20 Greatest TV Villains Ever

9. Angel - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The beauty of Angel's character arc is that the audience is fooled into thinking that he's just a neutered little vegetarian vampire, the sparkly kind that you might find in a Twilight novel. They cast a young, puppy-eyed David Boreanaz in the role, and he soulfully whispers Buffy's name enough times that it's difficult to imagine him ever going over to the dark side. That's why it's probably one of the most shocking moments of the show when, after Buffy loses her virginity to him on her birthday, he experiences a moment of perfect happiness and loses his soul. That would sort of be a compliment to Buffy, if her boyfriend wasn't suddenly trying to kill her and her friends. Thus Angel becomes Angelus, the soulless monster who has a lot of time to make up for. The surprise isn't that he's evil, not really: that's sort of what vampires are known for. But Angelus isn't just a run of the mill vampire, he's sadistic and takes so much pleasure in thinking of new ways to hurt people, both physically and psychologically. A regular vampire will drink your blood the same way an animal will kill its prey, but Angel likes to add a little bit of a personal touch to his murders. The romantic scene he set up for Giles to discover Jenny's dead body alone is enough to make him an obvious choice for this list.