Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon USD POLL : What television show has the best villains?
Sign Up


    Enable Dark Mode!

  • What's HOT
  • Premiere Calendar
  • Ratings News
  • Movies
  • YouTube Channel
  • Submit Scoop
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Privacy Policy
Get In Touch
 Join SpoilerTV
Support SpoilerTV
SpoilerTV.com is now available ad-free to for all premium subscribers. Thank you for considering becoming a SpoilerTV premium member!

SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

USD POLL : What television show has the best villains?

20 Jan 2013

Share on Reddit
Today's User Submitted Daily (USD) Poll was submitted by Patrickmaloney who was picked randomly from our Poll Submissions (see below).

Let us know in the comments what you voted for and why?

Want to see your Poll posted on the site? Click the Blue Button below

You can see all the previous User Submitted Polls here.

You can vote for 1 Show.


-
Sign Up for the SpoilerTV Newsletter where we talk all things TV!

78 comments:

  1. ShatteredOne20 January 2013 at 11:03

    I'm going to go with Chuck. The villains on the show were pretty entertaining, if sometimes under utilized, but still great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Connor Davey20 January 2013 at 11:08

    Other. The Mentalist - Red John. C'mon...

    ReplyDelete
  3. poi fan20 January 2013 at 11:16

    Personof Interest has the best villains (Elias,Root,HR,Special Counsel,Kara,Wesley,Hersh)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lou20 January 2013 at 11:18

    Buffy for me, the show really introduced the idea of having a Big Bad per season and it worked very well. Out of all of them Glory is my favourite as she was a real threat that at times seemed like she would actually win.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Michal20 January 2013 at 11:24

    I pick Chuck, because most of the villains there, were super funny :D but I think that Vampire Diaries has great and fantastic bad boys/girls too (Katherine!!!!, Klaus...)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ralissa Vassilissa20 January 2013 at 11:32

    AND NO "ONCE UPON A TIME"???? I don't even see "Revenge" and "The Good Wife". :(
    I'm guessing the user who submitted the poll hasn't seen them (yet), in which case he has a lot of catching up to do. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. InvestedInYourFuture20 January 2013 at 11:40

    While Person of Interest certainly comes close in terms of awesome and diverse villain cast, I have to go with Buffy on this one

    ReplyDelete
  8. queuegroove20 January 2013 at 11:55

    What do you say of T-Bag from Prison break?

    ReplyDelete
  9. MartheGreat20 January 2013 at 11:57

    Merlin.... Morgana was the villain that we love to hate, and hate to love... She was awesome.... I think that although she was badass you couldn't hate her.....
    (Aghhh bring Merlin back!!!! )

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mila J.20 January 2013 at 12:06

    The Mentalist ..Red John

    ReplyDelete
  11. Toti MW20 January 2013 at 12:23

    Rumple and Regina are the best!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sebastiano Quaranta20 January 2013 at 12:24

    Buffy! Glory was the best villain ever!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Darcey20 January 2013 at 12:50

    Once Upon a Time... Regina, Cora, Gold, Hook and even Maleficent.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Panos Nestoras20 January 2013 at 13:03

    Buffy, Glory and Angelus were my favourite villains... Second place goes to Doctor Who.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Poppaea20 January 2013 at 13:07

    Other: Game of Thrones. I think of Littlefinger, Tywin Lannister, Cercei, Jaime,... I like when the bad people are not the 'Muhahaha I'm Evil' type, but instead people who do bad things -in the point of view of other characters- because they have their reasons to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bunky Bunk20 January 2013 at 13:14

    It's a tricky question because what is a best villain : the most villainous (the one who's the more twisty, evil and badass) or the most subtle (the one you root for, that you can truly understand) ? I love a complex, gray 'bad guy', but I also love an evil one. All in all, I'm going to say :


    - 24's Ira Gaines, Andre & Victor Drazen, Nina Myers, Sherry Palmer, Stephen Saunders, Charles Logan, Christopher Henderson, etc. 24 had a great collection of bad guy throughout the days.
    - Breaking Bad's Gus Fring (but Walter is also kind of a villain himself).
    - Lost's Benjamin Linus.
    - Sleeper Cell's Farik.
    - Buffy's Spike.
    - Alias' Arvin Sloan.
    - Homeland's Nicholas Brody.
    - Damages' Arthur Frobisher (but Patty is also kind of a villain herself).
    - Dexter's Arthur 'Trinity' Mitchell (but Dexter is also kind of a villain himself).
    - The Wire's Stringer Bell & Marlo Stanfield (among others).
    - The Shield's Kavanaugh (but Vic is also kind of a villain himself).


