We all agree that the 80s were the golden decade of action movies - Arnold, Sly and Bruce were kicking ass left and right, with Chuck, Jean-Claude and the rest not far behind. The real key to an action movie, however, is its villain, and the 80s sported some of the best of all time. In the spirit of The Expendables but in reverse, here are the best 80s movie villains.
The Best 80s Movie Villains
The golden era of the 80s action movie may never come back, but we can relive it vicariously with these awesome evil scumbags. Here's the best of the best 80s movie villains.
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By K. Thor Jensen September 2, 2011 |
Credit: Orion Pictures
| 11 | Clarence Boddicker |
Sure, Dick Jones is the real villain of Robocop, but all the good lines go to his henchman, the immortal Clarence Boddicker. Played by That 70s Show's Kurtwood Smith, Boddicker is a psychopath through and through. His gang is the bunch that mutilates and nearly murders officer Alex Murphy in the beginning of the movie. It's no surprise that Murphy, once brought back as the cyborg policeman, makes a point of ending Clarence's criminal career the hard way. Either way, Clarence Boddicker is one of the best 80s movie villains.
Credit: Paramount Pictures
| 10 | Mola Ram |
Demonic Thuggee priest Mola Ram is the biggest badass Indiana Jones ever faced, hands down. The Nazis were annoying, but this dude ripped out hearts with his bare hands. In his quest to possess the five Sankara stones, which through some metaphysical trickery would allow him to rule the world, he used child labor, zombified hypnotism and other nefarious means. He even puts Indy under the Black Sleep of Kali Ma. If you were putting together a team of truly evil dudes, he'd make the list. He's one of the best 80s movie villains, hands down.
Credit: AVCO Embassy
| 9 | The Duke Of New York |
An inordinate number of 80s action movies took place in post-apocalyptic wastelands. I guess the Cold War really had people convinced the bombs could drop any minute. One of the best was John Carpenter's Escape From New York, which starred Kurt Russell as the eye-patched Snake Plissken, sent into the Big Apple to retrieve the kidnapped President. The man who has him is the awesome Duke of New York, played by Shaft scorer Isaac Hayes. This dude commands the largest gang in New York City, and they obey his every command unquestioningly. Truly one of the best 80s movie villains.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
| 8 | Hans Gruber |
Played by the always awesome Alan Rickman, Hans Gruber is the scumbag at the heart of Die Hard. Gruber is one of the best 80s movie villains because he's just such a devious bastard. His plan to steal $640 million in bearer bonds is covered by pretending to be a terrorist organization, and even after he gets what he wants he's still going to blow up the building, just to be a dick. Gruber is a master manipulator, pulling everybody's strings and keeping even his own people in the dark when it comes to his plans.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
| 7 | Bennett |
As slick as Hans Gruber was, that's how not-slick Captain Bennett is in Commando. Played by the sweaty, demented-looking Vernon Wells, Bennett is the other kind of 80s movie villain - a sociopathic monster who has no moral code whatsoever. He's hired to kidnap the daughter of the titular commando, John Matrix, as incentive to convince him to carry out a politically-motivated assassination. Every scene that Bennett is in rules - he's just such an unmitigated, grotesque bastard that he earns a spot as one of the best 80s movie villains.
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