So, I love movies. The best movies in my opinion are usually the ones where the villain completely out shines the hero. Almost anything with Dennis Hopper or Gary Oldman falls into this category. I'm curious as to what other people think are great movie villains. Please leave your opinions below.

Mine are, in no particular order:

Keyser Söze - The Usual Suspects
I think this one was more about the mystery and how he was portrayed to be larger than life in the movie. If you haven't seen it, your entire life is a lie.

Frank Booth - Blue Velvet
Dennis Hopper is...magnificent is the only word that comes to mind.

Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg - Fifth Element/ Stansfield - Leon: The Professional/ Carnegie - The Book of Eli
Gary Oldman in his super-villain phase. Amazing acting by Oldman is brilliant contrast to the stoic, wooden characters of the heroes in all these movies.

Joker: The Dark Knight
Heath Ledger's most famous role, the most likely led to his death. Completely unexpected, and partially ad libbed, the best Joker of all time, and easily one of the best villains.

There are many more, but these are some of my favorites. I'm curious as to what other people think are great movie villains. Please leave your opinions below.

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Frank Booth was just the best villain ever god damn... as for movies I would have to say Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest scared the shit out of me as a kid, but your list pretty much has all the good villains I can think of.

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Kayne must be too busy on his honeymoon with Pam to reply to this...

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haha

I would say Joker for sure for a drama/suspense followed by the warden from Shawshank. IT was pretty good for horror, Mugatu from Zoolander for comedy and that old dude from Third Rock from the Sun who plays the villian in Cliffhanger for action, if that counts as action.

It's funny that I'm having a hard time thinking of any great ones while sitting here watching all the Hannibal Lecter movies on endless loop. The Duke Brothers in Trading Places are pretty evil for a comedy. I still get the odd feeling they killed Aykroyd's parents in a prior experiment. Javier Bardem is basically Michael Myers with a shotgun in No Country for Old Men. Lee Van Cleef is relentless and ALWAYS a step ahead in The Good, The Bad, and The ugly.

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. Ed Harris is pretty good in Enemy at the Gates.

But I agree Gary Oldman is basically cheating most of the time, he operates on an entirely different level. Alan Rickman is up there as well.

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Some stories can't be told with words, some legends are meant to die

sorry if anyone mentioned these already, but...

hannibal lecter from silence of the lambs
kevin spacey's character in se7en
longhshanks from braveheart
lieutenant coffey from the abyss

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

Clancy Brown in godamn near everything he played, he used to scare the shit outta me as a kid lol, his Highlander role comes to mind.

The Joker from the Dark Knight was a good one.

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I like villains who don't realize that they're villains. People who honestly feel like they are doing the right thing, but are doing so in the wrong way.

As terrible a movie as it was, I think General Hein from Spirits Within was a really good example of it.

Also, i like Dennis Nedry from Jurassic Park.
Not that he himself was all that terrible a person, but the things he did had lasting repercussions on all of the events there following which was really interesting. He fucked things up for everyone every step of the way even after he was dead, most of which very indirectly.

I forgot about that last one Whisp! Good call.

Another one I love is Christopher Walken, any time he is a villain. He just adds a creepiness that sets the tone for the whole movie. My two favorites of him are True Romance and The Prophecy. Viggo Mortensen was the best Satan ever played, and stole the whole movie, but up until that point Walken was very hateable.

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Walken kicking in the door with jazz hands at the ready, priceless. "I GOTTA have dat SOUL!"

Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Not exactly a villain in the traditional sense. You spend the whole movie wondering how this thing can possibly end, he's built up like friggin Sauron to the point where you forget he's a human.

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Some stories can't be told with words, some legends are meant to die

that's like tragic villains. they are often the main character but not always. it includes characters who think they're doing the right thing but aren't, characters who were good but have fallen, and characters who really are doing the right thing but you don't know until it's too late.

jack from the shining
severus snape from harry potter
darth vader
elphaba from wicked / wizard of oz

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook!

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Kathy Bates - Misery
Joe Pesci - Goodfellas
Wesley Snipes - Demolition Man
Michael Madsen - Reservoir Dogs

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http://www.youtube.com/ArmLengthInterviews
My attempt at making funny gaming related videos.

Nice inputs guys, I'm loving all of them!

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bunch of good ones listed.

I'm gonna toss some more in the mix.

Col. Hanz Landa in "Inglorious Bastards"
Silva in "Skyfall"
Hans Gruber in "Die Hard"
Anton Ciguhr in "No Country for Old Men"

Bill Lumbergh in "Office Space"

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