8 Secondary Movie Villains Who Were More Terrifying Than the Main

Seemingly in every story, villains are infinitely more interesting than the hero. Their origin stories are almost always deeper and their emotional stakes always seem to be higher. Their willingness to burn everything to the ground for what they want, love, or believe in is what draws our interest to them. The more complex and developed they are, the more we resonate, even sympathize, with them or despise them. Often in films, there are secondary villains that further outshine the mastermind main villain in terms of ferociousness and wickedness. These villains have often become the most memorable parts of the films themselves. Here are eight secondary movie villains we find more terrifying than the main antagonists.

8 Mrs. Deagle - Gremlins (1984)

Obviously in Gremlins, the main antagonists are the slimy little green monsters that terrorize Kingston Falls, but honestly, sometimes they're kind of likeable. They sing, dance, party, and play pranks on each other. However, before the Gremlins ever even show up, Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) enters the film in an extremely villainous fashion. Not only does she threaten to take Billy's dog Barney, and have him put down, but states that if she ever got hold of him, he would suffer a "slow and painful death," insinuating she would trap Barney in her spin dryer. If that's not enough, Mrs. Deagle also has multiple scenes focused on making sure families that can't pay their rent are evicted from their homes during the winter holidays. She's certainly the most memorable villain of the film, and her character meets a possibly undeserving and horrific end at the hands of the Gremlins.

7 Clarence Boddicker - Robocop (1987)

Kurtwood Smith was absolutely devious as Clarence Boddicker in Robocop. Though he was essentially just a high-paid street thug and bank robber, Boddicker was under suspicion for the murder of 31 police officers in the Detroit area, and is later hired and sent by the film's main antagonist, Dick Jones (Ronny Cox), to tie up loose ends. The back-and-forth between Boddicker and Alex Murphy/Robocop (Peter Weller) is epic, with Boddicker's gang annihilating Officer Murphy before he becomes Robocop. Smith delivers some of the most memorable lines in the film—including "Sayanora, Robocop!"—right before getting his neck spiked. During filming, Smith wanted to make Boddicker more sinister looking, so he wore glasses because they reminded him of Nazi Party leading member Heinrich Himmler.

6 Scarecrow - Batman Begins (2005)

In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) is a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, where he conducts experiments on the city's worst criminals. While in league with the film's main antagonist, Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson), Crane develops a fear toxin to spread in the water supply of Arkham, and gives Batman quite the fright in their face-off. Murphy portrays Dr. Crane as weasly, brilliant, and arrogant, coming quite close to Crane's comic personality. His memorable performance is also amplified by the absolutely terrifiyng burlap mask he creates when donning his Scarecrow persona.

5 Dolores Umbridge - Harry Potter Series (2007-2011)

Is there a more perfect villain casting than Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? She completely embodies the vile character from the books. Though she may not be as downright vengeful and fascist as Voldemort, she's easily just as memorable and probably a little more psychopathic. Unlike Voldemort, we never get a sympathetic backstory or even reasoning behind her behavior; she actually enjoys torturing people. After forcing her way into power at Hogwarts and within the Ministry of Magic, not only does Umbridge force students to carve things into their own skin after they "break the rules," but after the murder of Mad-Eye Moody, she proudly displays his eye on her office door like a trophy. Some people consider Umbridge as the most hated pop-culture villain of all time.

4 Elle Driver - Kill Bill (2003-2004)

In both Kill Bill volumes, Daryl Hannah's portrayal of Elle Driver is much more intimidating than Bill (David Carradine). Driver admits to murdering one of the most beloved characters in the film series with Pai-Mei, and she betrays Bill without his knowledge by murdering his brother Bud (Michael Madsen) in a brutal way, putting a venomous Black Mamba in his trailer, then watching him die slowly while reading him facts about the venom. It was clear that Driver was jealous of the Bride and her close relationship with Bill, and was the most unpredictable and untrustworthy member of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad."

3 Major Arnold Ernst Toht - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The only people more evil than those who team up with Nazis, like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark's main antagonist Belloq, are the Nazis themselves. Where Belloq (Paul Freeman) has the ability to be charming, have a bit of compassion, and is doing everything for his own monetary gain, Major Toht (Ronald Lacey) is in it solely to bring the power of the Ark to Hitler. Toht has the evil face, he has the evil laugh, and he even gets the gnarly scar every great villain needs. Toht has no empathy, and tries to outright murder anyone who stands in his way. When he meets his demise toward the end of the film, his death still holds up as one of the coolest special effects in Hollywood.

2 The Three Storms - Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

The elemental masters who serve Big Trouble in Little China's main antagonist Lo-Pan (James Hong), are both more imposing and seemingly more powerful than he is. The masters control the elements of rain, thunder, and lightening, and are able to use the atmospheric phenomena to advance their fighting styles. The Storms flawlessly wipe out an entire gang in the film. John Carpenter's film is an action-comedy at its core, so the Three Storms' death scenes are comical for how powerful they are, but line up with the comedy in Lo-Pan's death. The storms are based on ancient Chinese mythology and appear to also be in the manga Kozure Ôkami (1973). The were also inspiration for the popular Mortal Kombat character, Raiden.

1 Saruman - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Christopher Lee's amazing performance aside, Saruman's physical presence within the storyline of The Lord of the Rings is much more effective to the viewer than Sauron's. He goes toe-to-toe with arguably the most powerful character in the franchise in Gandalf, and isn't defeated until an entire army of tree monsters leaves him without much choice but to surrender. He's deceptively powerful, and has no problem betraying those close to him, as he's shown by betraying both the White Council and Sauron. Though Sauron is the big baddie, we get much more development and personality from the dark wizard.