Of all the villains who contributed most evilly I have listed them in a list of five. This serves as my opinion and crosses the genres.
- J.R. from the T.V. show Dallas. He was the most diabolical, scheming, greedy, and resilient villain.
- The Joker tops all comic villains in all productions featuring Batman. Heath Ledger depicted insanity very well.
- Darth Vader tops all science fiction villains in Star Wars. One enduring villain who seems to transcend generations.
- Hannibal Lecter introduced by Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs. This was a very delicious anti-hero?
- Norman Stansfield in the movie Leon: The Professional puts corruption up into another level. Quite messed up.
I present this list to highlight Larry Hagman's creation as being number one. I will miss more J.R.
The criteria I used was in five areas: First, these characters needed to push antagonism up into another level. They had to be unmistakably evil. Second, the characters needed to posses a style of badness. Third, the infamous qualities had to give the villain a notoriety making their acts notorious. Fourth, these notorious acts had to propel the villain up to legendary status. Finally, the villain must challenge the protagonist or hero causing a very frightening and disturbing production done mainly by superb acting.
There are other villains out there in the entertainment world. Are there any more maybe even more infamous?