    I would name one of the bad guys of Sons of Anarchy season 5 alongside them all, but I don't want to spoil anyone. This show, btw, is another example of why you can't have a great villain unless you have gray anti-heroes. The thiner the limit between good and evil, the better the villains.

    ReplyDelete
  17. rehabber20 January 2013 at 13:14

    Best villain for me was Chris Heyerdahl as Alastair on Supernatural, he was creepy evil and gone way to soon.

    ReplyDelete
  18. CBarrows20 January 2013 at 13:26

    Gotta go Chuck - what defines a villan is different for different people though. I chose Chuck because the Villans were constantly entertaining yet awesome baddies - a perfect combination to me personally.

    Lost's Benjamin Linus is an example of how a great character doesn't have to be a complete villan, but can still technically fall in those ranks.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Jim 10820 January 2013 at 13:34

    Lost: Ethan, Ben, Keamy, Widmore, MIB... They made them all so "human".
    Dexter: where to start? Brian, Lila, Miguel, Trinity, Jordan, Isaak... All great, well-developed characters.
    Fringe: David Jones, Newton, Walternate, Fauxlivia, Windmark. Most of them were pretty good threats, and all SO well cast! The actors really made their characters.
    Person of Interest: Root, Elias, Kara, HR... and then the ones that aren't bad people but still a threat for the main characters like Donnelly. The show always ties the villains to the story in such a great way.

    I would like to name some from Game Of Thrones, but they are pretty much all villains so I wouldn't know how. :p

    ReplyDelete
  20. DarqueMode20 January 2013 at 13:42

    Breaking Bad would be top of my list if its villains were more obviously villains XD
    Gus Fring, Mike Ehrmantraut, the Salamenca Cartel (Tuco, Tio, and the "brothers") were are so brilliant!

    Honestly though our best villain may be the series protagonist Walter White... or his later ego Heisenberg! XD

    ReplyDelete
  21. percysowner20 January 2013 at 13:53

    I have to go with OUAT or Person of Interest. OUAT villains are fleshed out people and we can understand what led to their actions, without excusing them. Person of Interest also gives their recurring villains a depth that other shows don't because they bring the villains back and make them seem like real people, they do pure evil, but they are still human and complicated.

    ReplyDelete
  22. arun27920 January 2013 at 13:53

    Person Of Interest...!

    ReplyDelete
  23. InvestedInYourFuture20 January 2013 at 13:55

    that show had a total of 0 villains.

    ReplyDelete
  24. r_guy20 January 2013 at 14:05

    Breaking Bad - Gus Fring! What an epic villain...

    ReplyDelete
  25. stavrosLost20 January 2013 at 14:20

    I couldn't agree more... it has the Best List of villains (Root, Elias, Kara, HR etc)

    ReplyDelete
  26. omabin20 January 2013 at 15:10

    this is a very tricky question because there is not a clear definition of what a villain is. For instance, with the exception of Martin Keamy, Lost had a total of zero villains in the sense that all of them had some sort of humanity and motivation behind what they were doing as wrong as it was. It presented flawed characters that made the wrong choices. That does not qualify as villain for me most of the times. If you are talking about pure hate of a character because he is simply evil, that is different.

