15 Great Movie Villains Who Totally Stole The Show

8. Darth Maul - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Easily the most interesting character in the Star Wars prequels, Darth Maul made us all believe that there was real potential in this shameful trilogy before being cruelly taken away, leaving us to instead suffer through an extended sequence where racist cartoons fight with comedy robots and as if that's not enough, a space battle which is decisively won by a toddler.

Many would argue that Liam Neeson'€™s Qui-Gon Jinn was the biggest casualty of The Phantom Menace, but the truth of the matter is that the prequels would have benefited more from a constant villain whose master plan was even marginally more interesting than disguising himself as an ageing politician. Let€™'s be honest, nobody went to see Star Wars Episode I to hear aliens discuss trade regulations, they went to see the guy with the crazy red and black face do awesome flips.

With very minimal vocal input (dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz) Maul shows that actions do indeed speak louder than words. Until this point Star Wars fans had only seen the standard of acrobatics you expect from a discount car park circus during lightsaber battles, the multi-level three way fight between two Jedi and a Sith Lord was a revelation. This was not to last as at the apex of his awesomeness, having pretty much defeated two Jedi Knights single-handed, he stood and let himself be cut in half like an absolute tool.

I'm aware that he€™'s alive somewhere in the Expanded Universe but it€™'s too little too late. Darth Maul€™'s villainy could have ironically been the saviour of the prequels but sadly it was not to be - he successfully stole the limelight but in return he was robbed of the narrative he deserved. Shame on you George Lucas.