From Feyd-Rautha inDune: Part Twoto Dementus inFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga, the movies of 2024 have brought some really great new villains to the big screen. There were some movie villains in 2024 who were just outright evil with no redeeming qualities, likeNicolas Cage’s titular Satanic serial killer inLonglegs. But there were also some villains that turned out to be sympathetic and misunderstood, like Anxiety inInside Out 2.
2024 brought some surprisingly great villain performances from actors who don’t usually play villains. The typically affableHugh Grant played a terrifying monster inHeretic, and the charming Josh Hartnett played a cold-hearted murderer in M. Night Shyamalan’sTrap. This year brought some really great movies, and with those great movies came some great villains.
10Cooper
Trap
M. Night Shyamalan’sTrapdoesn’t completely hold together as a thriller, but it works beautifully as a dark comedy. Josh Hartnett gives a hilariously over-the-top performance as a psychotic killer wearing the mask of a mild-mannered suburban dad.Trappulls off the same cinematic paradox asJokerandTaxi Driver; Cooper is clearly the bad guy, but since he’s the character the audience is following, they’re tricked into rooting for him.
9Madame Morrible
Wicked
Madame Morrible, the Dean of Sorcery at Shiz University, is a secondary villain inthe original Broadway version ofWicked. But since the 2024 adaptation only covers the first half of the musical, she’s the main villain of the movie. Michelle Yeoh’s performance fits the campy tone of the film perfectly while still allowing the character’s evil to shine through and bringing some depth to the role.
8Lou Langston, Sr.
Love Lies Bleeding
The emotional core of Rose Glass’ romantic thrillerLove Lies Bleedingis the love story of Kristen Stewart’s Lou and Katy O’Brian’s Jackie, but the biggest obstacle standing in the way of their happiness is Lou’s estranged father, Lou Langston, Sr. Ed Harris proves he’s still got it with a really wicked performance. The way he abuses his daughter and manipulates Jackie makes Lou, Sr. a truly despicable villain who’s very easy to hate.
7Dale Ferdinand Kobble
Longlegs
The cryptic marketing for Osgood Perkins’ psychological thrillerLonglegsbuilt a lot of mystique around Nicolas Cage’s eponymous serial killer — and against all odds, his performance lived up to the hype. Cage is a magnetic screen presence as usual, but he’s also deeply disturbing. He’s insufferably creepy, whether he’s screaming in his car or painting an interrogation room with his own blood, but it’s also impossible to look away.
6Dementus
Chris Hemsworth stole every scene he was in as the Warlord Dementus in George Miller’sFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga.Mad Maxvillainsare typically stoic and stony-faced, but Dementus never shuts his mouth. The gift of the gab is his superpower; he keeps talking and talking until he talks himself out of trouble. Even though the whole story is built around Furiosa’s quest for revenge — and Dementus did something truly horrible to her — Hemsworth’s hilarious performance makes him oddly lovable.
5Mr. Reed
Heretic
In the past few years, Hugh Grant has left behind his heartthrob image and started playing weirder, darker, more eccentric roles. He took that career renaissance to a whole new height in Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ religious horror hitHereticthis year. Grant gives a truly sinister turn as the mysterious Mr. Reed, who holds two Mormon missionaries hostage to question their faith.
4Macrinus
Gladiator II
For the most part,Gladiator IIis a remake in all but name that falls short of its predecessor. But the firstGladiatormovie didn’t have Denzel Washington chewing the scenery as power-hungry Macrinus. The sequel doesn’t get into gear and become its own thing until Macrinus seizes power from the emperors.Washington providesGladiator IIwith plenty of comic relief, but he also provides it with an unforgettable villain.
3Sue
The Substance
When washed-up starlet Elisabeth Sparkle first takes the titular beauty-enhancing drug in Coralie Fargeat’sThe Substance, she wants to feel better about herself. She creates her younger counterpart, Sue, to boost her self-esteem. But Sue just becomes the Hyde to her Jekyll, and siphons out what little youth she has left. Sue is a perfect body-horror metaphor for the notion of daughters stealing their mothers’ beauty. As Sue enjoys more and more time in the spotlight, Elisabeth devolves into a monster.
2Anxiety
Inside Out 2
From Anton Ego to Gabby Gabby, the best Pixar villains aren’t outright evil; they’re just misguided and misunderstood. They don’t need to be defeated; they need to be helped.Inside Out 2’s Anxietyis a prime example of that. It would’ve been easy to depict Anxiety as a monster, but it’s much more complicated than that. Anxiety thinks it’s being helpful by warning people about everything that could go wrong, and Maya Hawke’s nuanced, sympathetic portrayal of Anxiety captures that perfectly.
1Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Dune: Part Two
Denis Villeneuve saved the introduction of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen untilDune: Part Two, and he was worth the wait. Austin Butler creates an unforgettable character with very little screen time; his Feyd is slick, sadistic, and unabashedly evil. Feyd is the dark inversion of Paul Atreides; he was similarly born to an important bloodline and feels entitled to the throne, but he has even more sinister intentions. Butler’s unsettling grin alone makes Feyd the best movie villain of 2024.