    ReplyDelete
  27. jensenfan197820 January 2013 at 15:20

    Supernatural has had and still has the best villains. The big ones have been Azazel, Lilith, Alistair, Ruby, Lucifer (who can beat Lucifer), Crowley, Zechariah, Castiel (for 6 and beginning of 7), Dick Roman and the Leviathans, and Naomi seems to be a problem for 8. Don't forget the monsters of the week. No one surpasses this. Seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  28. mr.OTHER20 January 2013 at 15:33

    Lost + Fringe + POI (but POI still needs some time to improve a bit)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Castiel The Angel20 January 2013 at 15:46

    Other: American Horror Story: Asylum. I love Person of Interest's villains, but AHS has the badass and evil villains ever!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Sarah Elizabeth Ann20 January 2013 at 16:35

    Once Upon a Time. You (at least, I do) actually want the two main villains to be happy. The other two newer, current ones, I'm not so sure about wanting them happy. But they're good at being who they are.

    ReplyDelete
  31. robinclank220 January 2013 at 16:35

    TVD doesn't have villains it has "bad boys"

    ReplyDelete
  32. Michael Pantoustier20 January 2013 at 16:59

    It's Revenge!

    ReplyDelete
  33. start_wearing_purple20 January 2013 at 17:00

    Alias. Sloane, the Derevkos, Sark, Kelly Peyton... everyone's allegiances were shifting so every villain was an ally at one point. Also, Sloane's ending was one of the greatest of all time.

    ReplyDelete
  34. start_wearing_purple20 January 2013 at 17:06

    In my opinion Trinity does not beat out Rudy on Dexter.


    Also, it's hard to call Kavanaugh a villain when you consider he was trying to nail a dirty cop who's crimes included being a drug lord and murder. He may have broke the law and lost his mind, but no where near the extent that Mackey did.

    ReplyDelete
  35. InvestedInYourFuture20 January 2013 at 17:12

    Even the "bad boys" name is debatable considering all the tears and tries to make them "conflicted(!)" via bad writing

    ReplyDelete
  36. Jimi Sturges20 January 2013 at 17:26

    The Vampire Diaries Klaus is the best villain

    ReplyDelete
  37. xrnzaaas20 January 2013 at 17:42

    The Mentalist
    Sons of Anarchy
    Buffy
    The X-Files

    ReplyDelete
  38. ZoeF20 January 2013 at 17:45

    SPN sometimes wins polls it doesn't deserve, but when you think of Yellow Eyes, Lucifer, Crowley, Gordon Walker, Alistair, Lilith, Zachariah et al, but mostly the amazing, brilliant actors who chewed the scenes out of their roles - then SPN wins by a long shot.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Jorge Castro Salinas20 January 2013 at 18:17

    24, Person Of Interest and Nikita

    ReplyDelete
  40. Dahne20 January 2013 at 18:38

    Hmm, this one is tough. It's a tossup between Supernatural and Buffy. Its hard to forget either of their main villains (the early years for both) but they both had awesome standalone villains too.

    ReplyDelete
  41. David Fischer20 January 2013 at 18:40

    Once Upon A Time, Angel.

    ReplyDelete
  42. ShatteredOne20 January 2013 at 19:09

    Why did I not think of this? Yes! POI dominates in awesome villains!

    ReplyDelete
  43. SmallvilleSupernaturalCastle20 January 2013 at 19:42

    Smallville! Common Lex Luthor people! Lionel Luthor, Zod, Brainiac, even darkseid and Doomsday get points! 2nd is Other: Stargate SG-1 great show loved Apophis, Anubis and Ba'al great villains especially Anubis! 3rd is Supernatural: Azazel, Lillith, Alastair, Lucifer, Crowley, Mother of All, and Dick Roman!

    ReplyDelete
  44. SmallvilleSupernaturalCastle20 January 2013 at 19:42

    agrees thats 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Sandi20 January 2013 at 19:44

    Easily Doctor Who, no other show comes close to characters like the Master, Daleks and Cybermen imo!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Elias Magnusström20 January 2013 at 19:45

    said heroes (for the early sylar, and for linderman, and arthur even though his arc kinda sucked, but I also love the bad guys in revenge (who are most of the cast) realistic villains are so more evil.. Especially the grayson Couple
    Also, Trinity, Brian, and Jordan chase from Dexter are awesome villains.
    Lionel Luthor too even though he also has messed up storylines

