2. Anton Chigurh No Country For Old Men
Javier Bardem makes his second appearance on this list with the unforgettable Anton Chigurh. Another villain with a frustratingly hard-to-spell name, Chigurh is ruthless, effective and unrelenting. But he can be surprisingly reasonable, which is a part of what makes him a highly unique villain. In this film, Chigurh is solely motivated by his desire to get his money back. But as he does so, we realise that he also has a bizarre and unique set of rules. For one, he almost kills a man at a gas station based on the toss of a coin. He then encourages the shopkeep to value this coin, subtly implying that it meant the difference between life and death for this man. Chigurh offers (sort of) reasonable compromises to Llewelyn Moss, our protagonist who has stolen his money. He tells Moss that if he returns the money only he will be killed - otherwise his wife will also die. Moss resists of course, resulting in his death and the death of his wife. It is this shocking effectiveness and strict rulebook that makes Chigurh a fascinating and very threatening villain. He is a worthy entry into this list.
1. The Joker The Dark Knight
Of course you knew my number one pick as soon as you saw the title of this list. Heath Ledgers portrayal of The Joker has been, by far, the most compelling villain of the 21st century. Why is it that he has become such a beloved screen villain? It is because of the sheer unique threat that he represents. There are many categories of villain that have fallen into this list; honourable hitmen with strict codes, highly violent and grotesque mobsters looking to please themselves, self-righteous killers who believe their actions are justified, deranged supervillains with goals of world domination or monetary gain and even those who kill because they get sadistic pleasure from it. But The Joker is unlike any of these; he causes chaos because he feels like it. He has no discernible motivation. He is a truly terrifying threat because he is a terrorist who cant be reasoned with or fought against. He comes up with complex schemes to cause non-linear death and destruction with no clear goal and embraces failure with open arms. There is no way of deciphering his psyche which makes him not only the most compelling screen villain of the 21st century, but one of the greatest villains of all time.