The 10 Most Evil Action Movie Villains Of All Time

Big screen Hollywood villains usually get all the attention if they’re loaded up with superpowers capable of destroying the galaxy. Over the years, the quest to make new villains has caused filmmakers to try and one-up the formula. Yet some of the most notorious and memorable movie villains are just regular guys who have a few screws loose, and are willing to do anything to get what they want.

Action movies have given audiences some of the most despicable and evil villains ever committed to film, and they’ve earned their resentment for the awful deeds they’ve done. Some are criminal masterminds. Other are just people who, like Christopher Nolan’s Joker, “just want to watch the world burn.”

10 Tony Montana (Scarface, 1983)

Though lauded as something of a cultural icon, Tony Montana was one bad guy. He wasn’t out to be heroic, charismatic, or a pillar of the community. He was selfish, arrogant, and would stop at nothing to seize greater power and influence over the drug trade in Miami. Had there been no pushback, there’s no telling how far he would have gone.

Montana’s one saving grace was an extreme aversion to killing women and children. Everyone else, however, was fair game. Tony would lie, betray, and murder anyone who got in his way, while demanding absolute loyalty and honesty from everyone else. In the end, his own machinations became his undoing.

9 Hans Gruber (Die Hard, 1988)

The late, great Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Hans Gruber is easily one of the most enduring parts of the original Die Hard. Gruber was a former member of the terroristic Volksfrei movement, before setting his sights on greater things. He successfully took 30 people hostage and threatened to kill all of them if things didn’t go his way.

Although Gruber was pragmatic about his methods and rationale, he was a complete loose cannon who wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone, even a pregnant woman, if it meant achieving his own ends. McClane eventually put an end to Gruber before the criminal mastermind could go through with his plans.

8 Emil Fouchon (Hard Target, 1993)

Some action movie villains play the part of intelligent and eloquent quite well, even if they’re hiding dark secrets behind closed doors. One of them was Emil Fouchon, a man who developed an unhealthy addiction to hunting humans who were capable of giving him a challenge. He created a very lucrative business designed to lure the wealthy to partake in the hunt.

Victims were usually those who Fouchon believed would not be missed, which was a way for Fouchon to more easily tie up loose ends. He also gave his victims the opportunity to get very rich if they were able to survive the encounter and win the “game.” However, the lethal efficiency of both he and his team made that a virtual impossibility.

7 Ritchie Madano (Out For Justice, 1991)

There are certain action movie villains who are completely unhinged, and have no reason or rationale for the awful crimes they commit. Ritchie Madano was one such criminal – a psychotic crack addict with ties to the New York mob who ends up going off the rails, and committing a series of brutal crimes.

He earns the ire of detective Gino Felino, who intends to put him down for good. Along the way, Madano keeps upping the body count, even going so far as to kill a disabled friend in a wheelchair. The ultimate loose cannon, Madano had no redeeming qualities, whatsoever.

6 Eric Qualen (Cliffhanger, 1993)

John Lithgow brought out one his best villain performances in 1993’s Cliffhanger when he portrayed Eric Qualen, a terrorist with absolutely no sense of sympathy or remorse. A former military intelligence officer, Qualen later became a proficient thief in pursuit of $100 million in uncirculated bills from a crashed U.S. Treasury transport plane.

Qualen’s ragtag band of criminal henchmen were totally fine offing innocent civilians if it meant getting one step closer to the money. Yet they all feared Qualen, who was not above intimidating, bullying, and even murdering them if it meant a greater slice of the pie.

5 Sergeant Andrew Scott (Universal Soldier, 1992)

Rogue Vietnam vet Andrew Scott met his end when he tried to force Luc Deveraux to slaughter two innocent civilians during the Vietnam War. Both died in the fight, only to be resurrected as UniSols, a next-gen breed of super soldier.

Decades later, the two would reignite their feud after their memories returned. Scott picked up exactly where he left off, going on a callous murder rampage and slaughtering anyone who he believed was working for “the enemy.” Nobody was off limits, from civilians, to medical personnel, even an elderly couple.

4 Detective Mike Parnell (An Innocent Man, 1989)

Both Mike Parnell and his partner were crooked Long Beach narcotics detectives who were used to leading big drug busts, only to skim off a portion of the evidence and sell it for a major payday. No law was too strong for them to break.

Parnell was easily the worst of the two – a manipulative, cocky and remorseless individual who had no problem sending Jimmie Rainwood, an innocent man, to prison for several years after a botched bust. In the end, Parnell was brought down by Rainwood after he was let out early on parole, seeking payback.

3 Han (Enter The Dragon, 1973)

Enter The Dragon had a lot more going for it than just fantastic quotes, including one truly evil and merciless villain. Han had his hand in all kinds of illicit criminal activity, including human trafficking, and the production and sale of narcotics, particularly within the opium trade.

He used his secretive martial arts tournament as a means to enlist enforcers whom he could deploy worldwide to further cement his schemes. Han was indeed an evil man, especially for using his Shaolin martial arts training for selfish criminal pursuits, which runs contrary to its entire code.

2 Scorpio (Dirty Harry, 1971)

Villains don’t get much worse than the mysterious Scorpio, a man who seemed harmless on the surface, yet committed multiple murders while taunting the police. He seemed to get a thrill out of the chase, at least until he met detective Harry Callahan, who began outsmarting him at every turn.

Though he considered it a game at first, Scorpio became enraged that Callahan was able to catch him. After getting let off on a technicality, he took a school bus full of children hostage. It was the last straw for Callahan, who pursued him to a quarry where he ended Scorpio’s life down the barrel of a .44 magnum.

1 Blofeld (James Bond)

The arch-criminal known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld has made many different appearances throughout the James Bond franchise, but he’s never been anything less than a supremely evil criminal mastermind. Blofeld heads up SPECTRE, a terrorist organization in direct opposition to MI6, with all the resources and training to match.

Blofeld’s agenda has changed several times throughout the series, but it’s how far he’s willing to go to achieve his goals that really matters. Whether it’s destroying the world economy, triggering World War III, or using a giant space laser to set off nuclear warheads around the globe, no plan is too evil for Blofeld.

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