The 18 most villainous Star Wars villains, ranked

Who are they? Moff Gideon, a former Imperial officer who later became warlord in control of a faction of remnant Imperials based around Mandalore.

What are they from? The Mandalorian

Why are they so bad? Gideon masterminded the Great Purge Of Mandalore, in which millions of people—the planet’s proud warrior natives—were murdered by Imperial forces. With an insatiable lust for power, Gideon also sought to capture and kill Grogu so he could use the child’s blood to … create Force-sensitive clones of himself? It was never totally clear. Either way, he was a phony Mandalorian and a phony Sith Lord.

Who are they? Snoke, Supreme Leader of the First Order. A big wrinkly man with a powerful connection to the Dark Side of the Force who also happens to be a failed pseudo-clone of Emperor Palpatine.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Why are they so bad? As the man (?) in charge of the First Order, Snoke attempted to recreate the fascist hellscape of the Galactic Empire with both a powerful military and a powerful young Padawan that he turned to the Dark Side—Ben Solo, who he reshaped into Kylo Ren by feeding on the frustration and anger he felt toward his family. He was also a highly toxic boss, pitting Kylo Ren and General Hux against each other in order to get better results from them both.

Who are they? The unnamed leader of the Inquisitorius, Darth Vader’s squad of Force-using Jedi hunters. He was a former Jedi who turned to the Dark Side at some point after the Clone Wars.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Clone Wars (as a retcon, before he turns evil), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Rebels

Why are they so bad? He’s a former Jedi who has dedicated his life to killing any surviving Jedi left after the Clone Wars, and it seems like he just does it because he’s a bad person. He presents himself as a more erudite and thoughtful villain than some of his contemporaries, which only makes him seem like more of a bad person. It’s the good guys who value being erudite and thoughtful, dummy. The bad guys value totalitarianism and black capes!

Who are they? A Sith assassin who served under Count Dooku and a relatively rare user of the Dark Side of the Force who actually has a pretty good reason to hate everybody (she constantly gets betrayed).

What are they from? Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Why are they so bad? She is eventually redeemed, more or less, but if things had worked out differently for her, Ventress could’ve replaced General Grievous as head of the Separatist army and joined Count Dooku as his apprentice—if he had somehow succeeded his master, Darth Sidious, which was never going to happen. Unfortunately for Ventress, she was a villain in a show for kids, so she could never really win anyway.

Who are they? The greatest and most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, at least in the specific window after Jango Fett is killed and before Boba Fett replaces him as Star Wars’ most-awesome dude.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, The Book Of Boba Fett

Why are they so bad? Cad Bane is more ruthless than the average Star Wars villain, even other bounty hunters, which means he’s perfectly happy to work for people who are much higher up on this list. He’s also a rare normie who can hold his own against a Jedi—even multiple Jedi—making him a major threat.

Who are they? A warrior formerly known as Qymaen jai Sheelal who rose through the ranks of the Bad Guys to become Supreme Martial Commander Of The Separatist Droid Armies during the Clone Wars. He’s loaded up with cybernetic enhancements, making him almost entirely a robot except for part of his head and his internal organs.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (he’s around for the whole war and only appears in the third movie). Also, the only explanation given for his constant coughing and wheezing came from the old Clone Wars animated series, which is no longer canonical.

Why are they so bad? He was the military leader of the droid army in the Clone Wars, which makes him The Bad Guy. But if you want to go deeper than that, his many cybernetic enhancements made him a seemingly unstoppable warrior—as evidenced by his collection of lightsabers, stolen from Jedi he had killed.

Who are they? Armitage Hux, leader of the military forces of the First Order and commander of Starkiller Base, effectively second-in-command under Supreme Leader Snoke … though Kylo Ren also basically in that same position.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Why are they so bad? Like Grievous, he’s in charge of the bad guy army, which makes him The Bad Guy. Beyond that, as the guy in charge of Starkiller Base, he gets the blame for the countless people obliterated when that pseudo-Death Star blew up a bunch of planets. He’s also just a little shit, smirking and all that when Kylo Ren gets chewed out by their boss for also being a little shit.

