10 Movie Sequel Villains Far Scarier Than The Original

Though he has played some excellent good guys in his career, Mark Strong was built to be an antagonist. He has the look, the British accent almost lends itself to villainy, and he is so damn intimidating. Look no further than his role as Lord Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes for proof.

Though Sherlock (Robert Downey Jr.) was able to explain away his supernatural dark arts, Blackwood had the right tricks up his sleeve to be able to claim immortality, and lead a cult that could have seen him blow up the entire government. He was an outstanding villain, however, he was outdone in the sequel.

Any villain not named James Moriarty is going to struggle in a Sherlock Holmes franchise, particularly when Holmes' greatest ever rival is portrayed in such a way as Jared Harris did in 2011. 

The former boxing champion was a physical mismatch for Sherlock, he was as intelligent if not more so, and behind a calm and emotionless demeanour, he was utterly ruthless. He packed out an entire restaurant with his own people to lure Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) into a false sense of security, before killing her just for getting too emotionally attached to Holmes, and the only way Sherlock could defeat him was to take him over the Reichenbach Falls in a move that should have killed both of them.