20 Greatest Movie Villains Of The 2000s

13. Commodus - Gladiator

Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, is arguably one of the most iconic movie protagonists of the 21st century. It is only right then that he should have an equally detestable antagonist standing across from him.

Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus worked as a villain on multiple levels. On the wider scale, as an Emperor and dictator, he was a representation and embodiment of reckless and corrupt authority, and of oppression against honest people. On a smaller, more personal scale, however, he was a slimy, incestuous, insecure, and entitled man-child who did nothing to earn the power he had.

He was a complex character, fuelled not only by the jealousy he felt towards Maximus, since his father treated the would-be Gladiator more like a son than he, but by still wanting to live up to and earn his father's respect and love even after killing him.

Yes, it's understandable why he felt so upset at how his father shoved him aside, but at the same time, when he got into power, he only proved Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) right. It says a lot about a villain when an audience can root for them to lose just as much as for the hero to win.