Cruella de Vil, Voldemort and the 25 greatest movie villains of all-time

2. The Joker

There have been many Jokers over the year, and while each of them has given something unique to this villain, there is one that reigns supreme as the ultimate villain of the bunch.

In The Dark Knight, we were introduced to a Joker played by Heath Ledger that truly embodied the ultimate movie villain. Here was a bad guy who was bone-chillingly good at being bad. And it wasn’t because he could casually slit someone’s throat or shoot someone without even a lick or remorse.

What makes the Joker of The Dark Knight so great as a villain is the fact that he was truly an unpredictable character. You simply never knew what he would do next. And the fact that he seemed unbeatable added to that unpredictability.

It also doesn’t matter what you knew about the Joker going into the movie, as this version of the character made it hard for you to even connect with on an emotional level. Here was a man who barely even mentions a motive, let alone offers one up for dissection.

Here is a character who seemed to appear out of nowhere. He barely has any back story, and yet he terrorizes the people of Gotham with an ease that makes it seem like he has been in the shadows all along.

Of all the movie villains to ever grace the big screen, Ledger’s Joker might just be the greatest. And it all comes down to how truly unpredictable he was and how maniacal he could be.