Stargate: Every Villain Ranked Worst To Best
3. Ra
Perhaps it's because the Stargate movie of 1994 has a different tone to its successor series, perhaps it's because there was an ethereal quality that Jaye Davidson managed to infuse into the sweeping grandeur of the imposter Sun God, but Ra remains the best Goa'uld. Of course he wasn't even called a Goa'uld back then, he was the last survivor of his race and he had enslaved humans to mine naqadah for him.
We only see a few glimpses of Ra after the events of the film, although he is mentioned as having been the Supreme System Lord for thousands of years by the expanded continuity. He is the one who banished Anubis, he dominated the galaxy and he instilled the entire Goa'uld Empire over humankind. And of course, his special effects budget was considerably larger.
Ra was a brilliant place to start the entire franchise, his influence was felt throughout the rest of the legacy that came after his demise.