Regardless of the genre, every movie needs someone or something the protagonist will face and will have to deal with. Villains can either make or break a movie, depending on how convincing, intelligent, or charismatic they are. Ideally, the audience should cheer on the protagonist and wish for him to defeat the villain.
But some movie villains are even more charismatic or just plain interesting than their heroes. Either because of the actors' performances, the way the characters are written, or both of these things. Not accidentally, all the best charismatic villains appear in movies of high quality that continue to attract the audience to this day.
5 Hans Landa In Inglorious Basterds (2009)
It's difficult to make a Nazi seem charismatic, almost sympathetic at times, but Christoph Waltz managed it in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino movie Inglorious Basterds and started a successful international acting career this way. Landa has a lot of charm when he wants to, and he often seems friendly and polite, kind even. But as soon as he comes face to face with his enemies, he turns around and becomes ruthless.
It's true that the heroes of the movie also left a strong impression, but it was Waltz's Hans Landa who stole the movie for himself in the end. The critics and viewers alike appreciated his performance which was further cemented by Waltz's multiple awards for the role, including an Oscar for the best supporting actor! Ironically, Quentin Tarantino originally wanted to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in the role but changed his mind and decided to cast a German-speaking actor instead which only made the character more convincing.
4 Hannibal Lecter In The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Another villain with the initials HL has much less space in the movie than Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling. Despite Foster's brilliant performance, it's Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter who brings the movie to a higher level. His character becomes fascinated by Starling, but that doesn't stop him from manipulating the young and inexperienced FBI agent.
So even though Lecter helps Starling find the serial killer Buffalo Bill, there's never any doubt that Lecter is playing his own game, as he proves when he escapes his prison in the movie's finale. Just like with many now-iconic characters, another actor could have played the role - Jeremy Irons - but he refused it. It worked out well in the end since Hopkins won an Oscar for the best leading actor for the part even though he only appears in the movie for about 16 minutes.
3 Joker In The Dark Knight (2008)
Multiple actors have taken on the role of the Clown Prince of Crime over the years. Yet Heath Ledger's performance stands out from the rest, even when competing with legendary actors such as Jack Nicholson or Joaquin Phoenix. Ledger's Joke is a unique figure, an unpredictable man who enjoys bringing chaos into the lives of Gotham's citizens. At the same time, he comes up with more detailed plans than people would have suspected and doesn't do things by accident. What makes him even more impressive is that he succeeds in his plan to corrupt Harvey Dent.
And even though Batman ensures that Dent's memory remains unblemished, it doesn't change the fact that the Joker defeated them both in the end. Before the movie premiered, some people protested against Ledger's casting in the role since he was known for playing in romantic comedies, such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). Yet he outshone even Christian Bale as Batman in The Dark Knight (2008) and won a posthumous Oscar for his performance. Interestingly enough, Ledger also broke a record by playing the Joker since he was the youngest actor in history who took on the part.
2 Loki In Thor (2011)
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It was a close call but in the end, Tom Hiddleston's Loki was the one who stole the movie for himself, even though Chris Hemsworth as Thor as well as the other actors, including Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman, gave strong performances. It's because Loki is mysterious, intelligent, mischievous, and unpredictable, in other words, he has even more facets to his personality than his brother Thor. He's also originally more sympathetic since Thor acts in a brash, almost arrogant way at the start, meanwhile, Loki is relatable since he feels like he doesn't fit in and competes with his brother for his parents' love.
That's something many viewers were familiar with, and it won Loki their affection. The God of Mischief remains one of the popular MCU villains and also the first villain who earned his own standalone story in the form of the Disney Plus series Loki. Of course, as Hiddleston's fans might know, he originally auditioned for the part of Thor himself, but it's not a stretch to say that playing Loki has worked out well for him.
1 Voldemort In Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)
As the main villain of the series, Voldemort appears in more than one Harry Potter movie. In fact, he plays a smaller or a bigger part in all of them, except for the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). However, Voldemort's most charismatic version is the younger one, Tom Marvolo Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
This Voldemort, portrayed by Christian Coulson, is still a Hogwarts student, a young man, yet he manages to fool not only the teachers but also the main heroes of the movie, Harry, as well as Ginny Weasley, who does his bidding and opens the Chamber of Secrets for him. Even though Coulson's Tom Riddle only has limited space in the movie, he's the driving force behind the plot and since he seems so friendly and charming, it's easy not to suspect him of anything bad, at least if the viewers didn't read the books. The child actors don't disappoint, but it's Coulson and also Kenneth Branagh's Gilderoy Lockhart who are the real stars of the movie.