Who Are The Best Movie Villains Of 2023?

With 2023 coming to a close, it’s finally a good time to look back on the villains of 2023 and determine which ones are the best of the best. With hundreds of unique villains gracing the big screen throughout the year, figuring out who is the best is no easy task. It takes a combination of a stellar performance, an excellent movie, and a compelling storyline to make a villain truly epic.

While everyone is bound to have their own list of the top villains of 2023, a strong case can be made for a surprisingly varied handful. Those that are the most memorable are going to come down to the types of movies any given person prefers, but even with that in mind, it’s still safe to say that a select few stand out for most people as the strongest villains of the year.

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Ken – Barbie

There’s no way that Barbie’s ultimate villain, Beach Ken (known simply as Ken), couldn’t be considered one of the best movie villains of 2023. Ryan Gosling just has so much fun in the role of a misguided patriarchy-craving Ken who only wants to make Barbie hurt in the same way that she made him hurt. It’s not so much the villainous plan that makes Ken so amazing, although turning all of Barbieland into a patriarchy-ridden mojo-dojo-casa-house-having hellscape was a stroke of genius. It’s really who Ken is as a person that makes him such an incredible villain. He’s so over-the-top and pompous in everything he does, and that absolutely extends to all the other Kens out there.

At the end of the day, all Ken needs to know is that he is Kenough, and that’s what makes him so relatable to the audience. The big man-child having his own musical number in which he’s at war with the other Kens also just drives home what a chaotic character Ken truly is. He may be far dumber than most of the best villains of all time, but it’s hard to not view him as one of the best villains out there when what amounts to a day in the real world turned him into the greatest threat in Barbieland’s history.

The Spot – Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

While some may not believe that the Spot deserves a distinction as high as one of the best villains of 2023, there is a case to be made. He doesn’t feature anywhere near as heavily in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse as other villains do in their movies, but the impact he has is massive. With the third part of the story still to come, Across The Spider-Verse put in a lot of effort to morph The Spot from a D-list villain to a multiversal threat. Funny and rather useless in his initial encounter, by the end of the film, The Spot becomes one of the scariest Spider-Man villains out there right now.

With a fantastic performance courtesy of Jason Schwartzman, The Spot really has come into his own as a notable member of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. Luckily, the movie did a good job of showing off just enough to keep fans interested while they wait for the next installment. Just about everyone wants to see how big of a threat The Spot can become to not only Miles but all of the other Spider beings across the multiverse. Even some people have already pointed out that they have no idea how Miles will even be able to stop a being like The Spot.

The High Evolutionary – Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 was a massive hit for Marvel in a period that has been really rough for the MCU. One of the biggest shining lights of the film, and in fact, often the most talked about aspect of the movie is none other than Chukwudi Iwuji. His performance as the High Evolutionary was so good that it wasn’t uncommon to see fans on the internet proclaiming that Chukwudi Iwuji’s character was light years more interesting than anything that had been done with Kang. It certainly helps that Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 had such an emotional story, but don’t let that take anything away from everything Chukwudi Iwuji brought to the screen.

There was so much poetic justice in the High Evolutionary being defeated in part by one of the very beings he created through horrendous experiments. Even further, the fact that Rocket then went on to spare the High Evolutionary really went to show that the madman was no better than the simplistic animals he sought to turn into something even greater, while Rocket had proven superior to the evil scientist. It was this movie that solidified the Guardians Of The Galaxy as one of the MCU’s best teams.

Bowser – The Super Mario Bros Movie

There is a lot to love about Jack Black as Bowser in The Super Mario Bros movie. He brings so much energy to the role, and while he provided exactly what everyone should have expected, no one expected what they got. Jack Black brings a lot of fire (no pun intended) to the role, whether he’s trying to capture Bowser’s sinister side or whether he’s tinkling the keys to sing about Peaches. It was a great creative decision to really drive home Bowser’s crush on Peach instead of just making him a generic villain who wants to rule the Mushroom Kingdom.

The best part is that Bowser is supremely removed from everything that Mario is doing right up until the end of the movie, really building up the anticipation for their inevitable conflict. Bowser is a great villain because of the performance, but he’s also a great villain because of everything else that the movie has to offer. Mario and Peach are built up in such a fantastic way that everyone has to see them succeed in Bowser’s evil plans. At the same time, the reunion of the two brothers to take on Bowser is a great moment both on an emotional level and because everyone wants to see Bowser getting his butt kicked.

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