Movies What are the best film antagonists ever?

[Nathan LaMontagne]

......I mean he did bite a cop's face off before subjecting his partner to a 'blood eagle'.

That was the wrong thing to do, imo.

Oh, he's beyond evil, I'm saying antagonist in the literary sense.

I mean fucking Humbert Humbert in Lolita... is technically a protagonist in regards to the book.

 

[LEWIS540]

Oh, he's beyond evil, I'm saying antagonist in the literary sense.

I mean fucking Humbert Humbert in Lolita... is technically a protagonist in regards to the book.

Yup.

Not the adversary of the protagonist. I was being facetious.

 

[Osculater]

Fritz Von Erich (The Iron Claw)

 

[haysus31]

Forgot about the last of the Mohicans villian. Great character. Great film. I really should check out the filming locations.

 

[Ima5starman]

 

[mixmastermo]

The supernatural force in The Bird Box

honorary mention to the alien in the original Alien (not its sequels, they became cans after the first film)

 

[the ambush]

King Edward / Longshanks from Braveheart

 

[Ebay]

Sharlto Copley as Agent Kruger in Elysium (underrated cyberpunk action flic that doesn't get enough credit)

 

[BlankaPresident]

 

[PBAC]

I liked Gary Oldman in Leon. Just the fact that he could be any administrative agent and it displays the amount of damage one bad egg can do.

 

[CyberRubberDuck]

I've decided to break them into the following categories:

(1) Human
(2) Humanoid
(3) Other

Note that 'human' is just a vanilla human. A human with superpowers, or possessed by a demon, or a werewolf or anything else puts them in Category Two. If it's something that shifts between humanoid and non-humanoid forms, like Pennywise or the T1000 I would weigh it up. Is its base form humanoid? T1000 yes so Category Two, Pennywise no so Category Three. Please respect the categories or we won't be comparing like with like. My choices:


Human: Hannibal Lecter by Anthony Hopkins

Completely frightening, malevolent and disturbing, then he escapes!


Humanoid: Dracula by Gary Oldman

Dracula has been portrayed on screen so many times and of course I haven't seem them all. Maybe some will say Christopher Lee was better. Maybe he was but for me it's Gary Oldman. Dracula is such a great character, Stoker caught lightning in a bottle with that novel. He's so creepy and unsettling and it seems like his opponents have no chance.

Interesting that both Lecter and Dracula are aristocrats. In fact Clarice Starling is clearly out of her depth dealing with Lecter as well.


Other: Azazel in 'Fallen' (1998)

I bet you weren't expecting this one! Azazel is a disembodied fallen angel that possesses people and moves between them at will (with a few exceptions), usually by making the person he's possessed touch the person he wants to jump into. You can't actually see Azazel but the way the various actors portray him is chilling and in the end, like Lecter, he escapes! Another powerful and unsettling supernatural enemy that fills you with dread and despair. I find supernatural things much scarier than a common or garden monster.

Not a film as such, but for me it's got to be Homelander.
Such a horrible bastard but played so well. When they finally kill him off, it will be a sad day for The Boys.
Assuming they don't go the same way as the series 'Heroes' went with Sylar.

 

[Papasmurf45619]

I liked Gary Oldman in Leon. Just the fact that he could be any administrative agent and it displays the amount of damage one bad egg can do.

Obligatory

 

[Osculater]

Spoiler

Lady Jessica

Dune 2