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

1. Darth Vader

Of all the villains to grace our movie screens, Darth Vader might be one of the most complex. Over the course of multiple movies, books, TV shows, basically anything you can imagine, we have learned more and more about this character.

And while Vader is certainly a villain, he is also sympathetic in many ways. Perhaps that is why he is one of the greatest villains of all time, the fact that we can understand some of his motivations.

The thing about Darth Vader that makes him truly villainous is his ability to destroy anything and anyone in his path in an effort for ultimate and total domination of a galaxy. He is ruthless, he is essentially a killing machine. And yet, there is so much more to him than what makes him a bad guy.

He has a story that is tragic and leads him on his dark path. And it is because of the tragedies of his past that his villainy is that much more intense. Of course, the fact that he is also willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his own son makes him the kind of bad guy you wish could have been redeemed.

However, it is hard to redeem someone for truly going to the dark side and destroying an empire. After all, we all suffer losses, and most of us don’t go all evil and murderous.

Ultimately, as one of the most iconic villains of all time, it simply makes sense for Darth Vader to be the top dog when it comes to bad guys. And in this case, the fact that he was also a sympathetic character in some instances makes his villainy all the more impressive.

There have been many movie villains throughout the history of cinema. And while it can be hard to rank them, we think these 25 are some of the greatest to ever grace our screen for any number of reasons.