Some might deem being featured in the list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever a bad thing, but the truth is that it requires a great deal of talent to earn everyone’s hatred. Certainly, a role that awakens actual despise in the hearts of audiences everywhere is a role well played. Who are these talented actors and actresses? Let’s find out!
People say that you should hate the game, not the player, but sometimes actors’ performances are so dead on, it’s really hard for the public to discern between fiction and reality. Let’s take for example infamous King Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones, one of the Most Hated Television Characters of all Time, and certainly, one of the most arrogant TV characters ever. If you watched the show, then there’s no way you didn’t want to strangle the little bastard. Even George RR Martin wrote the actor a letter congratulating him, from which a phrase became widely celebrated: “Congratulations on your marvelous performance, everyone hates you”.
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You don’t need to be a villain to be one of the most hated characters of all time, it could just be a really, REALLY annoying or stupid fellow, though in general we’re inclined to hate those who present a threat to our beloved leads. But what about when those special cases when they also ARE our beloved characters? You know, the villains you love to hate. Duality makes the best archnemesis; it makes us want them to die painful deaths, which would both fascinate, and make us a little sad.
So, how do I rank this? I google. A lot. I go on Reddit, Quora, and other forums, read several threads on the same topic and compile the information gathered. This means I filter the most featured characters, and then count how many times people go “Boo him!” or “Boo her!”. Then I rank it, season it with a little humor and ta-dá!! There’s your list on the most hated fictional characters on film.
One last thing I noticed: most movies in this list are 3 hours long, two and a half at least, so I guess you need that much time to really grow to hate a character.
Also, I’ll spoil the heck out of this movies, so be warned and click next!
16. Annie Wilkes – Misery
Even though she ranks 16, Annie Wilkes is my “go to” most hated character and villain in a movie ever.
At the beginning of the movie we all feel a bit sorry for how lame and pathetic she is. That changes. Katy Bates delivers such a shocking yet believable performance that it just twists your gut. By the end of the film we all wish her an excruciating death, like, torn apart by demons excruciating. Her actual death -beaten to death with a steel doorstop, is much too merciful.
But speaking of excruciating, here’s the very infamous “Hobbeling Scene”, also known as “I’ll just copy-paste this link, there’s no way in hell I’m watching that sh*t again” scene.
15. Alex DeLarge – A Clockwork Orange
What is hate? Baby please hurt me, please hurt me, some more.
He’s charming and intelligent and got one hell of a look, but if you’re not soft on any of that, then you must have HATED this guy. Yes, he’s annoying AF, and an absolute creep, but he’s smart, and funny, and super yummy, I guess that’s where the dilemma hits. It took me years to understand that the sick feeling I felt towards Malcom McDowell was a mixture between teenage horny-ness, pity and disgust. Self-disgust, mostly.
14. Scar – The Lion King
If you weren’t molested by your own uncle as a child, then Scar is definitely your most hated uncle. If you were, I’m really sorry.
It was Jeremy Irons, one of my all-time favorite actors, who gave life to this unholy character, and it’s really not the first time he’s made himself severely hateful. In fact, you might remember he was quite a lousy “uncle” to Lolita, too. In any case, Scar is, by far, the most disliked Disney character and definitely one of the most hated characters and villains in movies ever.
We all know which is Scars’ most terrible scene, but here it is anyway:
13. Col. Hans Landa – Inglourious Basterds
I sure love a good psycho. This charismatic bastard is most likely the best thing about this film, and that’s saying a lot because this film is damn awesome.
Christoph Waltz delivers an impeccable performance, depicting this complex and inscrutable individual. No one (not even you) can ever decipher what this extremely polite and at the same time odd character does or doesn’t know. He’s always backing his conversation partners into a corner with unsettling delicacy and subtle mockery. You can see this very clearly in this scene where he catches everybody lying through their teeth and ridicules them about it, meanwhile acting like nothing’s off.
12. Hannibal – Silence of the Lambs
Here’s someone I wasn’t expecting to have on our list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever.
While it’s true that Anthony Hopkins portrays a villain that makes you sh*t yourself every time he walks in the room, why Hanibal was so featured as hated, I don’t understand. I get he’s evil, and a lurkin’, scheamin’, but so are many other characters to choose from. Maybe I haven’t seen the movie in too long, but the way I remember it he was not that much of an a**hole, as he was a psycho.
11. Edwin Epps – 12 Years a Slave
Played by Michael Fassbender, this character, another one of the most hated characters and villains in movies ever, is designed to make Americans ashamed of their cruel past by embodying all the evil and resentment of slavers. His depiction works as a reflection of how society and institutions were founded on back then and, honestly, still are now in too many places. Touching a special fiber in America’s heart, Fassbender makes himself endlessly hateful with this unforgettable performance.
10. Denethor – Lord of the Rings
You don’t need to be a LotR fan to remember this hideous fellow, played by John Noble. He was far from being THE villain, and yet everyone dislikes him, maybe because of his gross table manners.
A disgusting king, he was the father of Ned Stark –er, I mean, Boromir, whom he loved. His other son, Faramir, wasn’t quite so lucky: Denethor tries to burn him alive, but fails miserably. Thank God, he also had the good judgment to set himself on fire as well, suffering a lovely demise falling off a cliff while in flames. It’s a really cool scene.
