The Top 12 Funniest Movie Villains

Television Without Pity have come up with a list of characters that they think are the 12 funniest movie villains of all time, this is one list I think is pretty solid. Take a look and see if you agree…

Lex Luthor (Superman, Superman II)

What’s the sinister plan behind Lex’s theft of two nuclear missiles and his eventual team-up with an interplanetary despot? You’ll love this, it’s hysterical — real estate. The guy wants waterfront property, no matter how long the fallout from the sinking of California may last, and if that fails, well, he just wants Australia. Because land and money are worth millions of lives! Hi-larious! His hair may be fake, but his chutzpah is real.

Count Rugen (The Princess Bride)

It was a dry humor, but Rugen’s concern for Prince Humperdink’s well-being and charming bedside manner as he questioned Wesley after subjecting him to the wheel showed him to be a gentleman and a scholar, albeit one utterly immune to the pain of others. Of course, once Inigo Montoya discovered his whereabouts, Rugen stopped tossing off bon mots and started throwing knives.

Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

One thing that the Nightmare remake failed to count on was the appeal of Freddy the quintessential showman. The O.G. Freddy, as played by Robert Englund, loved puns, frequently employed costumes, would occasionally cross-dress and generally had a vim and verve not seen since the days of vaudeville.

The Joker (Batman)

“Never rub another man’s rhubarb.” That’s just a bit of the home-spun wisdom offered up by the thug turned hitman turned crime boss turned political aspirant known as Jack Napier. The smile may be permanently frozen on his face, but his love of Prince, funny old-man dances and low tolerance of goon failure have put semi-permanent smiles on our own faces, as well.

Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice)

He didn’t start off as the villain — he was just a freelancer, then an annoyance — but he quickly rose to villain status when he attempted to marry Lydia Deitz, ensorcelled her family, banished Mrs. Maitland to Saturn and turned Otho’s suit paisley. (Monstro!) But he did it all with a smile and a wink, right down to the old dead-woman’s-ring-finger gag. A classic.

Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)

Yes, yes, the haircut is a laugh-riot, but what about the faces he makes when he kills people? The way he freaks people out with a coin toss? The word “friendo”? If his victims weren’t so worried about dying, they’d laugh, too.

Jacobim Mugatu (Zoolander)

Another Will Ferrell creation, the puffy-haired Mugatu is named after a Star Trek villain, employs Milla Jovovich as a henchwoman and designs expensive clothing based on homeless people when he’s not brainwashing models to assassinate world leaders. There is nothing about him that is not funny.

The Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)

The Rodney Dangerfield of medieval England, the Sheriff got no respect, not from his heart’s desire Maid Marian and not from the backwards tree people living in the forest. Even his right-hand man didn’t get his jokes, asking why carving out someone’s heart with a spoon was preferable to a knife, when the Sheriff was obviously going for a gag. Heck, he even managed to find the comedy in a scene where he tries to rape Marian in front of his witch/mother, and that couldn’t have been easy.

Kaufman (Land of the Dead)

The funniest part of Dennis Hopper’s character accidentally shooting his own employee because he thought he was a zombie is that we’ve all been there. Am I right? We’re looking at you, Woody Harrelson.

Hans Landa (Inglourious Basterds)

Yes, the man is a Nazi, but he’s a whimsical one. Changing languages at will, gleefully describing what animal he most resembles, trying not to giggle as his intellect sees through disguises and brings a plan to fruition — all these things serve to endear him to us, much like we enjoy it when the cast of SNL tries hard not to crack up during a sketch. Of course, SNL isn’t responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, although there were some sketches in the 1980s that came close.

Mr. Freeze (Batman and Robin)

Another lover of puns, it seems like clever wordplay was the sole reason for Victor Fries’s villainy, aside from the whole curing-his-frozen-wife thing. And the elaborate Icecapades show he built to keep Batman and Robin at bay? With the killer hockey team? Hysterically camp! Only a villain as self-aware of his own ridiculousness could– Wait, he was serious about that? Yikes.

John Travolta (in anything)

Gabriel Shear, Swordfish. Castor Troy, Face/Off. Vic Deakins, Broken Arrow. Terl, Battlefield Earth. Howard Saint, The Punisher. Even now, there are tears in our eyes, and we’re just looking at the thumbnails on Travolta’s IMDb page. Oh, the hilarious memories.

source: Megamind: The Funniest Movie Villains [TVWOP]

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The Top 12 Funniest Movie Villains

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