The action genre experienced a critical and commercial peak during the 2010s. Thanks to franchises like Mission: Impossible and John Wick, the genre flourished and reached new narrative peaks while delivering increasingly impressive, challenging, and boundary-pushing sequences.
Just as importantly, action movies began paying more attention to their characters. The 2010s saw them introduce some of the most memorable and acclaimed antagonists in recent memory. Dastardly villains are not uncommon in cinema, but action has some of the best, and the past decade delivered some genuinely impressive figures bound to become cinematic icons.
10 Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) - Drive (2011)
The 2011 neo-noir Drive is a hyper-violent, fast-paced, and stylish masterpiece. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a nameless stunt driver who becomes involved in a dangerous robbery while trying to protect his neighbor and her young son.
Oscar nominee Albert Brooks plays the film's main antagonist, the ruthless gangster Bernie Rose. Chilling yet darkly humorous and perpetually menacing, Rose is a perfect villain for the brutal and unforgiving Drive. The actor delivers an intriguing, disquieting, and memorable performance that should've received an Oscar nomination.
9 Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) - Kick-Ass
Mark Strong has made a career out of playing bad guys, but his villainous turn in the 2010 superhero movie Kick-Ass remains his most despicable. The film follows an ordinary teenager who becomes a superhero, only to find himself caught in a battle between a violent crime boss and a pair of experienced vigilantes.
Electrifying and gruesome, the movie brings the acclaimed comic books to life in spectacular and jaw-dropping fashion. Kick-Ass has many things going for it, but Strong's performance is among its best qualities. The actor is terrifying but enthralling, the driving force behind the movie's events; whenever he's on-screen, Strong dwarves everyone, even a reliably over-the-top Nicolas Cage.
8 Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) - Dredd (2012)
2012's Dredd finally does right by its titular modern icon. Karl Urban stars as the Judge, who teams with a powerful psychic to take down Ma-Ma, a powerful drug lord who will stop at nothing to protect her ever-expanding empire.
Dredd works because of its gritty and uncompromising approach, strengthened by Lena Headey's performance as the heartless and savage Ma-Ma. Abandoning the regality and stoicism of some of her most famous roles, Headey delivers a fierce and quietly deranged performance as the violent drug lord, creating a calculating and icy portrayal of savagery that reigns supreme in the pantheon of great comic book villains.
7 Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) - John Wick (2014)
Another Game of Thrones alum delivered one of the greatest villains in modern history. Alfie Allen portrays the unstable Iosef Tarasov in the first John Wick movie. Reckless and tactless, Tarasov's misguided actions set up a chain of events that would bring Wick out of retirement and launch an over-the-top action franchise that defined the 2010s.
Trasov might be small peanuts compared to some of Wick's other villains, but he is responsible for every misfortune in the Baba Yaga's life. Stupid as he might be, Tarasov remains an iconic villain and a crucial part of John Wick's success.
6 Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton) - Snowpiercer (2013)
Bong Joon-ho's dystopian action film Snowpiercer is among the 2010s' best and most thought-provoking thrillers. The plot follows a globe-trotting train carrying the last remnants of society and ruled by a stiff social hierarchy.
Like most of Bong's anti-capitalist movies, Snowpiercer has a heavy layer of social commentary, enhanced by its wicked and layered characters, including Tilda Swinton's masterful villain, Minister Mason. Mason, the de-facto ruler of the train, is an extremist tyrant and a ludicrous creation grounded by Swinton's unique ability to bring humanity to every character. Intimidating yet absurd, Mason is a figure worthy of antagonizing Bong's lawless world and another feather in Swinton's already considerable cap.
5 Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) - The Hunger Games (2012-2015)
Prolific veteran actor Donald Sutherland created a brilliant portrayal of quiet authoritarianism in the YA dystopian series The Hunger Games. The story centers on Katniss Everdeen, a girl who becomes the face of a societal rebellion after competing in the Hunger Games, a televised event where adolescents fight to the death.
Sutherland's Coriolanus Snow is the president of the series' version of the USA, Panem. Cold, clinical, and devious, Snow is the perfect opposite of Katniss' fiery and overly vulnerable persona. Sutherland relishes every minute on screen, delivering a deceptively charming and unsettling portrayal that contributed considerably to the series' overwhelming success. Less tiresome than Voldemort and far more memorable than any other YA villain, Sutherland's Snow is a timeless villain and modern icon.
4 Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) - Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of the Kingsman comics was an exciting new entry into the spy genre. Kingsman: The Secret Service stars Taron Egerton in his breakthrough role as a young man recruited to a secret organization tasked with fighting Richmond Valentine, a megalomaniac eco-terrorist.
Played by the one and only Samuel L. Jackson, Valentine is unlike any spy villain. The goofy, lisp-using, cap-wearing Valentine is a millennial villain to the tee, and Jackson is the perfect actor to bring him to life. As reckless and unapologetic as the film itself, Jackson's Valentine is an electrifying tornado of subversive villainy, an over-the-top and hilariously awful take on the tech millionaires coming out of Silicon Valley.
3 Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Barne) - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
George Miller returned to the franchise that made him a household name with the spectacular Mad Max: Fury Road. Tom Hardy takes over as Max Rockatansky, who joins forces with the mighty Imperator Furiosa against the tyrant Immortan Joe.
Franchise veteran Hugh Keays-Barne plays Immortan Joe, the possessive but charismatic cult leader in control of the Citadel. Visually striking and memorable, Immortan Joe is a layered and fascinating villain worthy of opposing two characters as rich and engaging as Max and Furiosa. Keays-Barne does some of the most impressive eye-acting in modern Hollywood, injecting Joe with a sense of idealistic purpose that makes him a compelling but terrifying figure.
2 Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) - Skyfall (2012)
The term "Bond villain" can be both a descriptor and something of an insult. Bond's enemies are infamous for their convoluted schemes and repetitive personalities, with many even becoming prototypes for the by-the-numbers villain audiences expect from a spy movie.
However, Skyfall's Raoul Silva is the obvious exception. Played by Oscar winner Javier Bardem, Silva is a former MI6 agent hellbent on revenge against M. Bardem crafts an eerie, unsettling portrayal to oppose Daniel Craig's notoriously stoic Bond, resulting in a bewitching and almost alluring character that reigns supreme in the pantheon of Bond villains. Bardem goes all in on Silva's mercurial personality, resulting in a chilling and unforgettable performance that will surely stand the test of time.
1 August Walker (Henry Cavill) - Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
It's not an overstatement to say Henry Cavill delivers the best performance of his career in Christopher McQuarrie's masterful 2018 action flick Mission: Impossible - Fallout. The film sees Ethan Hunt join forces with August Walker, an American soldier, to recover a case of stolen plutonium before a group of rogue terrorists known as the Apostles reach it.
Cavill plays Walker with all the subtlety of a hammer. Physically imposing and practically unreadable, Walker is a thick wall of ice crashing against Tom Cruise's fiery Ethan Hunt. Usually, Hunt is the star of the Mission: Impossible movies, but Cavill's Walker steals the spotlight from him in Fallout. Ruthless, brutal, and almost overwhelming, Walker is the best villain in the series and a modern action icon on his path to becoming a legend.