The Walking Dead: 10 Best Antagonists
8. The Marauders
Joe and the Marauders - or "Claimers," as you may remember them - turned up in the back half of season four to serve as a brutal reminder for Rick, his friends, and the audience itself of what people can be capable of when given free reign in a world without rules.
The group, who had been on Rick's trail for several days and had picked up Daryl along the way, got the jump on Rick, Michonne, and Carl in the middle of the night in the season finale. With Daryl getting beaten to death in front of him for intervening, Carl on the verge of getting raped, and Joe jovially whispering promises of what he planned to do to Michonne in his ear, Rick finally snapped, bit out Joe's jugular, and distracted the rest of the Marauders long enough for his friends to take advantage.
Though the Marauders themselves were far from fleshed out as individuals in the way a number of the series' other antagonists have been, their existence and actions were an undoubtedly memorable and disturbing part of the show, and their final captivating and distressing scene remains as one of the series' tensest sequences even two years down the line.