remember how I said there would be a villain on this list that doesn't really make much sense being on here because he really isn't much of a villain? Well, here it is.

Hatham is Connor's father and Edward's son. Quite the family. Unlike both of them, though, he is a Templar, which is a twist at the beginning of the game that had me as confused as Desmond was. It's like they knew up at Ubisoft that we would be confused!

Hatham is, for the most part of the game, not really seen until Sequences 8 and 9, where you're basically always with Hatham. But, the whole time you're wondering, is Hatham a bad guy? Ultimately, he is, as he tries to kill Connor after the Assassin aids in the climactic Battle of Yorktown.

Still, though, I thought there was a chance for redemption, as did Connor. Hatham helps Connor out through much of the eighth and ninth sequences to the point where the line between friend and foe becomes unclear. General Washington even appears as an enemy thanks to Hatham, though we never fully believe that Charles Lee could be a good guy. Mostly because of the mustache...or was that just me?

Plus, Hatham falls in love, something not many villains have done in the series so far. That was weird. And he sort of kind of cares for Connor throughout much of the game. Despite trying to kill him...twice...he works with him and saves him at certain parts of the game, even standing up for him and teaching him a thing or two in front of the enemy.

This confusion and blur is what puts Hatham on the list. We see a villain with great depth and one that really confuses the player. His last speech really cements his place for me, too, where he says he is proud of Connor, but knows he should have killed him when he had the chance. It's pretty profound after playing through the whole game. Hatham, you might be evil, but, I just don't know.

Connor wasn't sure if he wanted to kill his father, and really, neither was I.

5. Hans--Disney's Frozen

I've had only a few moments while watching a movie where I'll want to jump out of my seat and hurt a character, or when I'll jump out of it in shock. Kind of like in The Dark Knight Rises when Bane broke Batman. But this, this was something else.

I trusted Hans. He would save Anna, yeah, definitely! Kristoff, he would somehow get together with Elsa or something weird like that. Just save Anna!

What does he do? What does he do in return?! Tell Anna no one loves her and then pretty much kills her by putting out the only thing keeping her warm and then telling everyone she's dead and goes to kill Elsa!

That ruthless, heartless....monster.

Hans was the surprise villain of the film and instantly earned a spot this high on the list because of it. Once we learned he was evil, he really became evil, to the extent where he wanted to basically kill everyone, even if they were helpless and confused. Jerk.

He was a perfect villain for the movie, though, because he was the prince that was supposed to save the day, the prince-charming, if you will. And he turned into the bad guy, which is super unorthodox for Disney to pull off. Luckily it worked and I really just hate Hans because of it.

Sadly, he didn't get killed off, but I'm hoping for a sequel where he does die. Like Gaston. Or Scar. Classic.

4. Venom--Spiderman lore

The two seconds of screen-time Venom got in Spider-Man 3 were the best part of the movie. Okay, I made note of that movie, now we can move on.

Out of all the comic-book villains out there between DC and Marvel, Venom has always been a mainstay favorite of mine, but I never really realized he was my favorite until I found out that he was absent from the standard edition of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I was super mad that he was not featured in it, and was instead in the Gold Edition or whatever.

For a long time, actually, Doctor Doom was my favorite comic-book villain, or so I thought. I only thought that because of his powers, but when I saw more episodes of Spider-Man the Animated Series, I quickly realized that Venom was indeed my favorite. Because, simply put, he was unbeatable. The only way they eliminated Venom was to send him to another dimension with Carnage, who is definitely awesome as well.

Some have argued that Carnage and Venom are almost the same. I had a small argument with someone over that in Target once, over who was better: Venom or Carnage. Ultimately, Carnage is the stronger villain, but, Venom is the stronger character thanks to the fact that he has a host body, whether it be Eddie Brock, Peter Parker, or even Flash Thompson.

This adds layers to a psychotic killer, I mean character, that sets him apart from Carnage, who is just a psychotic killer. The fact that there is a human beneath the symbiote means that Venom can actually have development and thought, even when there is none. You have to remember, there is always someone who is Venom, Venom isn't just a thing, he is a person...ish. Sorta, you get what I mean.

