Top 10 Movie Villains of 2017

There’s nothing quite like a good villain. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 movie villains of 2017.

For this list, we’ll be ranking our favourite bad guys – and girls – from movies released throughout the year. Also: a spoiler alert is now in effect.

#10: Cipher
“The Fate of the Furious” (2017)

Two years ago, Charlize Theron dazzled us with her performance as the heroine Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” This year, she dreadlocks her hair and dons leather for her role as Cipher, the cyberterrorist who kidnaps Dom’s family and forces him into helping her start a nuclear war. Ah, remember when this series was mostly about street racing? Good times. Regardless, Cipher is not only extremely intelligent, but she’s dangerous, manipulative, and heartless; even having Elena killed in front of Dom. She now seems to be the series’ Big Bad, and that’s perfectly fine by us, because she is damn cool… and scary. Mostly scary.

#9: Donald Pierce
“Logan” (2017)

We all wondered what Boyd Holbrook would be up to after finishing his stint on “Narcos.” Turns out that it would be playing one of the greatest movie villains in one of the best movies of the year. Not a bad career move. Donald Pierce heads a group called the Reavers and is tasked with re-capturing the escaped X-23. While he isn’t nearly as evil as his comic counterpart, Pierce is still plenty unpleasant. Even then, you can’t help but love him. He looks cool as hell, and he’s actually pretty funny… at least, when he’s not trying to murder children. Mutant or not, he certainly proved to be one last challenge for our hero.

#8: Santino D’Antonio
“John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017)

It was hard to top all the dog-killing evil of the first movie, but we believe Santino D’Antonio was a great villain who proved a worthy adversary to John Wick… if that’s even possible. Before the events of the movie, D’Antonio swore Wick to a Marker. After Wick fulfills his end of the deal and murders Santino’s sister, the slimy mob boss places a worldwide bounty on John’s head. He’s a smug monster through-and-through, and one of the most despicable characters of the year. His point blank death in the Continental was EXTREMELY satisfying, even if it spells danger for John.

#7: Ego
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (2017)

Come on, it’s Kurt Russell! Has he ever played a villain who ISN’T memorable? As far as his villainous characters go, it doesn’t get much more evil than Ego. He’s literally an ancient and megalomaniacal Celestial who wants to completely eliminate all forms of life in the galaxy and replace the planets with versions of himself. He also impregnates various women throughout the galaxy and murders their children if they don’t possess his Celestial gene. Yep, this is a comic book movie, all right. Despite the outlandishness of the plot, Ego is a truly menacing and unbelievably evil character – goofy David Hasselhoff transformations and all.

#6: Buddy
“Baby Driver” (2017)

Like Kurt Russell, there’s really no going wrong with casting Jon Hamm as your bad guy. While there are various villains throughout “Baby Driver,” including Jamie Foxx’s Bats, there’s something about Buddy’s sheer persistence and psychopathic indifference that sends shivers down our spine. He starts as an easy-going defender of Baby, but quickly turns antagonistic and boogeyman-like once his Darling is killed. What follows is pure Jon Hamm magic, complete with a tension-filled sequence in a diner and a terrifying confrontation in a parking garage. He really could be a monster from a horror movie, because he’s an unstoppable and disturbing man whose rage knows no bounds.

#5: Adrian Toomes/The Vulture
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017)

As the third iteration of the “Spider-Man” series, “Homecoming” was initially met with doubt and skepticism, despite it being part of the MCU. However, the movie turned out to be great, thanks in large part to the casting of Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, who’s arguably the greatest villain of the live-action franchise. Adrian’s motivations were understandable, which initially helped us connect with him on a personal level – and Keaton played the role with perfection, conveying both sympathy and fear. Just watch his facial expressions during the car scene. Now that is some freaky acting right there.

#4: Colonel McCullough
“War for the Planet of the Apes” (2017)

It doesn’t get much more evil than genocide. We know we already said it doesn’t get much more evil than Ego, but he was a highly fictional comic book villain. There are real people – both past and present – like Colonel McCullough, and they are much scarier than any comic book villain could be. The Colonel runs a disgusting labor camp with the aim of wiping out both apes and Simian-infected humans alike. He even murders his own son because he’d been infected with the virus, all in the name of sparing the rest of the virus-free human race. He is completely insane, and makes for a fantastic and unforgettable villain.

#3: Hela
“Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)

While we wish the movie explored more of her character, we were still left with an absolute monster of a villain who was literally impossible to defeat without causing the apocalypse. Hela was locked away once Odin discovered that she was a total bloodthirsty psychopath, and once she is released, all hell breaks loose for poor old Asgard. She slaughters its soldiers and citizens, raises the dead, destroys Mjølnir, and even takes Thor’s eye out. She’s arguably one of the most powerful villains in the entire MCU to date, and a hela good character. Sorry, we couldn’t resist.

#2: The Armitage Family
“Get Out” (2017)

And to think, we were expecting a simple “boyfriend meets girlfriend’s family and they’re violent racists” movie. The Armitage family are true monsters. Rose falsely romances various black people before bringing them home to meet the family (or they just violently grab them off the street). They are then hypnotized and auctioned off, and their consciousness is sent into an empty void called the Sunken Place. Meanwhile, the Armitages’ white friends and family members take over their now mentally vacant physical bodies via a brain transfer. It’s a highly original concept, and the family’s evil mixed with their pseudo-friendliness makes them both deeply interesting and horrifying. Forget Leatherface’s family – this is horror.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Poppy Adams
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” (2017)

Gaston
“Beauty and the Beast” (2017)

Patrick Morgan/Ares
“Wonder Woman” (2017)

#1: Pennywise
“It” (2017)

While Tim Curry left some extraordinarily large clown shoes to fill, we think Bill Skarsgård filled them and then some – he is absolutely terrifying as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. This Pennywise is a much more traditionally evil character than his 1990 counterpart. Both his costume and makeup are much darker, his speech pattern is more menacing, and he isn’t nearly as hammy. It all makes for a far more effective evil entity, and It is arguably the scariest live-action Stephen King creation of all time… well, either It or Jack Torrance. Jack Nicholson is just one creepy dude. Bring on Part 2 already, because we can’t get enough of this dancing clown.