20 Greatest Movie Villains Of The 2000s

16. Ozymandias - Watchmen

Coming in 2009, after Iron Man but before the MCU changed the superhero game completely, and before Zack Snyder's more divisive DC efforts, Watchmen was groundbreaking in that it went even further into the depths of dark and gritty than the previous year's The Dark Knight.

Every facet of the movie worked, from the aforementioned tone to the morally grey characters, high stakes, and relationship dynamics. One such  character that was so important to the latter was Adrian Veidt, otherwise known as Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). The former Watchman had cashed in on his alter ego and became an incredibly successful businessman, supposedly trying to save the world.

At first glance, as a villain, Ozymandias covered a couple of tropes, namely across the evil billionaire, smartest man in the world, good-guy-gone-bad, though believing he was saving the world Venn diagram. However, the difference was that he actually was saving the world, and he was self-aware enough not to allow himself to be defeated.

Yes, he killed countless innocent people, but this was the cost he was happy to pay to put an end to the otherwise unavoidable nuclear World War III. He was a villain who actually claimed victory, all the more memorable thanks to a chilling performance from Goode.