A hero is as good as his conscience, and a villain is as good as his dialogue. Cinema has gifted audiences with one iconic villain after another, who are most often more interesting than the more moralistic characters. Many have the verbal finesse of a Shakespearean villain, often overshadowing the forces of good.
Truth be told, villains are needed, as they remain the personification of one’s censored thoughts. After all, only a great villain can muster a better hero to stop them. One must tread softly in entering a villain’s mind, as one could easily get lost along the way. Here are the 10 most quotable villains who dared to be more interesting than the hero.
10 Silva from Skyfall
No list of film villain is complete without the mention of the ultimate James Bond villain, Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, from Skyfall. Silva is an agent gone rogue who is now after M’s life for putting his life at risk. Silva extends his hand to Bond to join his mission and misses no opportunity to entice Bond when he says, “Do you see what comes of all this running around, Mr. Bond? All this jumping and fighting, it's exhausting! Relax. You need to relax... Ah well, mother's calling. I will give her a goodbye kiss for you.” Silva dares to be flirtatious with Bond which was a daring choice by director Sam Mendes and Bardem glided through his performance, making him the most nuanced villain in Bond history.
9 Agent Smith from The Matrix
Agent Smith is the archenemy of Neo and is portrayed by Hugo Weaving in The Matrix trilogy and was voiced by Christopher Corey Smith in The Matrix: Path of Neo. The character has a sardonic sense of humor and is iconic for his appearance, wearing a black suit and shades. The film is set in the future where the earth has been taken over by self-aware machines, resulting from the creation of artificial intelligence which then started fighting against its human creators.
Smith is an Agent conceptualized from an AI program to keep order in the simulated reality of the Matrix program, which keeps humans locked inside a virtual reality. Agents hunt humans who step out of the system, and is the smartest out of the lot, and it is proven when he says, “I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not.”
8 Hans Gruber from Die Hard
Hans Gruber from Die Hardis one of the most referenced action villains in pop culture, not only because of his intelligence, but also because he is highly charismatic. The character was played by the British actor Alan Rickman, and it became one of his most well-known characters, along with his portrayal of Severus Snape from the Harry Potter Franchise.
Gruber was a thief from East Germany and plotted to steal $460 million in negotiable bearer bonds by holding the Nakatomi Plaza hostage. However, New York cop John McClane, played by Bruce Willis, becomes the rain on his parade and stops him from his mastermind plan. Gruber’s final words, “Yipee-ki-yay, motherf-cker!” is one of the coolest send-offs to a movie villain in film history, and went on to become McClane's signature warcry when dispatching villains in all subsequent Die Hard films.
7 Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
What makes Loki an interesting villain is how he succumbs to his own flaws. The villain from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is played by Tom Hiddleston and is based on the character from the Marvel Comics of the same name. The character is desperate to become a God and shares a disdain for his adoptive brother, Thor, and constantly allies with villains who share his common goal. Loki gets the most villainy sounding lines, such as, “I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose” which makes him a classic superhero villain. In the film franchise, Loki is shown to have his own plans of dominating the universe but is stopped by the Avengers, and eventually (begrudgingly) adopts a slightly less antagonistic disposition. Hiddleston based his character on Edmund from King Lear, Cassius from Julius Caesar and which adds to the elaborate performative streak in Loki.
6 Darth Vader from Star Wars
Darth Vader is the antagonist in the Star Warsfranchise, which was created by George Lucas. The character was one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy and was named Anakin Skywalker. Vader is one of the most iconic villains of all time. He is masked and wears a helmet, which is one of the most recognized film props in film history. The character was famously portrayed by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones in Star Wars films and a few television shows. Later, Sebastian Shaw portrayed Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader makes the perfect villain for embodying evil both symbolically and by motive. He is power-hungry, ruthless, and struggles with the darkness in him, with his most powerful dialogue being, “You know the power of my dark side! I must obey my master”, which alludes to his tragic backstory with his mentor.
