The 10 best movie villains of 2025

Jimmy Crystal: ’28 Years Later'<br>

As was the case with the original 28 Days Later, the sequel 28 Years Later imagined a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, where it was still the humans that were the scariest, with the horrifying first scene featuring a young child watching his father be engulfed by a horde of the undead. It’s revealed later on in the film that this boy grew up to become a mysterious drifter who leads a gang of mercenaries who are all dressed to resemble the disgraced British television personality Jimmy Savile.

Invoking Savile’s crimes as inspiring these characters was a bold choice on the part of director Danny Boyle, but it works because of how effective Jack O’Connell is in the role of Jimmy Crystal, the leader of the gang that feels somewhat inspired by Alex in A Clockwork Orange, such that O’Connell is expected to have an even bigger role in the film’s sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which is set to be released in January.

Hermann Göring: ‘Nuremberg'<br>

Although the classic courtroom drama Judgment at Nuremberg provided the most thorough examination of the famous trial in which former members of the Nazi party were subjected to judgment for their role in the Holocaust, the new historical drama Nuremberg pinpoints the efforts to take down Hermann Göring, a high-ranking German who was close to Adolf Hitler.

Taking on the real-life villain is Russell Crowe in what may be his best role in over a decade, and while he has often disparaged his former collaborators, it’s hard to deny just how captivating he can be when given the right part.

Göring is a particularly haunting figure in Nuremberg because he uses the guise of being an honourable, patriotic serviceman to mask his darker feelings and desire to enact a genocide, such that a striking turn that occurs late in the film, in which his true hatred is revealed, could certainly be used as a clip should Crowe ever get nominated for his great performance.

Kenneth Marshall: ‘Mickey 17’ <br>

There was significant anticipation for whatever Bong Joon-ho would end up doing next after sweeping the Oscars for his masterpiece Parasite, and his latest feature, Mickey 17, proved to be much different from what his fans expected.

If earlier Bong films felt like a disturbing window into a realistic version of society, this was a deeply weird science fiction adventure about how current issues could be exacerbated in the future, and no one embodied this better than the character of Kenneth Marshall, a corrupt politician played by Mark Ruffalo.

Marshall is the type of character who is ridiculous, arrogant, and self-serving, but it’s so easy to draw comparisons between him and real-life politicians that it doesn’t feel unbelievable that he would find himself in a position of power that allowed him to hurt people.

Although Ruffalo also turned in a career-best performance this year with his heartbreaking role as a grieving FBI agent in the excellent HBO series Task, Mickey 17 showed that he could let loose and get over-the-top if he wanted, standing as testament to his incredible range.

Lex Luthor: ‘Superman'<br>

One of the biggest challenges that James Gunn’s Superman faced was finding a way to modernise the iconic villain of Lex Luthor, who had never quite been nailed onscreen before.

Gene Hackman’s version of the character in the original films was more of a comic oaf than a true threat, and the less said about Kevin Spacey in Superman Returns, the better; however, Nicholas Hoult turned the CEO of LexCorp into a greedy, xenophobic titan who uses his power of influence to start a campaign against the ‘Man of Steel’, all while tempting fate by messing with Kryptonian technology, lending the character much-needed depth.

Although Superman has the type of comedic shenanigans that one might expect from a Gunn film at this point, Hoult is able to take the role seriously, and at times becomes quite scary: one moment involving a shocking, cold-blooded murder became the film’s most terrifying scene, and while Hoult may have briefly returned to make fun of himself in an episode of Peacemaker, he’s expected to have a bigger role in the upcoming Superman sequel set for 2027.

Richard Cane: ‘The Naked Gun'<br>

The idea of rebooting The Naked Gun sounded terrible, but thankfully, director Akiva Schaffer brought back the same comedic sensibilities of the Zucker brothers for a sequel that was refreshingly silly.

While Liam Neeson’s casting as the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Lieutenant Frank Drebin was a stroke of genius, one of the film’s biggest scene-stealers turned out to be Danny Huston in the role of Richard Cane, the wealthy leader of a tech company who plans to create chaos using a weaponised device.

Huston goes toe-to-toe with Neeson during any of the comedy scenes and makes fun of the overcomplicated evil plans that villains tend to have in action films, and while there are times in which Cane appears to be pretentious and demeaning to Drebin, Huston isn’t afraid to look completely ridiculous by the time the film reaches its hilarious climax.

He has typically been an actor who has been associated with more serious roles, but his performance in The Naked Gun suggests that he might have an equally bright future in comedy.

