12 Most Terrifying Action Movie Villains

The main antagonist of The Matrix trilogy, Agent Smith arrives in the first film as a program within the system designed to catch members of the human resistance. It has the same powers that the humans possess within the Matrix, and proves a formidable foe throughout the film, especially when it tortures Morbius and nearly kills Neo at the climax of the film.

The character (played expertly by Hugo Weaving), is cold and calculated at every step, and is one of the key factors in making The Matrix an absolute rollercoaster of a movie. From the moment he interrogates Neo in the film's first act, the audience is waiting for him to jump out of every corner (which he pretty much does for half the film). The way the Wachowskis filmed some of the chase scenes in the film also really add to the fear factor - the fast-moving shots mixed with the sudden appearances of Smith makes the viewer feel like they're also on the run from the program.

Weaving is brilliant at keeping the audience on the edge of their seats through all three films in the Matrix trilogy, but it's the original where he remains at his scariest, when this hunter was seen for the first time.