1. Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
Hans Gruber is the end-all, be-all of action movie villains. Alan Rickman's sophisticated madman remains the gold standard that all bad guys have to live up to. When someone in modern action movies gives a stellar performance as the main villain, we shouldn't give him an Oscar, we should give him a Rickman. It's not just that he gets one of the most iconic deaths in movie history, it's literally everything he does leading up to that point that wins us over. Gruber is cocksure but understated, unflinching yet nimble. He can play scared (as he does when John McClane nearly catches him, adopting a barely-convincing American accent), but he absolutely revels in having the upper hand like not even the best Bond villain can. There are more layers to Hans Gruber than the villains from the ten most popular action movies of 2015 put together. And, of course, that incredibly singular accent wraps it all up in a nice, suave little bow.