20 Greatest 90s Movie Villains
It's good to be bad.
Alongside being a great decade for film in general, the '90s were also a purple patch for villains. So many all-timers were born in these years, but why?
Well, it was lots of things combining into one perfect storm. New and exciting directors were telling all sorts of wonderful stories that, in turn, brought plenty of awesome foes. Casting directors were bringing their A-game and selecting serious dramatic actors to play the baddies, and relaxed censorship allowed these characters to go to darker places than ever before. Oh, and speaking of which, this decade's family movies were never afraid to be mature, and they brought in some smashing bad guys of their own.
The point is, '90s antagonists just hit different, and the following guys are some of the absolute best. They run the gauntlet of villainy, including Disney villains, corrupt cops, terrorists, serial killers, Nazis, and even a schoolteacher. What they all have in common is how much we loved to hate them, so much so that they are fondly remembered to this very day.
Kicking off with a certain pair of thieves from a certain Christmas classic...
20. Home Alone - Harry & Marv
With the nostalgia-tinted glasses removed, Home Alone is an uneven comedy that stretches its thin premise too far, but it does some things really well, and those elements have allowed it to become a huge Christmas classic, warts and all. Perhaps most notably, it's got the Wet Bandits. As comedy villains go, they don't get much better than Harry and Marv. These guys are an absolute riot.
They could easily have just been an afterthought, but the casting team made the masterful decision to cast Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, two distinguished character actors who truly brought the characters to life. Both are hysterically funny and, intelligently, bring a heightened, cartoonish quality to their performances, which is particularly appropriate since Home Alone's legendary trap-based finale echoes violent cartoons such as Tom & Jerry or Loony Tunes so vividly.
The Wet Bandits are deliriously fun to watch, though seeing them get their just desserts is also immensely satisfying. They returned in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, the movie's superior sequel (you know it's true), and even if the characters reencountering Kevin McCallister (Macauley Culkin) felt a little contrived, they were just as good as before.