We all know that Darth Vader was voted the favorite movie villain of all time, but that to me was only for the first Star Wars trilogy, and maybe not even for all 3 films. Once Vader started to be portrayed as the former Anakin Skywalker, he became a flawed person rather than an evil monster. As a pure villain he was much more effective to make the heroes look that much better. When Star Wars started to make excuses for Vader, everybody was diminished.

I believe the villain can make or break the hero in any film and I believe we want to see good chemistry between them because secretly we like villains more than heroes.

So who is your favorite movie villain? Or who is the best obscure movie villain that you have seen, if you want to stay away from the usual suspects?

I'll kick it off with Hans Gruber and an honorable mention to Karl.

"Die Hard" had 4 sequels, but John McClane was never as good in any of them as he was in the original. Alan Rickman was the villain and ballet star Alexander Godunov was his henchman. They were a perfect pair to make Brice Willis look so heroic and there was actually a plausible script to go along with it. It's unfortunate that Rickman never signed a certified card and Godunov died way too young. The villains made that movie a classic.

And if you're wondering . . . Yes, "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie to me. I watch it every year instead of "It's a Wonderful Life".

Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.
Arby in Utopia is also of a similar nature.
They are more like machines without a conscience when it comes to completing the job.

Another fav is Annie Wilkes in Misery.

I agree, once you start placing in reasons (especially good ones) for the evil behavior their status as a villain begins to water down a bit.