The 25 Greatest TV Villains of All Time

There are many reasons that we fall in love with TV villains. Maybe they live life the way we only dream of, ignoring the rules of polite society and taking what they want. Perhaps we are intrigued by the intricate traps they set for our favorite characters. Or, simply put, they're just badasses.

Whatever the reasons, a great villain can capture our imaginations in ways that a hero often can't. If you have a vision of morality that is absolute, you're likely disappointed when noble leads let you down. For villains there's much more of a grey area: Absolute evil is rare (and usually boring). The chance for redemption exists in even the darkest of souls.

Whether they traffic in petty nuisances or plots of wholesale destruction, there are those small-screen baddies that everyone loves to hate. These are the 25 greatest TV villains of all time.

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Written by Brenden Gallagher (@muddycreekU)

Played By: Robert Knepper

Racist, rapist, pedophile: T-Bag is designed for you to hate him. Still, his casual charms and impressive intellect seduce characters and audience members who should know better. How does someone so despicable coerce people into his trap over and over again? This clip gives you a glimpse into how T-Bag operates.

It's difficult to describe exactly what it is that lures people to empathize with him, but actor Robert Knepper got pretty close to nailing it when he talked about the way audiences changed in their reaction to the character as the show evolved: "I got so many letters from people saying, 'When I first started watching this show, I absolutely hated you and I wanted you dead. Now I still want you dead, but I'm starting to feel for you.' I think there's something in my eyes, a childlike thing in there. There's still an innocence. There's still a bit of hope."

Played By: Bill Raisch

Some villains are effective precisely because we rarely see them. Though the One-Armed Man only appeared in 10 of The Fugitive's 120 episodes, and had no dialogue until season 4, the character loomed large over the entire series.

The One-Armed Man was responsible for the crime that Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) had been accused of: the murder of his wife. By choosing to hold the enigmatic bad guy largely off-screen until the show's final season, The Fugitive's creative team set the stage for a grand showdown that audiences relished as the plot drew to a close.

Every day that Dr. Richard Kimble spent on the run while the guilty party walked around as a free man added to the inevitable confrontation's enormous stakes.

Played By: Sarah Clarke

It's quite an ordeal for a show's hero and the audience alike when our protagonist's staunchest allies become his or her greatest enemies. Shortly before the events of 24 begin, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is working with Nina Meyers by day and sleeping with her at night. If film and television have taught us anything, it's that inter-office fraternization isn't advisable, particularly if your line of work is government super-spy games.

Predictably, their working relationship quickly turns sour, creating a complex cat-and-mouth back and forth that's as riveting as any double- and triple-crossing sexually tense spy story arc we've ever seen.

Played By: Joseph Mascalo

We imagine that most of you never got down with soap operas unless you were laid up on a sick day from school with a soap-loving relative. In that case, you probably don't know exactly how ubiquitous Stefano DiMera was to soap opera fans in the '80s and '90s. Fun fact: Soap Opera Digest named DiMera the greatest soap opera villain of all time. But that just begins to tell the tale of the character's immense popularity.

In 2001, when contract negotiations failed between actor Joseph Mascalo and the Days team, Mascalo showed up in short order in the role of Massimo Marone on The Bold and the Beautiful. In Stefano's on-again-off-again relationship with Days of Our Lives, DiMera has had 30 henchmen and has faked his own death over a dozen times. We may not be done counting fake deaths for Stefano yet: Six months after DiMera's most recent fake death, the character reappeared last October.

May Stefano's Rasputin-level soap opera swag continue to live on.

Voice By: Mel Blanc

Rube-Goldberg-machine-loving carnivore Wile E. Coyote has captured the popular imagination in ways the most villains could never hope to—do you see people walking around with J.R. Ewing tattoos or Gus Fring pajamas? Not often.

What began as a parody of popular chase cartoons (specifically Tom & Jerry) morphed into the most popular animated chase sagas of all time. In the 65 years since the invention of the sinister coyote and his elusive would-be quarry, over 40 animated shorts have been produced documenting their epic struggle. The ending is always the same: Wile E. Coyote suffers immense physical pain. Being the villain is not always a good gig.

Played By: Roger Delgado, Pater Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley, Eric Robers, Derek Jacobi, John Simm

For many of us in the real world, our greatest enemy is ourselves. Unfortunately, that's hard to make dramatically interesting. TV creators often settle for the next best thing: villains who are almost mirror images of the hero.

Embarking on its 50th season this year, Doctor Who is one of the longest-running shows in history. The Master—its ongoing primary villain—has been been around in one form or another since 1971. Throughout the Master's many incarnations, he has been the perfect foil to the good doctor.

The series writers admit that it's no mistake that the Master and the Doctor both have academic names—their minds were always meant to be their greatest weapons.

Whether it's zombies in horror films or double agents in spy films, villains created from our heroes turned against us are consistently terrifying. Star Trek's The Borg continue this grand tradition into space. While they exist by taking over the bodies of characters we knew and loved, they also strip their victims of their humanity.

The Borg have no interest in negotiations and treaties—they only wish to continue their assimilation of other species. Their only goal is the perfection that can only be achieved through total assimilation. As they often say, "Resistance if futile."

If you happen upon a Borg ship, your best bet is to go warp-speed in the other direction.

Played By: Heather Locklear

Amanda Woodward was the product of a ratings gambit that paid off big. After a memorable first season guest spot on Melrose Place, in which she managed an underwear account and hit on a tennis star, Heather Locklear was promoted for season two. And following a huge ratings boost, accompanied by her newly minted series regular status, Locklear's character became forever synonymous with Melrose Place.

She was even brought onto the ill-fated recent Melrose reboot in a far less successful ratings ploy. Woodward lived that baller lifestyle men and women alike secretly envy. She had a high-powered job, seduced whichever man she wanted, and took out anyone who was dumb enough to get in her way. The scheme and sex-filled plot-lines earned Woodward a spot on TV Guide's list of "Best TV Bitches," which, if it were about men, would have been named something like "Most Awesome Male Characters," or "TV Characters Ever Man Wants to Be."

Played By: William B. Davis

The nicotine-addicted antagonist of The X-Files is an inverse Forrest Gump: He was in the background of all of the worst moments in recent American history. By the time the events of The X-Files begin, the Cigarette Smoking Man has left behind his taste for run-of-the-mill political intrigue and dedicated himself to making sure that the public never learns exactly what truth is out there. He's one of the major forces keeping knowledge of extraterrestrial life from the wider world.

Not bad for a character who was originally supposed to be an extra. Producer Kim Manners once said, "Everything that was given birth [on the X-Files] was given birth because it was an accident almost." After the producers recognized something special in his work, William B. Davis went from being a guy hired to lean against a filing cabinet and smoke cigarettes to one of television's most memorable villains.

Played By: Walton Goggins

With the charisma of an evangelical minister, the schemes of a career hustler, and the swagger of a good ol' boy, Boyd Crowder is definitely one of the best villains on television right now.

Boyd might also be the single largest contributing factor to Justified's sustained success. It's hard to believe, but showrunner Graham Yost and company originally planned for Boyd to be a one-off character. Early drafts of the pilot, titled "Fire in the Hole," ended without Crowder making it out alive. Goggins—who signed on as a favor to his friend, and Justified's leading man, Timothy Olyphant—tested so well with audiences that he was brought back for more.

It's hard to imagine Justified without Goggins. It's equally difficult to imagine Justified without the complex serialized plot-lines that tie together each rollicking season, which Crowder kicked off. If he hadn't stayed around, the show may have kept doing one-off, villain-of-the-week episodes like they did during the first half of season one. Not only would we not know Boyd, but Mags Bennett (Margot Martindale) and Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough) may not have been a part of the show either.

Played By: Jack Gleeson

There isn't a shortage of candidates for all-time great villains on Game of Thrones so far, but Joffrey's tempestuous temperament and bratty behavior put him over the top.

All of the show's characters will plunge knives (be it literal or metaphorical) into someone's back at one point or another in the series, but while most rationalize their tactics in the name of gaining power, Joffrey revels in cruelty for cruelty's sake. Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss recently confessed that they sometimes worry about actor Gleeson's safety—they're afraid some overzealous fan might take a swing at him, drunkenly conflating him with his character.

If there's higher praise for a villainous performance, we don't know what it is.

Voiced By: James Avery

Shredder is easily the greatest villain ever inspired by a cheese grater. At the concept stage, he was initially referred to as "The Grater" and "Grate Man" by his creator, Kevin Eastman. We're thankful that they ultimately went with a moniker that was a bit more menacing.

More importantly, "The Grater" would have led to conflict amongst the Turtles. Wouldn't pizza connoisseurs have an affinity for a half-man-half-cheese-grater, no matter how villainous he may be? Perhaps this sets the stage for a morally ambiguous reboot wherein the Turtles must ask themselves if their addiction to pizza is clouding their moral judgement.

Played By: Michael Emerson

When it comes to creating a villain, writers have two options: They can either pull a Macbeth (or for the Shakespeare-averse among us, a House of Cards) and lay out the villain's intentions from the start, or they can keep the audience in the dark. It's an understatement to say that Lost's writers leaned towards the latter method.

Ben Linus was the perfect antagonist for a show that reveled in its mysteries and was content to keep a number of them unsolved. One fan (@manostorgo) complained of Linus, "The end justified the means. But we keep seeing the means and not the goal." Whether or not you find that kind of storytelling pleasurable, you can't deny that the enigmatic Linus was a villain precision-cut for a show that answers each question with a new question.

Professional wrestling has depended on bad guys since the first costumed strongman made his way into the squared circle. They're as essential to the WWE as spandex. The most dastardly and longstanding villain in WWE history, however, prefers a business suit over tights.

Though his accomplishments inside the ring have been impressive (McMahon is a former WWF and ECW champion and he won the 1999 Royal Rumble), the persona McMahon created for himself was designed for him to do his damage outside the ring. After years of selling role-model wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to adoring WWF fans, McMahon saw that the audience wanted a grittier, more cynical tone in storylines, as he watched the WWF fall behind the WCW in the pro-wrestling ratings race. McMahon decided political machinations would be just as big a part of the WWF storyline as actual matches, and that he would be the central heel in new plots.

With the 1997 "Montreal Screwjob," McMahon ushered in a new era in the history of WWF in which the announcer Vince McMahon would morph into the character "Mr. McMahon," and be as much a part of the show as he was a part of the business. McMahon remains a sinister part of the WWE storyline to this day.

Played By: David Boreanaz

Going from hero to villain and back again has rarely been pulled off as convincingly as it was with David Boreanaz's turn as Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The curse laid upon Angel for his past misdeeds dictates that he will transform into an evil being devoid of emotion if he ever finds true happiness. [Note to self: That's what you get for killing gypsies.] As Buffy is often the source of his true happiness (which comes about the way all true happiness does: sex), that means a lot of sadness for a post-adolescent vampire slayer/lover to handle. That's what you get for dating (250-year) older men.

Played By: Ian McShane

In an era when we value subtlety and moral ambiguity in our villains, Al Swearengen is a throwback, and, most importantly, a breath of fresh air. With his lyrical dialogue and scenery chewing tendencies, Swearengen reminds us of our favorite stage villains more than he does the conflicted suburban criminals that stalk the rest of premium cable.

At first, Swearengen was a coldly confident tyrant, but eventually, beneath the bluster and showy violence, we realize that he has more kinship with other great conflicted TV villains than first thought. Viewers grow to empathize with Swearengen as Deadwood thunders forward.

As the harsh realities and the body count of the frontier town pile up, it's easy to wonder what state Deadwood would end up in if not for a strongman like Swearengen. Mining interests, government lackeys, and internal strife threaten to tear the town of Deadwood apart at every turn. Though there is no love lost between Swearengen and Sheriff Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), by the end of the series, it becomes clear that they are both essential to Deadwood's survival.

Played By: Giancarolo Esposito

Yoga. Yes, that's what Giancarlo Esposito cites as a key to his characterization of Gus Fring.

Audiences quickly tire of moustache-twirling, scenery-chewing villains. Breaking Bad's creator, Vince Gilligan, knew this, and approached Esposito with the idea that Fring should be created in opposition to our expectations of a villain, exuding detached serenity. The mild-mannered, tie-straightening fast food franchisee hardly feels like a cold-hearted villain at first blush, but that's exactly what makes Gustavo Fring memorable.

With the final episodes of Breaking Bad on the horizon, it remains to be seen if Gus or the corrupted Walter White (Bryan Cranston) will endure as Breaking Bad's all-time greatest villain. If White is going to outshine Fring's villainy by time the lights go down, the ex-chemistry teacher has plenty more havoc to wreak. It's often referenced that Breaking Bad was pitched as "Mr. Chips turns into Scarface." We're quite sure that Gus would have poisoned Tony Montana before he was asked to say hello to his little friend.

Played By: Wayne Knight

Villainy doesn't always show itself in grand gestures. Wayne Knight's portrayal of Newman on Seinfeld showed the world that repeated, tiny nuisances can be just as villainous as plots of world domination.

We all have that person in our life that we're convinced was put on Earth to irk us, whose every action irritates us. When you look back on your longstanding animosity with that person, you realize, as do Jerry and Newman, that after years of back-and-forth needling at each other, you don't even remember how you came to be enemies in the first place.

This blustering curmudgeon often seems like he's playing a character, but he's not. Well, at least that's what Bill O'Reilly would like you to believe. Sure, there are plenty of right-wing blowhards all over our televisions, but O'Reilly's intelligence, unwavering self-satisfaction, and charm earn him a place atop the mountain of conservative punditry.

For close to 20 years, O'Reilly has been ranting, shouting down uncooperative guests, and spreading propaganda to millions of homes on the daily. Whether we like it or not, the man's words have power. He has derailed the careers of doctors, philanthropists, and rappers with facts both real and imaginary throughout his controversial career.

We prefer our TV villains not to have an impact on the real world, but we admit that O'Reilly has produced one great thing: Without him there would likely be no The Colbert Report.

Played By: Dean Stockwell, Tricia Helfer, Lucy Lawless, Grace Park, Callum Keith Rennie, Matthew Bennet, Rick Worthy

So often in science fiction, fear of an alien race is instilled in the audience by creating something truly unfamiliar through grotesque make-up and prosthetics or monstrous CGI designs. Ronald D. Moore took the opposite route when creating his Cylons for the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. These aliens look just like us. They could be walking among us and we would have no idea.

Though Tricia Helfer's sensual yet deadly portrayal of Number Six is most beloved among fanboys, the various personalities of the Cylons make them a truly compelling group of villains when viewed. From the stark, harsh violence of Number One (Dean Stockwell) to the unhinged, mercurial behavior of Number Two (Callum Keith Rennie), the Cylons run the gamut of villainous personalities.

Despite their far superior forces over the humans, they never feel infallible. Their humanity, both externally and internally, makes them some of the best villains in TV history.

Played By: Michael Chiklis

In terms of TV history, it is likely that corrupt cop Vic Mackey will be overshadowed by the similarly balding, larger-than-life cable badass who came around at the same time. You know, HBO's mobster from New Jersey. And that would be a shame.

From the first moment we meet the brutal, corrupt Mackey, we know he's not a man to be messed with. It's also easy to see just how many people are going to try messing with him, but the choice is obvious: Always bet on Mackey.

It's been said so many times that attributing the quote is almost impossible, but that doesn't make it less true: every great villain sees themselves as a hero. Mackey's firm belief that the ends justify the means is what makes him one of the most compelling villains in TV history. Even as his life unravels in the wake of his laundry list of crimes, he still views himself as doing what he had to do, despite everything he sacrifices in the process.

Voiced By: Harry Shearer

You can make an argument for Gordon Gecko (Wall Street) or Smaug (the J.R.R. Tolkien universe), but C. Montgomery Burns is our preferred fictional embodiment of greed.

He's one of the wealthiest men in fake history, appearing regularly on Forbes' "Fictional 15" list, and he didn't exactly amass his fortune through hard work and honesty in business. From assisting the Nazis to the wholesale killing of marine life in the name of recycling, Burns has done just about every dirty deed you can think of in order to expand his vast fortune. Just when you think he's showing a sliver of humanity, you realize that apparent vulnerability is actually a tactical step in a larger plan to add gold to his coffers.

Harry Shearer, the voice of Burns, had this to say when reflecting on the nuclear mogul: "I like Mr. Burns because he is pure evil. A lot of evil people make the mistake of diluting it. Never adulterate your evil."

Played By: Idris Elba, Wood Harris

Too often, villainous duos are carbon copies of each other. Despite superficial differences, they ultimately could be combined into one character. Stringer and Avon, on the other hand, are perfect foils for one another: Avon with his old-school, boots-on-the-ground understanding of the drug trade, and Bell with vain hopes of making the business of running corners into something more.

Though their conflicting perspectives initially leads to the the fast growth of the Barksdale Organization, it's also what eventually brings about their heartbreaking downfall. Before The Wire, we might have said it'd strange to feel sympathy for brutal drug dealers, yet series creator David Simon's masterful show draws your empathy and ire towards every one of his fully formed characters.

What makes Bell and Barksdale special is not how we feel about them, but how we watch them change in relation to each other. The result: a conclusion that we'd like to remember as surprising, but is ultimately inevitable.

Played By: Larry Hagman

With TV's string of power-hungry alpha male villains of the last decade or so, it's easy to forget that there were some swaggering evil bastards back in the day as well. Though many of us only know J.R. Ewing from The Simpsons parody "Who Shot Mr. Burns," not to mention that time grandma watched TNT's Dallas reboot when she were over last Thanksgiving, Ewing is still arguably the most reviled villain in TV history.

With the niche viewing we've grown accustomed to today, it's difficult to comprehend the show's cultural importance. Here's one particularly staggering fact: 83 million people watched the "Who Shot J.R." episode.

Hagman (who passed away last November) went on to appear in all 357 episodes of Dallas, and if you haven't seen one of them, check out this super cut of J.R.'s best moments. The man has more one-liners in this ten minute video than some comedies have in their entire run.

Played By: James Gandolfini

Though the anti-hero has been a mainstay in the cinema since before Travis Bickle started driving taxis, the idea of one anchoring a television show is fairly new. The Sopranos was revolutionary in many ways, and we're just now getting the historical distance from the show to realize just how large a leather-clad footprint Tony Soprano left on the television landscape.

No matter how many women he had on the side, and no matter how many crimes he committed or people he killed, it's still difficult to be totally disgusted by Tony. Even at his worst, there was something in his character that was so deeply human, something that kept us connected to him no matter how far down the hell-bound path he drifted.

We don't pardon the suburban Don's sins, but we recognize that, just like the rest of us, Tony Soprano is just trying to keep his head above water the only way he knows how. His way just so happens to involve murder.