Though it is this ruthlessness that separates Venom from several other villains. He doesn't want to just hurt Spider-Man, he wants to kill Spider-Man and everyone he loves. And when he comes across other heroes, he actually treats them the same way. They have got to go, and Venom always puts up a tough fight.

3. Lord Voldemort--"Harry Potter" series

Hey, look at that, Harry Potter was number 3 on my hero's list. They really are similar...

Lord Voldemort is sort of like Galbatorix and the Fire Lord in that he was so hyped and apparently so evil that he could not be stopped. What separates Voldemort that he lived up to the hype and lasted much longer than either of those two characters did because of ingenious planning on the part of his minions. The ingenious planning, of course, came through fear of the Dark Lord, which is exactly why Voldemort is so high up, because so many people feared him.

When he's first sort of mentioned in the Leaky Cauldron, everyone hushes. And in every instance hence when he is mentioned, it is like that. If someone is so evil that you have to acknowledge someone saying it, then you know the guy is bad. Heck, even his name was like a swear word. But, just how bad was he?

Well, the very first thing he does upon getting life back is kill someone. So that happens.

Then, we find out that he never even freaking died when his curse rebounded, and then, we find out later that he's essentially immortal. That is also Voldemort's flaw, in a way, the Horcruxes, but it is also a very intelligent plan to scatter one's soul. I never would've thought of doing that.

Still, though, it was like when Voldemort was around, you knew that someone was gonna be dead. Whether it be Cedric, Sirius, or pretty much half of the characters in The Deathly Hallows, someone was going to be dead with Voldemort around. He struck fear in the eyes of basically everyone, not so much Harry because Harry knew things, and was powerful to back up that fear. He was so freaking strong, it's incredible.

The only reason Voldemort doesn't win is because of stupid Malfoy, or, basically a wand technicality. Talk about a cop-out. Voldemort could have wiped out any of the other wizards or witches in the area if he wanted to. He summoned a freaking Basilisk, remember that? And he was still dead at that point.

Voldemort was able to raise an army even through death, and in life he could go into Harry's mind. Um, hello, that's awesome, mind-reading powers would be quite convenient sometimes.

Plus, if you had to have the Albus Dumbledore worried and making plans around you, then you knew that you were doing something right. Or...wrong. Whichever. He also make Dumbledore draw in a duel, which is no small feat because Dumbledore is the Yoda of the series, whereas Voldemort is the Darth Sidious, only, more fear and evil sorta.

Look, he too down the Ministry of Magic pretty much by just being alive again, that speaks for itself.

2. Amon--The Legend of Korra

I hope you're catching a trend of mysterious villains here, because this next one is the cream of the crop. He was a new villain on a new show with a power only ever seen once--blood bending. He wore a mask and was a master at martial arts. This man was Amon, leader of the Equalists, and he was incredibly terrifying.

I just didn't know what to think of him whenever he was on screen. He had no equal, he was stronger than everyone for no reason for the longest time. There wasn't a single person that could even touch him, literally. He was so darn fast and all of his moves just flowed so well, it was like watching a true martial artist. For a long time, I admired him for not having any bending powers, just being able to fight and take on the Avatar and her friends was awesome.

Then he got blood-bending, and was far more terrifying, as there was  no way, we'd seen, to stop a blood-bender. There was so mystery behind his powers, too, since blood-bending could only occur until the full moon and he would do it whenever he wanted to. He was a water bender, but, where was he from?

Worst of all, though, was that mask, hiding a face that I kept trying to guess who it was. Nobody knew who it was that beneath that face. I thought maybe it was someone from the original show, then I thought it was someone who was from the flashbacks we kept seeing, but it turns out it was neither of those characters. Cool, it was really cool to see how wrong I was.

I'm sad that he has had so few episodes to really show himself before the show axed him in a rushed manner. I thought he had such a great story of humble, kind of twisted, beginnings. It kind of lessened the character for me, since I liked not knowing anything about him, but, ultimately, not a whole lot was taken away from him for me. There were still several haunting images of him.

