When reviewing Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, Roger Ebert wrote "Each film is only as good as its villain," and in turn suggested that Ricardo Montalban's turn as the titular villain is what made the film a great one. Ebert's point is that villains drive a film's conflict and make it unique from others along the way.

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Since villains do not, as Ebert put it, recur like heroes do from film to film, they only have one shot at making a good impression. Looking at the blockbuster films of the 2010s, there are some villains that managed to make those impressions.

10 Smaug Is One Of The Best Dragons Ever Seen On Screen

Smaug Searches For Bilbo In The Hobbit

The Hobbit films are often downright dismal. The highlight of the trilogy, and one of the only moments that feels on par with Jackson's earlier The Lord Of The Rings, is Bilbo's verbal sparring with Smaug. Smaug is the great Fire Drake who laid waste to Dwarf kingdom Erebor and claimed its land and wealth for his own.

Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Smaug in the film. The British actor's greatest tool has always been his voice, and with every syllable of Tolkien's words he belts out as Smaug, he projects terror and strange allure while sounding greater than a mere human. Cumberbatch's voice work mixed with easily the finest CG animation in The Hobbit makes Smaug one of the best, most awe-inspiring depictions of a dragon put to film.

9 Luv Is The Standout Character Of Blade Runner 2049

Luv Reclines In Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049's cast has plenty of analogs for the original. For Replicant antagonist Roy Batty, there's Luv, played with icy intimidation by Sylvia Hoeks. Rather than a rebel replicant, Luv is an enforcer for her creator, Niander Wallace.

In the wrong hands, the part could be generic, but Hoeks adds to the material. Even when playing the part of a loyal servant, Luv's icy demeanor is clearly just hiding sadistic rage.

8 Loki Is Much More Than A One-Off Villain

Loki Looks Slightly Amused As He Stands In Stark Tower In The Avengers

If the MCU has a breakout character, then it's Loki. Marvel has an unfortunate habit of one-and-done villains, but the God of Mischief escaped this, becoming part of the recurring ensemble rather than just one of many disposable big bads. With Tom Hiddleston's charisma, it's easy to see why.

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Thor reimagined Loki, and rather than just making mischief for mischief's sake, he is burdened by an inferiority complex next to his big brother Thor. This focus on the brotherly relationship has carried through film to film, and Loki has become more of an anti-hero than a villain along the way.

7 Bane Was An Admirable Follow-Up To Joker

Batman And Bane Clash In The Dark Knight Rises

Tom Hardy is just one in a long line of natural-born character actors so pretty that Hollywood tried to mold them into leading men. Maybe it's not a coincidence that playing Bane with his gorgeous face covered in The Dark Knight Rises was the first indication of what a strange yet memorable performer he can be.

While Hardy's odd mannerisms have made the character into a meme in some circles, Bane brings greater ruination on the Dark Knight than any prior villain, and just like his comic counterpart, he breaks the Bat. Equaling, let alone beating, Heath Ledger's Joker was always going to be an impossible task, but Hardy's Bane is a more than respectable effort.

6 Raoul Silva Is The Best Villain In Daniel Craig's Bond Era

Raoul Silva James Bond

Bond villains are some of the ultimate proof of Ebert's hypothesis. While the 2010s ultimately gave audiences only two 007 adventures, it's no coincidence that the far stronger film, 2012's Skyfall, has the far stronger villain with Javier Bardem's Raoul Silva. A former MI6 agent himself, Silva's vendetta is not against Bond, but M, his former handler who left him to die.

It takes more than an hour for Silva to show up onscreen, and his belated introduction ranks as one of the best Bond villain scenes. Of the glut of action films that followed in The Dark Knight's path, Skyfall is one of the few that can compare, and Silva is one of the only Joker imitators worth discussing.

5 Killmonger Is The Most Sympathetic Villain In The MCU So Far

Killmonger talks to T'Challa while facing death

Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe has produced its fair share of lackluster villains, Erik "Killmonger" Stevens is not one of them. The long-lost cousin of King T'Challa, Killmonger's goal is to usurp the throne of Wakanda and use the nation's technology to end the oppression of black people around the globe. Between his tragic personal history and righteous motivations, it's hard to hate Killmonger even when he's opposing the heroes.

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Also helping is that Michael B. Jordan gives one of the best performances in the MCU, putting his movie star charisma to angrier effect. His last words - "Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage" - achieve profundity most Marvel films can't even come near.

4 Koba Is The Perfect Villian For Caesar

Koba Looks Angry In Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

While its premise is unavoidably goofy, The Planet Of The Apes is the most thoughtful and, funnily enough, humanistic of the major sci-fi film franchises. Matt Reeves' Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is the most successful in those regards since the 1968 original.

The first film of this trilogy, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, created a compelling CGI protagonist with the Chimpanzee named Caesar, played brilliantly by Andy Serkis. Reeves' sequel introduces just as strong a villain in Koba. Played by Toby Kebbell, Koba experienced torturous experiments in his youth and sabotages a prospective alliance between Caesar's apes and the local humans. Even in death, Koba wins, as his actions destroyed any chance for peaceful coexistence between man and ape.

3 David Is One Of The Most Complex Characters In The Alien Franchise

Android David releases facehuggers on the colonists in Alien: Covenant

Ridley Scott pulled a trick with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant - he made not just a prequel to his classic Alien, but a spiritual sequel to his other sci-fi opus, Blade Runner. The xenomorphs themselves are a lesser focus in this duology, with the main interest being in themes of creation, the supplanting of one generation by the next, and religious faith. Michael Fassbender's android character David 8 is the vehicle for Scott's vision.

David spent Prometheus as the most compelling side character, but he becomes the practical protagonist of the sequel, Alien: Covenant. While in Prometheus, David was a loose analog for Ian Holm's Ash, Covenant turns him into a mix of Roy Batty and Victor Frankenstein. What's more, he actually wins in the end. Fans can only cross their fingers that David's story will continue further.

2 Kylo Ren Was Almost An Incredible Star Wars Villain

Kylo Ren Glares From Behind His Ignited Lightsaber In Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Kylo Ren may dress like the dark lords of Star Wars' past, but beneath this presentation, he's something much more pathetic. He's a cosmic school shooter, born into privilege and so frustrated by his search for purpose that he lets himself be seduced by evil. Even so, he's utterly lacking in the fearsome dignity his grandfather possessed.

Yet, his inability to command the respect or power he wishes to makes him all the more complex, and Adam Driver mines the character for all the pathos he's worth. Were it not for The Rise Of Skywalker's regressive, trite redemption for the character, Kylo Ren might have been the greatest movie villain of the 2010s.

1 Immortan Joe Shows The World Will Always Have Tyrants

Immortan Joe In Mad Max Fury Road

Immortan Joe is a villain for our time like no other on this list. As the ruler of the Citadel, the Immortan lives in as much comfort as the Wasteland permits and is intent on continuing his post-apocalyptic dynasty. He keeps his subjects in line with both resources and a cult of personality.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a film both pressing yet eternal. Throughout history, there have always been tyrants, and if the film is to be believed, there will still be tyrants even after the world has ended. Still, so long as there is tyranny and suffering, there can also be the will to overthrow oppression and the hope to build a just world.

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