Who are they? Phasma, the chromed-out boss of the First Order’s Stormtroopers (or at least a big-shot in the organization, it’s never super clear if she’s important or if she just looks awesome).

What are they from? Star Wars Resistance, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Why are they so bad? She’s mean, which is really the core of it. She’s very loyal to the First Order, for no real reason other than that she’s a bad guy, but tie-in stories in comics and books have revealed that she’s actually more loyal to herself than anything—which makes her obsession with fighting for the First Order and killing its enemies (like Finn, who she can’t resist insulting before her death) that much more craven.

Who are they? You know ‘em, you love ‘em: Boba Fett, Bossk, Dengar, 4-LOM, Zuckuss, and IG-88, the galaxy’s deadliest bounty hunters, all assembled by Darth Vader in his obsession to track down the Millennium Falcon. Most of them don’t talk. Most of them don’t do anything, but they’re cool as hell.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, plus Boba Fett comes back in Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi, The Mandalorian, and The Book Of Boba Fett.

Why are they so bad? Just look at ‘em! They’re so intimidating! You just know these guys have been up to some scary stuff. Plus, Darth Vader has to make a point to remind them not to “disintegrate” anyone. He could say not to shoot Luke and his friends or not to stab them, but he specifically wants “no disintegrations.” That implies that they’re known to disintegrate people! And to be clear: They would be higher up this list if not for The Book Of Boba Fett, where Boba becomes more of a tired politician than a cool bad guy.

Who are they? Less the J. Robert Oppenheimer of the Death Star and more the Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, Krennic—director of the Empire’s Department Of Advanced Weapons Research—is not the guy who did it, he’s the guy who said “hey, do this.”

What are they from? Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Why are they so bad? He was in charge of building the Death Star, which is pretty bad as far as these things go. He also ordered the first test-firing of its planet-destroying laser, vaporizing the ancient holy city of Jedha and killing everyone in it. He was also a desperate career-climber, willing to step on everyone he possibly could in order to climb the ranks in the Empire—and seeing as how the Empire is bad, that makes him bad (and he doesn’t even have much to show for it, since the Death Star gets taken from him by a villain with even greater career ambition).

Who are they? Emperor Sheev Palpatine, a.k.a. Darth Sidious, a.k.a. The Emperor, a.k.a. Ol’ Wrinkly Sheev. The Dark Lord Of The Sith, physical embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force. The ultimate villain of Star Wars, apparently! (You’ll notice that this list goes on for a while after this entry, though.)

What are they from? Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Why are they so bad? He’s the most evil guy in the whole universe, to the point where all bad guys are ultimately revealed to be working for him in one way or another, even though that’s not narratively satisfying and doesn’t necessarily make sense! Every bad thing that happens in this series is his fault, from the Clone Wars to the Galactic Civil War to the rise of the First Order. The only reason he’s not higher up this list is because making “I’m evil” your whole personality is boring.

Who are they? Count Dooku, head of the Confederacy Of Independent Systems and leader of the Separatists during the Clone Wars. He was also known as Darth Tyranus, a Dark Lord Of The Sith and apprentice to Darth Sidious.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith

Why are they so bad? Not only is a Sith Lord and head of the Separatists trying to overthrow the Republic during the Clone Wars, but he’s a corrupt politician. That’s one of the worst things you can be! He’s supposed to be representing his people as some kind of count, but instead he’s out there telling robots to try and kill Yoda.

