5 Great Villain Performances that Will Stay with Me Forever

Even though I'm not a fan of Hollywood that much, I have to admit that we were given incredible performances over the years. While I do love me a good hero, I prefer villains a bit more, because it truly takes a great actor to pull off someone so evil and vile that will leave audiences either pissed off or amazed. 

I love it when I can't see the actor during a great performance. 

Even though I know that they are being played by an actor, sometimes, it's impossible to search for the actor behind the character. 

It both scares and amazes me, and I have to give props to these actors, for giving out performances that I will never forget. 

5. Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) Game of Thrones

Never have I ever hated a villain this strongly in a television show. I have seen my fair share of villains that really angered me, but Cersei Lannister was a whole different level. She was a spiteful human being, that truly never appreciated or gave a single damn about anyone in her life. She treated everyone like complete trash, including her own family. 

I mean, sure, she went crazy once her three children had all died, but compared to her two brothers, she continued to go down the path of evil instead of good. She became more like her father, choosing to be a tyrant, torturing her enemies, and literally killing anyone who stood in her way of power. She was even selfish enough to not offer help to Jon Snow and his allies, when she learned of the Night King's arrival. 

I wanted her dead throughout the entire show, but damn, her performance was amazing, and I truly could not picture anyone else who could have pulled off such a despicable character.

4. Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz) Inglourious Basterds

This performance is one of the few that gets me so mad whenever I think of this character. And it happens to be in my favorite Quentin Tarantino film ever made too. Hans Landa is such an evil piece of shit. His introduction felt perfect in the beginning of the film, because we truly got a glimpse into how evil this bastard was. He was a Nazi general, who appeared to enjoy hurting others, and it didn't help that he was vastly intelligent. 

What also really scared me is that we never saw what he did to the people he killed or tortured. His calm demeanor was enough for me to know that he was a total danger to anyone who crossed his path, and I was constantly frustrated during the film, wondering how he was going to get killed. 

I felt the highest satisfaction when this bastard got tortured by another bad group toward the ending of the film, because someone finally outsmarted this piece of shit, and made him feel utter pain. Even though I despised this monster with a passion, I was beyond impressed by this actor's performance. 

3. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) Silence of the Lambs

This is one of the few performances that scares the crap out of me to this day. While I do give props to the TV show version of Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins gives an unforgettable performance as the cannibal ex - psychiatrist, that forms a powerful bond with an FBI agent, Sterling, who is determined to take down another serial killer. I found it hard to believe that this dude was even human. 

The way that he was acting was so uncanny, like Sterling was actually talking to a real, dangerous prisoner. I also couldn't help but find Hannibal strangely fascinating, because even though we knew about his backstory, I found myself wanting to know how his psychiatrist life was like before he was arrested for his vile crimes. 

It was even crazier to know that he pretty much wins at the end of the film, escaping from prison, and knowing that someone so dangerous was now loose in the world was such a great way to end the film. Hopkins killed this role, and he is one of the best and scariest villains ever brought to the screen.

2. Homelander (Anthony Starr) The Boys

Even though this show experienced a huge downfall in the final two seasons, I still enjoyed the fantastic performance of Homelander. He is probably the scariest villain ever brought to television. He was treated like a lab rat from birth, and the company that was in charge of creating superheroes ended up bringing a monster to life. 

It's crazy that this monster could have been prevented, but to due to the greed and power of the Vought company, Homelander became a huge threat to everyone around him. Picture an evil Superman, and that is pretty much the danger you will witness in this show. Homelander was portrayed as an insecure man that was desperate for affection, and even though he got what he wanted at times, he still abused that power, hurting anyone that angered him or just killed people for the hell of it. 

It shocks me that he was played to such perfection by Anthony, who didn't even have to disguise his face. I never saw the actor once during this entire performance, and I was so amazed how he was able to pull off this character, that was from a comic book that wasn't exactly praised by fans. He made the character his own, and this villain is now going to go down in history as one of the best in television history!

1. The Joker (Heath Ledger) The Dark Knight

I remember I was only a kid when I first watched The Dark Knight, and I still can't believe that this is Heath Ledger, a dude that I later saw in Brokeback Mountain and 10 Things I Hate About You. This is truly an unbelievable performance that feels timeless, and I try so hard to see the actor behind the makeup, but it's impossible. He captures everything that the Joker represents, including the mannerisms of the character. 

Even though the cast in this movie was completely stacked, I felt that he overshadowed everyone else, because the performance was just too PERFECT. He doesn't feel like an actor in this movie, it feels like they got an actual psychopath to be present in the film…that is how amazing this performance was. 

He barely had a lot of screentime in the movie, but he somehow made Batman feel like a secondary character IN HIS OWN MOVIE. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker will always be remembered, and it makes me so sad that he passed way too soon. I can't imagine how his acting career would have been like, and no one is ever going to forget his incredible performance as the Joker. 

What are your favorite villain performances?

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn