Thebest fantasy movies of all timeneed their villains and are doubtlessly made even better by the perfect performances of the actors playing them. Antagonistic portrayals constitute some of thebest fantasy movie performances ever, but the focus is usually on the heroic (or at least protagonist) characters. Villain actors deserve just as much appreciation for convincingly portraying the person who typically sets the story in motion.There are a range of complex fantasy villains for A-list actors to play,supporting different types of stories.
Themost evil fantasy movie villains everare usually just evil for the sake of it, leaving it up to the actors to make them amazingly charismatic when there is no explanation for their actions. Villains with a tragic backstory are potentially easier and more difficult in different ways; while they have more understandable motives, they demand nuance. Many legendary actors have dazzled audiences with their larger-than-life villain performances, completing the best fantasy movies.
10Geoffrey Rush As Captain Barbossa
Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)
Johnny Depp blew everyone away withPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, earning an Oscar nomination for his strange and witty portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. The villain of this movie needed to be a forceful figure who could match Jack’s antics, giving rise to the equally dynamic Captain Barbossa.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Cast
The Curse of the Black Pearl is the film that kickstarted the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, a series of supernatural swashbuckling adventures. In 1720, blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate “Captain” Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor’s daughter Elizabeth Swann, from Jack’s former pirate allies, who are now undead.
Geoffrey Rush portrays Barbossa as a classic, cackling pirate captain,who has a kind of elegance nonetheless. He is obviously a skilled swordsman and a competent captain (probably even more so than Jack); Rush also conveys Barbossa’s simmering frustration and desperation when he dramatically tellsElizabeth about the Aztec Curse.
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Depp’s portrayal of Jack gets goofier and less satisfying with each new movie, while Rush’s Barbossa holds up better. Thanks to Rush, Barbossa is ever grand and ambitious, harboring a range of personal secrets that leak into his outward swashbuckling persona.
9Tom Hiddleston As Loki
The Avengers (2012)
The MCU has seen numerous A-listers come and go as one-off villains, butTom Hiddleston gives one of the best performances of the franchise inThe Avengers.After being introduced as the “twist” villain ofThor, Loki returns to launch an attack on Earth that prompts the historic team-up/crossover. While Loki’s emotional depth as a character is elaborated upon in later movies, Hiddleston still accomplishes some strong moments inThe Avengersthat show the inner turmoil arising from Loki’s ambition.
The Avengers
The sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers is an action superhero film that sees the heroes assembled across the franchise face off with a deadly galactic threat. With the arrival of Thor’s brother, Loki, heroes such as Captain America, The Hulk, Iron Man, and Black Widow are brought together to stop him from unleashing an alien race upon earth.
The rest of the time, he is swaggering around, both very collected while implying barely restrained mischief. Loki interacts with each of the Avengers and adjusts his scheming approach to each hero’s personality. Then, throughout the rest of the MCU, Hiddleston continues to effectively mix Loki’s Machiavellian schemes with personal tragedy and self-judgment, with some shamelessly dramatic entrances and moments of peace with Thor.
8Stephanie Hsu As Jobu Tupaki
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Joy Wang/Jobu Tupaki fulfills the narrative role of the villain inEverything Everywhere All at Once, even though the story is deeply about Joy’s nihilism and her healing alongside her mother. Stephanie Hsu’s Oscar-nominated performance comprehensively covers how Jobu’s dangerous rebellion comes from a pessimistic worldview. Like everyone in this movie, Hsu is challenged with reconciling the different versions of her character across the multiverse into one being who exhibits slightly different personalities at different times.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) is distracted from her financial and family issues by a multiversal crisis. With just her husband (Ke Huy Quan) to support her through the confusion, she must contend with her overbearing traditional father (James Hong), a pencil-pushing auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her emotionally-distant daughter (Stephanie Hsu).
Hsu spectacularly portrays Joy/Jobu’s boredom and frustration while she adopts some of the craziest costumes ever,delivering poignant theories about the state of life along the way. Even her most detached moments show the emotions that lie underneath, contributing to how she resolves things inEverything Everywhere All at Once’s ending. Hsu’s career is still in its early days, but it would be especially fascinating to see her play a more classically evil villain after this.
7Ralph Fiennes As Lord Voldemort
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005)
Lord Voldemort is an inhuman figure, who is dependent on a certain amount of special effects and makeup to capture the tone that comes across in his scenes in theHarry Potterbooks. Even so, Ralph Fiennes understood how to play Voldemort so that these things would have the biggest impact.Fiennes stepped into the role of Voldemort for the fourth movie,after the character was briefly played by multiple other actors in the previous installments.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire follows Harry as he is unexpectedly entered into the dangerous Triwizard Tournament, pitting him against other young wizards. Amid challenges involving dragons, water demons, and a mysterious labyrinth, Harry faces impending peril linked to the return of the dark wizard Voldemort.
However, Fiennes' otherworldly performance quickly became the one most associated with the character. Playing Voldemort is understanding that the dark wizard could unleash devastating power at any moment. Fiennes portrays Voldemort as controlled at certain times, while at others his anger and determination are horrifying. Yet throughout his tenure as the mainHarry Pottervillain, Fiennes never lets up on the tension and terror that characterize every scene he is in.
6Donna Murphy As Mother Gothel
Tangled (2010)
Not everyone can make the switch from live-action to animated and deliver just as vibrant a performance. Stage and screen actressDonna Murphy brought to life an incredible version of the famous Rapunzel villain, who is vivacious and almost nurturing, but subtly evilup until she outwardly commits to being the"bad guy."
Tangled
An adaptation of the fairytale of Rapunzel, Disney’s Tangled follows the long-haired princess as she journeys to discover her real identity. Kidnapped as a child by the evil Mother Gothel in order to exploit the healing properties of her magical hair, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) has lived her whole life isolated in a tower. A chance encounter with a smooth-talking fugitive called Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi) sees Rapunzel venture out into the dangerous world to find the kingdom of Corona and unlock the secrets of her past.
Not every actor can convey so much personality in their voice acting, but Gothel is sweeping and glamorous in her dialogue and her singing. Part of this is the script and the basic character design, but Murphy doubtlessly did her part to elevate both.
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Vital to making the character work is the quiet moments of gaslighting Rapunzel, with Gothel convincing her adoptive daughter of self-pity; Murphy delivers these lines with well-chosen intonation. Gothel deserves her place among thebest Disney villainsever when Murphy helped create a selfish and engaging persona with the same grandeur as Maleficent and Ursula.
5Tilda Swinton As The White Witch
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (2005)
Casting the White Witch for Greta Gerwig’sNarniamoviesis possibly the biggest challenge the Netflix reboot faces when it will be almost impossible to live up to Tilda Swinton’s perfect portrayal. Swinton is always cold in this movie, even when Jadis is being friendly to Edmund to gain his trust. She is mystical and grand, cruelly ruling over Narnia with absolute confidence that no one can defeat her. Her unsettling, ghostly presence continues in the twoNarniamovie sequels through her cameos.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) is a fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson. It follows the story of four siblings who discover a magical wardrobe that leads to the enchanted land of Narnia. They join forces with Aslan, the majestic lion, to battle against the evil White Witch. The film features Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, and Anna Popplewell in the leading roles.
However,Swinton can also flip the White Witch’s comportment at the drop of a hat, turning her into an explosive forcewhen the situation calls for it. Her outrage when things don’t go her way constitutes a strong performance, but how she plays the character on the battlefield is amazing. During the final battle of the firstNarniamovie, Swinton shows how the Witch is a stone-cold warrior, while revealing hints of fear when she is defeated.
4Ralph Ineson As The Green Knight
The Green Knight (2021)
The Green Knightis a surrealistic take on the famous episode of medieval Arthurian literature, which depends upon an equally metaphorical villain. The team behind the movie decked out Ralph Ineson in heavy costuming and CGI to recreate the otherworldly presence the Green Knight has in the original source material. However, Ineson pulls the whole thing together with his voice performance in the few vital scenes he has.
The Green Knight
An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in a more profound journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger.
The Green Knight’s slow movements and rumbling voice remind the knights, intuitively and not consciously, that he is there to judge them. The final moments of the movie are arguably Ineson’s best — although his chilling laugh while leaving after his first scene is a strong competitor — illustrating the true complexity of this entity.When Gawain comes to the lesson he needs to learn, the Green Knight’s response is impressed and gentle,but still simply stating the facts of the consequences for what has been done.
3Sergi López As Captain Vidal
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Pan’s Labyrinthfascinatingly captures the feeling of looking up on the whole situation, when the story is told from the perspective of Ofelia, a child who has no control over her circumstances — only some escape through the fantasy adventure she conjures up. Her vile stepfather reigns over her new life, representing all the evil in the story.Sergi López masterfully portrays Captain Vidal’s brutal decorum, terrorizing everyone around himwith the self-conviction of respectability.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth follows Ofelia, a ten-year-old girl living in 1940s Spain who learns she is actually a long-lost fairy princess. With the help of a faun, she is set a series of tasks to complete to return to her true home in the fairy underworld. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, with Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, and Doug Jones making up the rest of the main cast.
Ofelia’s fantasy world and the creatures she finds in it are a kaleidoscope of what is happening in the movie’s definitive reality. The Pale Man represents a form of greed and mercilessness aimed at children, which Ofelia narrowly escapes.Pan’s Labyrinthis so effective because it has such a bloodthirsty and real villain to project this aspect of the fantasy onto, who holds up as a character through López’s performance.
2Christopher Lee As Saruman
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
Saruman is another villain who needs a sense of grandeur in every scene, for which Christopher Lee was a perfect choice.Lee had an amazing, commanding voice that served him well when he played both hisLord of the RingsandStar Warsvillains,conveying the wisdom that Saruman and Count Dooku at least believe they have. InLord of the Rings, he and Ian McKellen play off each other with the familiarity of people who have worked together for a long time, before and after Saruman’s betrayal.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first film in Peter Jackson’s critically acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie follows Frodo Baggins (Elijah Woods) as he is tasked with destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom after he inherits the ring.
Saruman stands apart from the other villains inLord of the Rings, with a calculated persona that almost makes one think he should be on the side of the heroes. However, his careful planning is always in the service of cruelty and destruction, showcasing a complex villain who believes he has taken the only viable path forward. Throughout theLord of the RingsandHobbitmovies, Lee has the loftiness to make Saruman intelligent and terrifying.
1Helena Bonham Carter As Bellatrix Lestrange
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)
Bellatrix is a strong competitor for the most iconic villain of theHarry Potterseries, even over Lord Voldemort. Known for her macabre and chaotic roles, Helena Bonham Carter threw herself into Bellatrix’s wild villainy, only enjoying herself as she ruins others' lives.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix follows Harry’s return to Hogwarts for his fifth year, where he finds himself disbelieved about Lord Voldemort’s return. As a result, Harry takes initiative, forming a group of students to master defense against dark forces, facing opposition from the Ministry of Magic.
Carter adopts the perfect look for Bellatrix, with her messy hair and distorted period attire capturing the character’s origins as well as the pandemonium she always cultivates. Once she was in costume, Carter perfectly taunted and shouted her way through theHarry Pottermovies.
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Carter nails a handful of scenes that show different aspects of Bellatrix’s character— like her judgment of Snape and her fear of disappointing her master — that make her a real person, no matter how violent she is. Few fantasy movie villains are as iconic as the ones inHarry Potter, but Carter is in good company when it comes to the history of actors who have played such villains.
