Famous Movie Villains of All Time

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Villain’ and ‘antagonist’ are the literary terms which very often are treated as synonymous. They are, however, differentiated from one another in that an antagonist is in general opposition to the protagonist or hero. It may be anything that hinders the heroic deeds. Contrariwise, a villain is a specific bad guy or culprit that fights the hero face to face and is normally a human being. A few exceptions do exist as in the case of Jaws and The Birds in which the shark and birds respectively play the role of the villain. ‘Antagonist’ is a broad spectrum that entails villains. All villains belong to antagonists but not all antagonists are

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger-The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator
Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator

Created by JamesCameron and GaleAnneHurd, the original movie The Terminator occupied rank #22 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villians. Arnold Schwarzenegger played the villain’s role. The Terminator was also known as T-800 and T-101 referring to the fictional characters. The movie employed the characteristic ‘Cyborg’ which is a combined biological and mechanical or computerized character. The villain is a bulletproof, determined assassin, dedicated to achieving its goals at all costs without any fear or hindrance. The character ‘Terminator’ first appeared in the movie TheTerminator directed by James Cameron. In the first movie, there was only one ‘Cyborg’ played by Schwarzenegger. Other Terminators are Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines.

2. Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter
Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal is an American psychological thriller movie directed by Ridely Scott. In February 2001, it broke box office records in Canada, Australia, America, and England. The movie is adapted from the Thomas Harris novel. Hannibal followed ten years after the 1991 Academy Award winning movie The Silence of The Lambs. Anthony Hopkins played his most notorious role as the serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Verger is a wealthy child molester disfigured and paralyzed by Lecter. Verger intends to kill Lecter. She tries but, being overpowered by Lecter, handcuffs him to her wrist. Lecter cuts off his left hand and escapes. Lecter is so horrid that he is shown removing the top of Krendler’s skull and cooking and feeding on Krendler’s own brain.

3. Christopher Lee-Dracula     

Christopher Lee as Dracula
Christopher Lee as Dracula

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was born in Belgravia, London, England on May 27, 1922. He is the villain ‘Count Dracula’ in the British horror film the Horror of Dracula. The villain is a blood-sucking vampire. The movie production was started with an investment of
£81,000 on November 17, 1958. New special effects were used. In one shot, Dracula was shown peeling off his skin that required special techniques. Christopher Lee is also known for his roles in The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Horror of Dracula was the sequel of Bram Stoker’s novel ‘Dracula.’

4. Ralph Fiennes; Lord Voldemort-Harry Potter

Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort
Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born on December 22, 1962. He is primarily known as the interpreter of Shakespeare and was twice nominated for the Academy Award. However, his highest profile role is as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, which is the most popular movie of the current times, and Lord Voldemort is its most famous villain. AOL Moviefone has enlisted him as the number one movie villain of all time. The role was played by Ralph Fiennes. He Who Must Not Be Named is the strongest black wizard who plans to enslave all the muggles. Lord Voldemort is prophesized to conquer the Dark Lord and no wizard dares speak his name. They mostly call him as ‘You Know Who.’

5. Betty Lou Gerson-Cruella De Vil

Betty Lou Gerson-Cruella De Vil
Betty Lou Gerson-Cruella De Vil

Betty Lou Gerson was born on April 20, 1914. She was an American actress known for her outstanding roles in film, television, and radio. She is, however, famous for her voice of Cruella De Vil, the villain of Disney’s animated film 101 Dalmatians. Her name was derived from Cruella-cruel and Vil-villain. The very name proclaims the villainy of the antagonist. In the original story, Cruella is the pampered last heiress of a prosperous family obsessed with soft furs. As a notorious student, she was expelled from school for drinking ink. Disney’s 1961 film 101 Dalmatians owes a lot to the voice actress in the film. Cruella kidnaps the Dalmatians for their fur. Cruella De Vil occupied the 39th ranking on AFI’s list of 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains.

6. Bruce; the Shark-in Jaws       

 

Bruce; the Shark-in Jaws
Bruce; the Shark-in Jaws

                                                                   

The horror movie Jaws is a 124 minutes released on June 20, 1975. On AFI’s 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains it ranks #18. It is perhaps the only movie from the top-ranking movies in which no human being played the role of the villain. The famous villain in this movie was a shark. The story revolves around the killings by a shark, first of a swimmer, then a dog, followed by another swimmer. Jaws photography was conducted at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts to be the first movie to be photographed with a film set at sea instead of a tank. With a narrow escape in an encounter with a live shark, the idea was to create three poly models named ‘Bruce’ to be used instead of the live sharks. So it was Bruce the villain shark in the famous movie Jaws.

7. Stephen Lang-Colonel Miles Quaritch

Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch
Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch

Stephen Lang was born on July 11, 1952. He is a famous American actor and played the role of the villain Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar; the famous box office hit of 2009. Avatar is a science fiction movie written and directed by James Cameron. The movie is about human beings searching for a precious mineral ‘Unobtanium’ found on a habitable moon. Stephen Lang achieved a Saturn Award and was nominated for MTV’s Movie Award for Best Villain.

8. The Birds-Birds

The Birds
The Birds

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, TheBirds is a horror movie appearing in 1963 as a sequel of the short story ‘The Birds’ by Daphne du Maurier. The story is about birds like seagulls and sparrows attacking human beings, and the birds themselves play the role of villain in this movie. A Lovebird is another bird mentioned in this movie. The cause or motive of The Birds villainous role is unknown and creates suspense throughout.

9. Crispin Glover-Grendel in Beowulf     

 

Crispin Glover as Grendel
Crispin Glover as Grendel

                                                                           

Crispin Hellion Glover was born on April 20, 1964.  He is an ambidextrous and multifaceted person being a film actor, recording artist, publisher, screenwriter and author of many books. He played the villain’s role as ‘Grendel’ in the movie Beowulf in 2007. Written after the classic Poem ‘Beowulf,’ the hero is Beowulf (Ray Winston) who kills the monster Grendel (villain-Crispin Glover) in response to the call of the king’s wife.

10. Norman Osborn-the Green Goblin     

 

Norman Osborn-The Green Goblin
Norman Osborn-The Green Goblin

                                                                       

Popularly known as Goblin Lord or Iron Patriot, Norman Virgil Osborn played the villain’s role in the famous movie Spiderman. He is considered the most persistent enemy of Spiderman who, having consumed some medicine, had acquired superhuman powers and wanted to terrorize New York as well as wanted to overcome Spiderman for  his own self-realization.

Conclusion:

It is sometimes very perplexing for us to ponder and try to justify the need for the creation of evil. Why, after all, was evil created? An answer to the question may be that there is no drama without both the hero and the villain. Life, too, is a drama, and Good and Evil personified play their roles till we see the ultimate face to face. Had there been no darkness, we would not have appreciated the beauty of light. To conclude, every ordeal in life should be taken as a dark background for light in waiting to fall upon it because there is light at the end of the every tunnel and every cloud has a silver lining. Testing times are lessons of hope.

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