The Major: ‘The Long Walk'<br>

There were four 2025 films released that were based on Stephen King stories, and it’s no coincidence that the two best ones co-starred Mark Hamill, who played a kind-hearted, empowering grandfather in The Life of Chuck but transformed into a monstrous military leader in the dystopian thriller The Long Walk.

His character, known only as The Major, leads a group of young men on a contest in which they must continue walking at the same pace until only one survivor remains.

Hamill’s presence in the film is understated, as he exists to reinforce the idea that the nation is under a tyrannical rule that these young men aren’t able to resist. As sadistic as he is, The Major rarely moves from the seat in his tank, giving him a god-like aura to the boys that fall behind him.

The actor created an all-time great villain when he voiced the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, but The Long Walk allowed him to play a live-action character that was just as unsettling.

Jake: ‘The Plague’ <br>

While it’s hardly one of the most seen films of 2025, The Plague is a terrifying examination of just how cruel 12-year-old boys can be to one another when they are freed from adult supervision.

The story of the young boy Ben, played by Everett Blunk, and his miserable experience at a summer water polo camp takes an even darker turn thanks to the presence of the most popular attendee, Jake, played in a stellar breakout performance by Kayo Martin.

Jake is the type of kid who knows how to get under everyone’s skin and can turn the tide of a conversation at any moment and single out who he wants to bully, and as such, scarier than Jake’s ability to avoid any consequences is how he easily manipulates the behavior of the other boys at camp, who follow his word with shocking loyalty.

The Plague is one of the most compelling films about childhood bullying in recent memory, and Martin is certain to have a great career following his amazing turn.

Milton Rockwell: ‘Marty Supreme’ <br>

The casting of real-life businessman and Shark Tank personality Kevin O’Leary in Marty Supreme may have turned some heads, but Josh Safdie couldn’t have made a better choice to play the cruel, selfish antagonist of his whirlwind sports thriller.

As a powerful investor who is coaxed into fronting a table tennis tournament, Milton Rockwell is willing to hang Timothee Chalamet’s Marty Mauser out to dry without a second thought, and even if Marty has the ambition and drive to push himself beyond any reasonable means, Rockwell has the inherent advantage of wealth, privilege, and status that gives him the upper hand in any encounter.

Marty Supreme feels like a return to the type of anti-hero stories popularised in the New Hollywood era of the 1970s, as Chalamet plays a character who is willing to do some fairly atrocious and despicable things. That being said, Rockwell is such a compulsively hateable character (made even more infuriating by O’Leary’s off-screen activities) that it’s hard not to root for Marty to set him straight.

Aunt Gladys: ‘Weapons'<br>

There hasn’t been another character in 2025 that graduated to instant icon status like Aunt Gladys, the sinister mastermind behind the disappearance of a classroom filled with children in this summer’s word-of-mouth horror sensation Weapons.

Thanks to a brilliant marketing campaign that masked many of the film’s twists and turns, it was able to hide any details about Amy Madigan’s mysterious character until the terrifying reveal of how she came to divide the town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, through fear and manipulation.

The most disturbing assertion in Weapons is that Aunt Gladys can turn even the most harmless of people into wreaking damage upon others, which only exacerbates the existing tensions within the community. It’s a case where Madigan’s larger-than-life performance actually fits the material, as the film is perfectly aware when it’s being funny, and the fact that she has begun to receive serious award attention for a very idiosyncratic, unusual performance is a sign that Aunt Gladys is a special character who will stick around in popular culture for a while.

Colonel Lockjaw: ‘One Battle After Another'<br>

It only makes sense that the best film of the year would also have the best villain, and Sean Penn’s role as the sinister Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another is the embodiment of what evil looks like in 2025.

Although he’s ultimately an ignorant, self-loathing coward, Lockjaw is empowered by militarism and a desire to be accepted by an even more shadowy institution, allowing him to terrorise the most vulnerable people in the nation. Penn isn’t afraid to make Lockjaw into a broad character who makes ridiculously self-aggrandising comments, but the fact that someone of his erraticism could feasibly be in a position of influence is quite distressing.

His presence reverberates throughout the film, as he is responsible for the disappearance of Perfidia Beverly Hills, played with a grey hand by Teyana Taylor, and the kidnapping of her daughter, Chase Infiniti’s Willa, who is forced to learn some uncomfortable truths about her lineage.

One Battle After Another may ultimately have a hopeful message about a young generation’s ability to actuate change, but it wouldn’t be nearly as inspiring had they not survived a villain as ruthless as Lockjaw.