5 Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs
Whiletheportrayal of the spine-chilling criminal was popularized by Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter was previously portrayed by Brian Cox in Manhunter. Lectorwas a forensic psychiatrist turned serial killer who kills and eats his victim. In The Silence of the Lambs, an imprisonedLector helps FBI agent Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster, to find another serial killer named Buffalo Bill. They strike up an unusual friendship, where Starling starts sharing disturbing details of her childhood in exchange for the information.
Hopkins portrayed Lector as calm, steady-minded, highly intelligent, and identified a lot with the criminal. He also added that he was inspired by HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, while developing Lector, as he resembled a high-functioning machine with no capacity to process human emotions. There are several harrowing and thought-provoking quotes by Lector, but “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans, and a nice chianti” takes the cake.
4 The Joker from The Dark Knight
The Joker from The Dark Knight is considered to be Heath Ledger’s finest performance, with some of the most quotable lines in movie history. The character is the arch-nemesis of the caped vigilante Batman in the city of Gotham. Ledger based his character on the graphic novels Batman: The Killing Joke and Akrkham Asyum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. The supervillain wore purple and green and had a disfigured face with a scar resembling a smile. Ledger chose to add white makeup instead of bleaching his skin, which was popular in the comic book. He was also inspired by the paintings of Francis Bacon, The character of Alex in A Clockwork Orange, to understand the state of mind of the Joker. There are several quotes by the Joker which hit the cynical spot, and the most poignant one remains to be: “Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos."
3 Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds
Hans Landa’s childish charm is what makes the character devilish. Christoper Waltz’s portrayal of the Jew hunting SS Colonel in Inglourious Basterds is a balance of contrast as Landa comes off as polite, gentlemanly, and beyond courteous. However, when he snaps, he kills like a child’s play. In the film, Landa is shown as someone who can scan for people’s weaknesses and catch hold of their lies, while he plays along with his polite macabre.
One of his quotes, “I love rumors! Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, true or false, are often revealing” speaks of his interior motives of feeding on doubts and mystery. Director Quentin Tarantino conceptualized Landa as far superior in intelligence to the people searching to end his life. Waltz was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the character, which the director considers to be the best character he had ever written.
2 Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter
No one in the Harry Potterfranchise dares to take Lord Voldemort’s name, except for Harry. Voldemort is the bloodthirsty murderer of Harry’s parents who could not kill him but leaves a scar on his forehead after murdering his parents. Everyone in the wizardry world refers to him as You-Know-Who, the Dark Lord, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, which speaks of his horrifying effect on people. The character played Ian Hart in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, only in his facial form behind Professor Quirrel’s head. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort appears as Tom Marvolo Riddle, who is the teenage boy residing in Gini’s magic diary. It is only in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that the villain gets a body for himself and is played by Ralph Fiennes. After feeding on the lives, blood, and fears of people, Voldemort wishes to kill Harry and also wants to conquer the world of muggles and wizards, attaining blood purity. His hunger for power is revealed when he says, “There is no good and evil. There is only power. And those too weak to seek it.”
1 Scar from The Lion King
Scar fromThe Lion Kingwas conceptualized as a cat fascist who is a composite character inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the stories of Joseph and Moses from the Bible, and a sprinkle of Adolf Hitler. The animated film is set in the wild kingdom of Africa where Mufasa, the King of the Pride Lands, rules the land. However, his brother, Scar, is envious of his position and kills him to seize the throne. He says, “Well, I was the first in line until the little hairball was born.” This makes Simba, the young lion cub, the default descendant to the throne. However, Scar manipulates him to believe he was the reason behind his father’s death, which makes him exiled from the land.
Scar was as performative and vile as any Shakespearean villain, and shared the vision of most dictators of the 20th century. In the song, Be Prepared, Scar addresses the animal kingdom as the new king from a high ledge, akin to Hitler’s mannerisms seen in documentaries. The meticulous research behind Scar’s mannerisms is what makes Scar a memorable villain.
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