Just watch him eat and you’ll hate him.
9. Anton Chigurh – No Country for Old Men
My guess is it’s the hair –or the murderous spree. But most likely the hair.
If there’s one thing people love is watching super-hot actors rock ugly parts. Just as we were thrilled by Charlize Theron in Monster, we were delighted with Bardem’s Anton Chigurh in this Coen Brothers’ movie.
Charismatic in a creepy-ass way, Javier steals away the movie as he kills people with a cattle gun depending on a coin-toss.
8. Miss Trunchbull – Matilda
There she is, taking the 8th place on our list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever.
When it comes to ever hating villains and movie charcters, Matilda really gives us a pick. Her mother was God-awful, and so was her brother. Not to even mention her father, Danny Devito, who I might just hate even more. But it doesn’t matter if you were already a grown-up by the time Matilda came out, Headmistress Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) must have been present in several of your nightmares. She was nasty, mean, gross, and sweaty. She terrorized the children, and even sweet Jenny, the teacher. Even her name is scary!
7. Percy Wetmore – The Green Mile
The reason people hate Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison) is that sadistic a**holes like him actually exist, and you can run into them anywhere. That’s actually one of the main reasons people hate certain characters, as you’ll realize down the line. He’s never a real menace to the main character, he’s just a complete jerk to everyone, who keeps screwing up over and over.
6. Jar Jar Binks – Star Wars
If there’s anything that makes Star Wars fans angrier than people preferring Star Trek, it’s this guy.
Jar Jar is like that terrible guy at a bar who just figured because you asked him the time (or saved his life, whatever) he now belongs to your group of friends. He will stick to you all night, cutting into matters that do not involve him, making a lot of annoying noise, and just being plainly unnecessary on the face of the earth.
5. Amon Goeth – Schindler’s List
Sure, we all hate Nazis. We hate them in The Pianist and we hate them in Inglourious Basterds too, so what makes Schindler’s List’s Amon Goeth our favorite to loathe? What makes him number 5 on our list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever? The question grows even bigger if we consider that Ralph Fiennes also plays Lord Voldemort –the biggest Nazi ever – and he’s not even ranked here.
Amon Göth was a real person, reportedly as macabre and unfeeling as played by Fiennes. This being flawlessly portrayed throughout the movie, the feelings of hatred reach their climax in the awful “Target Practice” scene:
4. Mrs. Carmody – The Mist
You are wondering why Mrs. Carmody is on the list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever? Who doesn’t hate a religious-freak that rants on against science while locked in a mall surrounded by killer fog? I mean, other than the bunch of idiots locked inside the mall with her who actually believe what she’s saying. That’s right, no one.
It’s hard to admit while still fogged with hatred after watching the movie, but Marcia Gay Harden (which sounds very similar to “gay hard-on”) delivers a spectacular performance, that turns her into a despicable, memorable character. She is not, however,one of those profound and dual characters that you guiltily love, she’s just hateful. Thank god she dies.
3. Nurse Ratched – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
So, what we have on the third spot on our list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever? Cruel, insensitive, and just powerful enough to ruin the hero’s life, Nurse Ratched is a totem for hated characters. And like I said, it takes a lot of work to accomplish that.
Actress Louise Fletcher told FoxNews she only understood the magnitude of her role when she saw the movie among an audience for the first time. “They all stood up and cheered in the theater and were stomping their feet. That got to me. I realized, ‘Hey, I created a real villain here.'”
2. Commodus – Gladiator
Commodus is what can be perfectly described as a whiny little bitch, no offense to female dogs.
Joaquin Phoenix plays a great role as an incredibly powerful and stupid, capricious baby who betrays his whole family. He murders his father, and tries repeatedly to kill the guy who was appointed king; after crucifying his wife and son and burning them alive, that is. When he FINALLY (it’s a 3-hour movie) confronts “Gladiator” in a battle -man to cockroach- he makes sure to stab him first, while still chained. Of course, even with that advantage, he still dies because he’s a useless brat. It’s one hell of a death scene.
Also, he’s grossly super-hot for his sister, which comes as no surprise, really. Still, deserves to be one of the most hated characters and villains in movies ever, right?
1. Dolores Umbridge – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
BURN THE WITCH!
Shoot her, stab her, I don’t even care, just make her DEAD.
It is surprising that a school teacher could top annoying sidekicks, regicide uncles, and Nazis, but she did. The reason is that, while almost all most hated characters and villains in movies ever are quite improbable in everyday life, we have all met an Umbridge-like individual at some point in our journey through life.
It could be a teacher, a boss, a customer –anyone profoundly pig-headed and with just enough power to make you or your loved ones miserable for no good reason. The kind of person who will always trust their own stupidity and stubbornness in the way of actual things getting done.
As a proud Potterhead, I was a bit uncertain about how this role would play out in the movie. The written character was already so unequivocally hateful it was hard for me to believe any human could actually inspire such despise, and yet… here she is.
This was our list of most hated characters and villains in movies ever, do you have any other suggestion? Please tell us in the comments!
