*****Spoiler Alert!*****
Spoilers for pretty much every show/movie on this list.
10. Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor/Darth Sidious (Star Wars)
At ten is none other then the emperor himself, played by Ian McDiarmid in all his glory. So, the emperor goes around killing people, corrupting bad actors, destroying democracy, and just being like the worst guy ever. So, he's evil. What makes Ian please don't make me spell his last name one more time's performance as him so awesome is that he says all the lines perfectly, he looks a worm-eaten corpse with yellow eyes, he shoots lightning out of his hands, and he just has an absurdly menacing presence about him. And he thinks that he will always win, and he pretty much always does, except when, well you know. That makes him seem ridiculously evil, and for that he is put here. The only thing that prevents him from being higher up on the list the fact that he was destroyed because he actually expected Vader to kill his own son. Seriously Sidious? Are you that thick?
9. Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter)
The dark lord returns for a top ten list. Voldemort. He's big, he's bad, he's got no nose, he kills folks for fun, and he corrupts just about everyone he meets. Fiennes does a great job in his role, says his lines with an appropriate amount of menacing-ness, and really did convince me that he didn't have a nose. Plus, he tried to kill a baby! Who does that?!
8. John Simm as The Master (Doctor Who)
The first TV guy to make the list the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes. He's crazy, he murderous, and he can shoot lighting out of his hands (?). Yeah, I never really got that part. He used to be the Doctor's best friend, and then he started hearing the never ending drums inside of his head. So, when the Doctor catches up to him, the Master steal's the TARDIS and constructs an absurdly elaborate plan, the end results of which are world domination, mass destruction, time paradoxes, old man-ifying the Doctor, and a nuclear holocaust. And some other stuff, too. There's been a couple of actors to play the guy, but Simm convinces you that he is hearing the drums, that they've driven him stark raving phsyco, and that he is big and bad. And at the same time, he makes you believe that he's a tortured, conflicted soul, something not a lot of villains can pull off.
7. Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor (Smallville)
There's been more then one Luthor, but no one owns the role quite like Rosenbaum. What makes his role a bit scary is that he and Clark Kent, yeah they start out as best friends! I'm serious. And he does a great job of convincing you that he's a loyal friend and sort of good guy. But as the series progresses, Lex slowly, convincingly, and realistically devolves into a deranged sociopath who can and will kill to get what he wants, which is mostly to destroy the "alien threat", aka Clark. Some of that might be the result of getting possessed by General Zod (long story), but either way, Rosenbaum nails this role, and when he finally completes his transformation into full on supervillain, he makes you believe that this is the same guy Clark pulled out of the river ten years ago, and that this is what he's become.
6. Jeffery Dean Morgan as Azazel (Supernatural)
So, you've got Azazel. He's the demonic dictator of hell. It's his mission to create an army of kids with supernatural abilities by feeding them his blood. With them, he will free the devil from hell and wage war on earth. Azazel's played by a bunch of different actors, but the one that really got me was Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Why? Because the set up is that Sam and Dean, the heroes of the show, have just freed their father only to find that he's been possessed by the demon they've been trying to kill their whole lives! This is a good guy possessed by a bad guy! The chilling-ness of that is only enhanced by the menacing, truly demonic way the Morgan says his lines.
5. Ian McKellen as Magneto (X-Men)
Alright, time for another supervillain. Here's Magneto: Jew during the holocaust, he's been tortured, and he's a mutant who can manipulate metal with his mind. But, the world is anti-mutant, so, to avoid being persecuted again, he becomes a terrorist and goes around killing humans for mutant-rights. What makes this awesome is that McKellen is wicked charismatic. He'll make you feel sorry for him just until he's about to got waste some folks. And when Magneto wastes folks, he does with style. The bottom line is McKellen is charismatic, knows what buttons to push, makes you feel sorry for him, and he is weapon of mass destruction. That's potent combination.
4. Russel Crowe as Ben Wade (3:10 to Yuma)
What makes one of my favorite westerns ever tick is Crowe's role as thief and killer Ben Wade. I'm pretty big on charismatic villains, and this guy nails it. Seriously, the amount of charisma this guy has is almost hard to process, let alone describe. Let me put is this way: he's a killer, yet he's the smartest character in the whole movie, has all of the best lines, and you can't help feeling that he's somehow better than you. And like Magneto, when Ben Wade kills, he kills with style. You've Crowe doing all that and a perfect American accent. Just try and imagine that.
3. Andy Serkis as Gollum (Lord of the Rings)
You just kind of have to have Gollum. Picture the ultimate deranged lunatic. Now give him multiple personality disorder, a murderous obsession with a magic ring, make him 3 feet tall, crippled, and shriveled up, and have him talk strange. Now put him in scenario after scenario where he could potentially redeem himself, but he doesn't. Then make it that he was once a very good person. Now make it so the only way to kill him is by dropping him into a pit of lava. That's the Gollum in a nutshell. As far as how well this part was played, let me put it this way: the Oscar committee wanted to create a whole new category just so Serkis could win an Oscar (the character was CGI-generated, and that means he's not allowed to be nominated for best supporting actor, for some reason.)
2. Andrew Scott as Jim Morriarty (Sherlock)
Sherlock is one of the greatest shows ever, and at least part of that is because it boasts one of the greatest villains ever: Jim Morriarty. He's totally insane. He makes it his goal to not only kill Holmes, but destroy his legacy in the process. And to do that he constructs one of the most elaborate, maniacal, brilliant, and destructive plans ever. And that's after the guy kills like twenty people just to introduce himself to Holmes and Watson. Andrew Scott makes you believe that he is this deranged nutjob, and he makes the character compelling, complex, and alive to the point where almost every time he does something, you're just like "Oh God oh God oh Goddddddddddddddddddddddddd!" It's that awesome. The guy is even willing to do himself in just make sure that Sherlock has been destroyed. That's how insane he is.
1. Heath Ledger as the Joker (The Dark Knight)
Let's face it, this could only go to Ledger. There honestly isn't much need to explain it, really. This was not only the greatest performance as a villain ever, but also one of the greatest performances in movie history period. Let me tell you something you might not know: the first of "you wanna know how I got these scars", speeches, you know, the one where he actually says "why so serious". Yeah, that was improvised. Seriously. The cameras happened to be rolling, and Ledger lost his script or something, so he created one of the most haunting monologues ever on the spot. And it was so good that Christopher Nolan edited one of the scenes to contain the second monologue. Think about that. Y. And that is just one of the many reasons (along with the pencil trick) that Heath Ledger's Joker is the greatest villainous performance of all time.
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