Most of them were just him taking down Republic City guards like they were nothing. Another was when his brother used blood-bending on him, and it really seemed like his brother was going to get the better of him, but then Amon just starts walking normally, like nothing is happening to him. Now, understand, blood-bending is supposed to be extremely painful for whoever it is being performed on. And here is Amon, just walking through it like nothing.

Wow. Who is this guy, again?

I just found that the mystery behind his powers was extremely intriguing, as well as the mystery of who he was. The final battles in the last two episodes of season one were very entertaining as Amon seeming won until Korra magically learned air-bending.

Oh, how could I forget some of his scariest features? He could take away a person's bending by doing the same energy technique as Aang did in the closing episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. He sucked away all of the main character's bending, including Korra's, which was simply incredible. So for a few minutes, before the show realized the good guy had to win, Amon won. The Equalists had taken over Republic City and defeated the Avatar.

So, yeah, a villain who had the only power to stop the hero, on top of a unique set of bending skill as well as the best martial arts shown on the series so far, definitely deserves to be high up on the list. And he would be number one, if there wasn't one other creature above him.

The monster of Ginger Town. The creature who sought nothing but perfect. The being who, at one point, had the power to wipe clean the entire Solar System. He has the energy of Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks, Tien, Krillin, King Cold and even Frieza. And he is the creature known only as...

1. Cell--Dragon Ball Z

Whether he be Imperfect, Semi-Perfect, Perfect Form, or Perfect, Cell is without a doubt my favorite all-time villain from any medium of entertainment. Why?

Because he was unstoppable. Goku said it himself, he couldn't defeat him. If Goku couldn't beat Cell, then who the heck could? We'd already seen Trunks and Vegeta fail epically!

But, we'll get to power when we get to power. For now, let's talk about his theme song and it is quite possibly the greatest theme song for any one character ever. Cell's theme only plays when he is around and he is about to do something bad. Like about to fight and kill someone, or about to create the ring for Cell Games. Or Cell just being Cell, it's perfect for that. I love it, and it goes with the character so well.

The song doesn't sound like it could be for a bad guy, it fit perfectly for Vegeta, actually. But that's what makes it work. Cell knows he is pure evil, like there isn't a shred of good in this guy. Cell's evil comes from the fact that he think he has no equal, that the only person he can threaten him is still lower than him and he knows it. It also comes a bit from his arrogance but this arrogance that majorly works in his favor because he backs up so much of his smack talk, it is crazy.

Cell would be such a punk if he weren't so strong and so cool. He mocks all of the Z-Warriors so much and then creams them so easily. He pushes Gohan to his edge just to see what his true potential is, and nearly kills all of Gohan's allies in the process to see him get there. That's pretty bad.

He's also an android, making his evil all the more potent. He was created with one purpose: to achieve his perfect form. Thus, when the directive is complete, Cell develops a bit of a God complex where he wants to show this form off to the rest of the universe and by that I mean he wants to eliminate everything else in the universe that can threaten his perfection.

We'd also never seen a villain like Cell before, who had everyone's techniques mastered so quickly. This was shown when Cell first revealed himself in Ginger Town to Piccolo, showing off a Kame-hame-ha. That was Goku's move, nobody else could use that! But Cell rocked it, why? Because he can, because he is awesome. Sadly, his other two forms were a little on the weak side, but it was interesting to see his personality change with each form. In his Imperfect form he would kill humans to get what he needed, in his Semi-Perfect form he was honed in on Android 18, and in his Perfect form, well, there was just no stopping him.

Even worse was that there really was no stopping him. Granted Super Saiyan 2 Teen Gohan did seemingly defeat him, but, when Cell went down, he took Goku with him. And then returned and proceeded to kill Trunks. What the heck bro?!

Cell just couldn't die. No matter how many times it looked like Vegeta killed him, Cell always came out without a scratch. It actually took two episodes for him to die at the hands of Gohan, like, not even fighting, in the Kame-hame-ha wave struggle they had (which was just epic).

Man, Cell was so cool that I remember talking to some of my friends about how awesome he was in school, mostly I recall talking about the fight between him and Gohan. It was important stuff because like I said, we'd never seen anything like Cell before. Cell was science at its best and worst, it was evil at its best and worst.

Cell was perfect. And that makes him my favorite villain of all-time.