    ReplyDelete
  47. SmallvilleSupernaturalCastle20 January 2013 at 19:45

    Men in Black were in this lol? Kidding man in black but his other name which i like better is Locke! Also smoke monster works for me or smokey. I dont go buy MIB ever. John Locke i considered a anti hero and Smokemonster being Locke made him bad ass! I kinda wish we had more Smokey Locke over real Locke.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Sandi20 January 2013 at 19:47

    Completely agree with you! I don't think of anyone on Lost as being a villain in the same way as the Daleks or Crowley, for example.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Gonçalo Aguiar20 January 2013 at 20:04

    I can't believe Sherlock isn't listed in the poll...

    ReplyDelete
  50. DarkUFO20 January 2013 at 20:07

    Maybe the person who submitted the poll does not watch the show.

    And you can always vote "Other"

    ReplyDelete
  51. the dane20 January 2013 at 20:23

    My favorite villain is Boyd Crowder. (Justified) I adore his character and his speeches.



    A close second is Al Swearengen from Deadwood.

    ReplyDelete
  52. prpleight20 January 2013 at 20:47

    I had to go with season 1 of Prison Break. The villains in that show were as smart as the good guys. I loved watching the heros moving steady on their plan and being thwarted, not by happenstance, but because the opponents were smart, observant, and good at their jobs.

    ReplyDelete
  53. tvmonkey20 January 2013 at 22:09

    SPN, Buffy, Smallville and Prison Break had some really awesome villains but I went with SPN because well...Lucifer, Zachariah, Yellow Eyes, Meg, Ruby, Alastair, Lilith and so on,

    ReplyDelete
  54. Nicolás Festa20 January 2013 at 22:34

    Mr. Yang of Psych!!! Aweosme villain there!!!

    ReplyDelete
  55. Samantha Petrelli20 January 2013 at 22:51

    Moriarty - Sherlock

    ReplyDelete
  56. smallville94420 January 2013 at 23:03

    i went with Lost because of Benjamin Linus he's a great villian he's my favourite character on Lost he's the character i love to hate but these are only the ones on the poll one that is missing is Dexter with Villian's like Brrian Moser, Arthur Mitchell, Issak Sirko, Miguel Prado and so on

    ReplyDelete
  57. Leonie198820 January 2013 at 23:56

    The X-Files! Cigarette Smoking Man and like everybody!!!

    ReplyDelete
  58. lsbloom21 January 2013 at 00:28

    This is tricky. First you have to define what you want out of a villain and then separate villain from the fight. I was going to vote Buffy--nice big bad structure, they always managed to continue to amp but the stakes and difficulty, creative and fantastic final fights (the group attack on Adam, the school against the mayor). However, the bads themselves were kinda so so: Adam was barely present until the end, the Mayor and his old-fashioned dad-ness, I mean Glory? the nerds? Come on. Angelus was probably the best at being psychologically bad, Caleb had some great moments. I like my big bads to be scary and in your head and dark and complex and have consequences. So I think I have to go with Supernatural. Alastair was scary. Crowley is complicated and smart. Lucifer, Death, Lilith. Dick Roman even had consequences and was lethal and cunning.

    ReplyDelete
  59. starg8fans21 January 2013 at 00:37

    I guess Fringe isn't on the list since it ended two days ago? Because they sure get my vote. What a great mix of villains this show had. David Robert Jones in S1, Thomas Jerome Newton in S2, Walternate and AltBrandon in S3, Meana in S4 and especially Windmark in S5 take the cake for me.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Susan ♛21 January 2013 at 00:55

    Buffy <3

    ReplyDelete
  61. Folie-lex21 January 2013 at 01:09

    I don't know... it's a loaded question.... all have hits and misses if you ask me...

    ReplyDelete
  62. Holly Ulvestad21 January 2013 at 01:28

    Criminal minds

    ReplyDelete
  63. the dane21 January 2013 at 07:33

    Benjamin Linus was truely one of the best villains. He was my favorite character on Lost aswell.

