Top 10 TV Villains of the Last Decade

Villains make heroes great. Without a good villain, a hero's plight is lessened. There needs to be a foe you can despise so when the hero wins in the end you can cheer properly. Over the last decade there have been many shows with many kinds of villains, I present to you the top ten villains of the decade.

10) The Master from Doctor Who. First stop and think of the ego on a guy who calls himself the Master, it really is just as it sounds. The Master is the most brilliant Doctor Who villain there is, he is just as brilliant as the Doctor, while also being evil. This time around he was played by Jon Simms who in three episodes became Prime Minister of England, killed the US President and conquered the world after killing one tenth of the world's population, all while being a maniacal maniac who could give the Joker a run for his money in hilarity while committing murder. He is also the seeming big bad in the final David Tennant episodes of Doctor Who and could possibly be responsible for killing the good doctor. But his previous appearances alone make him one of the best villains and puts him on the list.

9) Naraku from Inuyasha. A bandit who was dying called upon demons for help, and what was reborn was the demon Naraku. He spends most of the series collecting shards of the sacred jewel so he can become even more powerful and rule over everything. He's always a step or twelve ahead of the heroes and has plans for everything and everyone. He's a villain you love to hate and every time Inuyasha and the others seem close to finally killing him you can't help but cheer on. Which is the sign of a great villain.

8) Monty Burns from the Simpsons. The most evil boss to ever walk the face of the Earth. And though he hasn't committed as heinous of acts in the last decade as he has over the whole Simpsons series, he still has been the source of all that is evil in the Simpsons world. Anytime there needs to be great evil in the world of the yellow cartoons, Monty Burns is there, over the course of the decade he did try to take over all media in Springfield, tried to murder Homer after he took over the power plant, and dozens of other atrocities. No matter the decade, Monty Burns will always be a great villain.

7) Sue Sylvester from Glee. Sue is the over valued, and highly regarded coach to the nationals winning cheerleader squad at William McKinley High School known as the Cheerios. She is also highly competitive and feels all lime light and every last dollar possible needs to be spent on her team. Enter a re-energized Glee Club who has the audacity to possibly take even a cent away from her program. Sue is determined to win by any means necessary and goes to great lengths to stop the Glee Club at every turn. She does this in the most hilarious and scene stealing methods in each episode. Which puts her on the greatest villains list.

6) Satan from Reaper. Come on, it's the devil! Do we need to say more? The devil bought the soul of Sam before he was born and now makes him capture escaped souls from Hell. Satan is played by the magnificent Ray Wise who makes him suave and cool, until you piss him off. Sam spends a lot of time trying to win freedom, which Satan being the Devil ensures never works, since well he cheats and he's the devil. Did I mention he's the devil?

5) The Monarch from the Venture Bros. Hands down the most bumbling villain on the list is the Monarch, arch rival and nemesis to Dr Rusty Venture. His hatred for Venture is so great he has tried to kill, harm, and make him suffer for years on end, all while dressed as a monarch butterfly. With his slew of numbered henchmen and the gorgeous Dr Girlfriend, he torments the Venture family nearly each week. He has become such a presence on the show he's had his very own episodes and is considered one of the main characters.

4) Sylar from Heroes. The first season of Heroes held one of the greatest villains of all time, his name was Sylar, or at least that's what we knew him as. He killed off people with special powers and ate their brains. He was built as a huge powerful boogie man, the catch phrase "Save the cheerleader, save the world" was in reference of saving Claire from Sylar. Eventually he came out of the shadows and was still deliciously evil. We saw Sylar in action, and Zachary Quinto played him perfectly. He became so popular subsequent seasons teased him becoming a hero. But Sylar was the best as a big scary monster who would show up and decimate all those involved, and the season where he was exactly that, makes him one of the greatest villains of the decade.

3) The Ice Truck Killer from Dexter. The first season of Dexter revolved around not only introducing us to Dexter Morgan, the serial killer who murders other serial killers, but also the Ice Truck Killer. Over the course of the season Dexter chases after the Ice Truck Killer, a murderer who kills women and bleeds them out until there isn't a single drop of blood, the killer plays cat and mouse with Dexter, taunting him and seeing how well he can escape getting caught himself. All so Dexter can find out more about himself, namely that he has a brother named Brian, and that he is the very Ice Truck Killer Dexter seeks.

2) Benjamin Linus from Lost. A villain makes you wait to see them get their comeuppance and makes you love the hero more. The best villains do that, and also make you love ever second they are on the screen while doing it. Ben Linus pulls this off perfectly. He is the leader of the mysterious Others on the island our heroes are stuck on, and he systematically tortures, tricks, and just generally messes around with the lives of each protagonist on the show. What makes Ben so great is how he makes the viewer question everything, not just the characters. He always sounds like he's telling the truth, and to a degree, he always is, he also claims to be the true good guy, and no matter what, you want to believe him.

1) George Hearst from Deadwood. No character in the history of television has ever made me hate them more then George Hearst did. This wealthy mining baron swoops into Deadwood in the third season and messes with everything. He cuts off one of Swerengen's fingers, threatens to rape and kill Alma and nearly has her killed, he kills Elsworth, and that is just the big major things. Every scene he's in he pulls of being charismatic when in public but makes you want to stab him in the eye at the same time. It got so bad for me that when I saw the actor as a sympathetic character in the show Jericho I couldn't help but hate him right away, and he was playing a good guy! That is the power of this character and it's what makes him the greatest TV villain of the last decade.