50 Greatest Villains Of 2012

Byer

The Film: The Bourne Legacy

The Villain: Ed Norton will play Byer, a key member of the programme by which Kenneth Kidson (Jeremy Renner) was transformed into Aaron Cross. When Cross turns his back on the programme, it’s Byer’s job to track him down and eliminate him.

How Scary: He appears to be utterly ruthless. He’ll have to be, mind, since Cross is described as “Treadstone, without the inconsistencies.”

Murad

The Film: Taken 2

The Villain: The vengeful father of one of the kidnappers dispatched by Liam Neeson’s angry dad in the original, Murad ( Snatch star Rade Sherbedgia) decides to get even by kidnapping Neeson and his wife. Chances are, this won’t end well for him…

How Scary: Grief is a powerful motivator, but surely Murad stands no chance against the big Irishman…

Patrick

The Film: Martha Marcy May Marlene

The Villain: John Hawkes’ insidious cult leader is all the more frightening for the absence of looney-tune tics and Bible-bashing rants. Instead he’s a quietly charismatic presence, with a truly sinister agenda.

How Scary: Extremely unpredictable with a vice-like hold over his young charges, he’s a really nasty piece of work.

Red Skull

The Film: The Avengers

The Villain: Of course we don’t know for definite that Red Skull will be appearing in The Avengers , but if a recent toy line is anything to go by, Hugo Weaving’s Nazi is a surprise participant in the year’s biggest superhero smackdown. Where did he disappear to at the end of Captain America , anyway?

How Scary: Weaving was pretty fearsome in Captain America , so we’ll be expecting more of the same second time out.

The Aliens

The Film: Battleship

The Villain: A bunch of extra-terrestrial marauders, who begin to target America from behind the safety of a massive forcefield somewhere out at sea. Fortunately for the Yanks however, a solitary battleship is lurking behind enemy lines…

How Scary: It depends. Did you find the Decepticons scary? Because for our money, they look extremely similar…

Kronos

The Film: Wrath Of The Titans

The Villain: The long-imprisoned father of Zeus, Hades and Poseidon has been lingering in Tartarus (a dungeon in the Underworld) for longer than he’d care to remember. Now he’s broken free, and looking for payback. Over to you, Perseus…

How Scary:
He’s massive, made of fire and hugely pissed off. We wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.

The Woman in Black

The Film: The Woman in Black

The Villain:
A malevolent spirit, hell-bent on killing the children of the local village in revenge for the loss of her own child. She’ll never forgive, don’t you know…

How Scary: Absolutely ruddy terrifying, largely thanks to the fact you keep catching glimpses of her in the corner of the screen. Spooky stuff…

Jean Vilain

The Film: The Expendables 2

The Villain: JCVD joins the Expendables party to play the leader of a gang of rival mercenaries who don’t play by the same rules as Sly Stallone’s mob. You can tell by his name that he’s a bit of a rotten egg.

How Scary: He looks like a bit of a nutcase, doesn’t he? He won’t be allowed to swear though, or Chuck Norris will take his ball home.

President Snow

The Film: The Hunger Games

The Villain: The autocratic ruler of Panem, President Snow might have a charming microphone manner, but underneath all that, he’s a dyed in the wool sadist. As you might expect from somebody who forces teenagers into a televised fight to the death!

How Scary: The most powerful man in the world, who just happens to be a total psychopath? Yes, we’d say he’s quite scary.

Queen Victoria

The Film: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits

The Villain:
The sour-faced monarch of the United Kingdom, who absolutely loathes pirates (even ones voiced by the ever so charming Hugh Grant) and will take every step necessary to exterminate them forever. Booooo!

How Scary: Not particularly, unless you’ve got a wooden leg or a parrot on your shoulder. In which case, you’re bang in trouble…

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.