    ReplyDelete
  64. swanpride21 January 2013 at 09:50

    Grimm! (I wouldn't vote for Sherlock, because there aren't that many villains in the show so far).

    ReplyDelete
  65. Alex Forrest21 January 2013 at 10:10

    Other - Nikita. Villains don't get more ruthless, manipulative, cruel, twisted, ice-cold and badass than Percy and Amanda. Oh, and Roan was scary as hell. Even Ari was cool before he pretty much became Amanda's excess baggage

    ReplyDelete
  66. Jim 10821 January 2013 at 14:52

    I think I like Regina and Rumplestiltskin a LOT more than all the other characters...

    ReplyDelete
  67. phnxgrl21 January 2013 at 22:45

    I think the best villiain is The Mentalist's Red John! He has gone 9 years without capture and the dead bodies still pile up!

    ReplyDelete
  68. patrick maloney22 January 2013 at 13:38

    I really enjoyed reading all the responses, glad this made people think.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Ralissa Vassilissa22 January 2013 at 16:13

    Well, I must admit I haven't seen all the shows on your list, I have seen Supernatural, Buffy, White Collar and Chuck. Anything Buffy is too "meh" for me, and the White Collar villains don't stand out imho, but Supernatural and Chuck did have some interesting villains. My hat is off to Supernatural for getting a lot of amazing guest-stars, I guess they must really have the budget to afford them. As for Chuck, there was quite a big range of villains - from the exaggerated cartoon characters to multi-layered, sophisticated human beings, so I have to agree they were pretty awesome. :D

    Revenge does have a myriad of villains, too, it's not just Victoria. Tyler last season was pretty obnoxious; the white-haired agent was pretty dangerous; Ashley has a fair share of skeletons in her closet; plus this season we're finding out more about the Initiative and Helen Crowley. I do find the Initiative (Revenge) to be very similar to The Ring (Chuck), and in a way now they've turned Aiden (Revenge) against Victoria and Emily the way the Ring (Chuck) turned Shaw against Sarah and Chuck.

    As for the Good Wife, indeed the villains mostly create intrigue and scheme and are not often killers (but remember Sweeney? Blake was also pretty dangerous and sleazy). Michael J Fox and Matthew Perry also play the kind of characters you love to hate.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Jimi Sturges22 January 2013 at 22:26

    Yeah do you watch the Vampire Diaries hes like the Best Villain every he dose some very evil stuff starting in the 2nd season.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Jimi Sturges22 January 2013 at 22:29

    um Damon in the first season pearl the vampires from the tomb um Klaus.Katherine The Originals well most of them. That's most of them so what you mean they don't have villains.

    ReplyDelete
  72. robinclank222 January 2013 at 22:39

    I was being sarcastic seeing that the writers have completely ruined klaus's character by the turning him from an actual monstrous villain into a whiny bad boy like they do with all their villains

    ReplyDelete
  73. SeptemberAddict23 January 2013 at 19:53

    The Walking Dead, Fringe, Doctor Who, Farscape, Alias and Enterprise.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Anna Paolinelli7 February 2013 at 12:37

    Another vote for POI

    ReplyDelete
  75. Patrick Maloney8 April 2014 at 04:10

    I did see Revenge, and I have to say I believe Victoria may be the best character on that show, she isn't in the same league as the villains in the shows listed above. Okay, maybe Buffy. And I do need to catch up on the Good Wife, but from what I saw they have decent villains for a law show.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Patrick Maloney8 April 2014 at 04:10

    Honestly, it was a toss up between Buffy and Vampire Diaires. I only picked Buffy because they have more clear "Big Bad" structure. But I'd be willing to put Klaus and Katherine up against any of them.

    ReplyDelete
  77. robinclank28 April 2014 at 04:10

    Klaus is a villain?

    ReplyDelete
  78. Jessica Lynne8 April 2014 at 04:15

    My picks would be: 24, because you get to spend a whole season getting to know the villain before Jack Bauer obliterates them in the end; Once Upon a Time, because each character is so complex that you end up sympathizing and rooting for the villains; Criminal Minds, the villains on that show are crazy!

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, homophobia, acrophobia, and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.