The cinema of the 2000s gave us a large number of unforgettable films. It is with stories more grandiose than each other, heroic protagonists, but also the mastery of digital special effects, without forgetting villains who will remain etched in the minds forever, that this decade of the beginning of the 21st century has succeeded in becoming perhaps one of the best periods in the history of cinema. It is therefore without surprise that we are going to look at the 10 most iconic villains of these years.
#10 Dresser (Gladiator)
Unloved Son of the wise Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Commodus is one of Joaquin Phoenix's most memorable roles.Unable to bear his father's preference for General Maximus, he decides to kill his father and sentence his former friend to death, having his family murdered in the process. What makes Commodus such a fascinating villain is that he is above all a tragic and pathetic character. His death in the arena against Maximus, whom he stabbed in the heart before the fight, is a reflection of his reign.: the body of the former general turned gladiator is carried by soldiers and senators, while that of the emperor is left abandoned.
#9 Syndrome (The Incredibles)
Among the greatest Pixar films, The Incrediblesis a true masterpiece. The villain of the film, Syndrome, is a former hardcore fan of Mr. Incredible, who rejected him. His deep resentment made him transform into a villain. In order to pass himself off as a hero, he created a huge robot, the Omnidrode, which he controls remotely in order to feign a fight. Just as pathetic as Commodus, he is nonetheless an antagonist who has put an entire family of superheroes in trouble.
#8 Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)
Despite his ridiculous haircut, Anton Chigurh is undoubtedly one of the most iconic villains of the 2000s. Cold and ruthless, he sets out to hunt down Llewelyn Moss, who has taken with him a briefcase containing $2 million that he found near corpses on the Mexican border. Using a pneumatic gun intended for slaughterhouse animals, Anton leaves many corpses behind him, without the slightest mercy. Javier Bardem's performance is so impressive that he will win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
#7 Magneto (X-Men)
When we think of superhero films from the 2000s, how can we not remember the X-Men saga?and in particular his first three feature films. In all this band of mutants, the greatest antagonist is unequivocally Magneto. This famous mutant who has the power to control metals dreams of only one thing, to bring to his knees all of humanity that he considers barbaric (in some ways rightly so, given what happened to him during his childhood) and to make sure that mutants take power by all means.His friend and best enemy Charles Xavier thinks on the contrary that mutants and humans can coexist without worry, and the fight for humanity, mutant and non-mutant, turns out to be the biggest issue of the X-Men saga.
#6 Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter)
The Dark Lord of J.K. Rowling's magical universe has left its mark on an entire generation. This Lord Voldemort who seeks to rule the wizarding world is both impressive and with his horcruxes almost invincible, which makes him a very great villain. However, we are still dealing with a “great” wizard who gets beaten twice by a kid and struggles to get a school back! A school!!! That's why he's in the ranking.
#5 Hans Landa (Inglourious Basterds)
If Inglourious Basterdsis not Quentin Tarantino's best film, the feature film nevertheless has some of his most memorable scenes. The opening scene is a real lesson in cinema, sublimated by the extraordinary performance of Christoph Waltz (awarded an Oscar for best supporting actor) in the role of SS Colonel Hans Landa.Charismatic, polyglot, frighteningly polite, he is fearsomely efficient and always seems to be three steps ahead of his interlocutors. Above all, sensing the wind was turning, he tried to pass himself off as a hero of the resistance, by letting Adolf Hitler get killed during the screening of a propaganda film.
#4 Sheev Palpatine (Star Wars)
Although we first meet Darth Sidious in Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1983, as Sheev Palpatine, it is in Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1999 that we meet him.Throughout the prequel, this senator from the planet Naboo continues to climb the ranks thanks to his talents for manipulation and manages to deceive the Jedi until he executes Order 66 and takes Anakin Skywalker as an apprentice under the name of Darth Vader, in Star Wars, episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Between his great mastery of the Force and his techniques to achieve his ends, Sheev Palpatine is without a doubt the greatest antagonist in the Star Wars galaxy.
#3 Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)
The great return of piracy to the cinema marked the 2000s. With its three films (yes there are five, but can we really include 4 and 5?), the Pirates of the Caribbean sagaoffers us adventure like the 7th art rarely offers us. After an excellent first part released in 2003, the next two films introduce us to an unforgettable villain in the person of Davy Jones.This former pirate cursed by the ocean goddess Calypso is the captain of the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman (a boat capable of sailing underwater) and has in his pay the mythical and dangerous Kraken who destroys ships like a mosquito. With his octopus appearance, Davy Jones has managed to establish himself as one of the greatest villains of this decade, both cruel and tragic.
#2 Joker (The Dark Knight)
Coming in second place is Batman's greatest enemy; The Joker. Yes, this character first appeared in comics in 1940, but Heath Ledger's interpretation of the character that we were given to see in The Dark KnightChristopher Nolan's The Joker is simply masterful and has reinvented the character in cinema, delivering arguably the best version of the Joker. With his sadistic pleasure in sowing chaos and his madness making him unpredictable, this Joker has left his mark on the history of cinema forever.
#1 Saruman (The Lord of the Rings)
You may be wondering: why Saruman and not Sauron? Factually, if Sauron is the great architect of Evil in Middle-earth during the Third Age, he is ultimately not very present, and only in the form of “a large eye, without lids, surrounded by flames“. On the contrary, Saruman played by Sir Christopher Lee offers us a cruel magician who does not hesitate to have men, women and children massacred by his armies of Uruk-Hai to achieve his ends. He makes Isengard a gigantic factory and to maintain his furnaces does not hesitate to destroy the forest of Fangorn, which leads him to his downfall. We can see here a clear criticism of industry and its ravages on the English countryside so appreciated by J.R.R. Tolkien. The brilliant Christopher Lee who was already known for so many movie roles that it would take pages to detail his career, here delivers the greatest villain of the 2000s.
Tell us which one traumatized you the most in the comments and if you would like to discover the villains of other decades. In the meantime, don't miss out on discovering this villain who will face Peter Parker in Spider Man 4.