Who are they? Jabba Desilijic Tiure, a.k.a. Jabba The Hutt, boss of a Tatooine-based criminal empire and a known pirate, slaver, and drug-dealer.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: A New Hope (at least one version of it), Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi

Why are they so bad? He’s a crime boss! That’s a job for bad guys, unless you’re Book Of Boba Fett-era Boba Fett, who thinks crime boss is a nice job for nice guys. He objectifies women, he feeds people to his pet monster, and he’s just a big mean worm.

Who are they? Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, a military officer who fought for the Republic in the Clone Wars, who stood alongside Darth Vader in the upper echelon of the Galactic Empire, and who served as the administrator of the Death Star.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars Rebels, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: A New Hope

Why are they so bad? As guy in charge of the Death Star, he’s the one who said “you may fire when ready” to initiate the destruction of Alderaan, and his personal belief in ruling through fear and military might above all else helped further the Empire’s tyrannical goals. Basically, Vader and the Emperor are evil, but he’s the proper fascist among them.

Who are they? Mitth’raw’nuruodo, a.k.a. Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Navy, a master strategist and a man whose name alone could strike fear into the hearts of Rebels and Imperials alike.

What are they from? Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka

Why are they so bad? Unlike the mad, power-hungry maniacs who tend to rise to power in the Empire, Thrawn knows what he’s doing and he takes the time to really understand a community or a culture before he gets to work dismantling it and killing everyone. That makes him scarier than a lot of other Star Wars villains, even if he did have his plans foiled by a plucky group of young people and then spent most of the Galactic Civil War on the other side of the galaxy.

Who are they? The first apprentice of Darth Sidious (or at least the first one we see in the movies), Maul is actually so much more than the guy with the double-bladed lightsaber.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Solo: A Star Wars Story

Why are they so bad? Maul’s story doesn’t really begin until after he gets cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi. He survived that, naturally, and got a sick pair of robot spider legs (only evil guys have spider legs), then regular robot legs, and then he formed a group called the Shadow Collective—a powerful bad guy faction that threatened to destroy the Republic, then the Empire, and even the Sith. It didn’t work out for him, but he positioned himself as a bigger bad guy than all the other bad guys … and, honestly, they should’ve let him cook. He had it in him.

Who are they? Kylo Ren, a.k.a. Ben Solo, the leader of the Knights Of Ren (whatever that means) and eventually the Supreme Leader Of The First Order.

What are they from? Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Why are they so bad? Oh sure, he gets redeemed, but that’s Ben Solo. Kylo Ren is the bastard of all bastards, a man who is so intent on being perceived as the villain that he kills his father, Han Solo (the best guy in the universe), and then tries to kill his mother, Leia Organa. He doesn’t do bad things because he has bad motivations, like a lust for power or control, he just wants to be a bad guy so bad that he doesn’t care how pathetic it looks. Worst of all, though, is that when he argues his position to Rey at the end of The Last Jedi, he’s arguing for the destruction of Star Wars itself—no more Jedi or Sith, no Light Side or Dark Side, just him and her. But we like Star Wars, guy!

Who are they? Darth Vader, a Dark Lord Of The Sith and apprentice to Darth Sidious. Also Anakin Skywalker, fallen Jedi and ostensible “chosen one” who was meant to bring balance to the Force… but tipping things terribly in one direction is a kind of balance, right?

What are they from? Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Why are they so bad? Darth Vader, with his black cape and black mask, propensity for hurting people, and reputation for being one of the worst fathers in pop culture, is one of the definitive examples of a “bad guy.” How could this be anyone but him? The Emperor is a bigger villain, Thrawn might have the stronger military mind, Maul has a double-lightsaber, and Kylo Ren may actually kill more good guys, but Vader is the one you remember. He attacked his friends, he attacked his pregnant wife, he killed younglings, he oversaw the complete subjugation of the universe, and when it was all over, he resigned himself to being a bad guy forever. He doesn’t even really fight for or earn his own redemption, Luke does that for him. There are more evil guys, there are more dangerous guys, but you put all of them in a room and Darth Vader is going to be the one they all agree is the bad guy.