From shapeshifting mutants to evil magic stepmothers with jealousy issues, these babes are the baddest of the bad. Scroll through to see if your favorite TV and movie vixens made our list of the greatest female supervillains of all time...
Gothel-Tangled
Disney princess movies usually have an evil witch or a chaotic entity preventing the protagonist from living a normal life, but in Tangled, the supervillain is Rapunzel's mother. Well, sort of, Gothel isn't Rapunzel's mother, but she convinces her that she is. Don't worry though, she eventually gets her just desserts.
Queen of Hearts- Alice in Wonderland
Much like the original Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is a selfish, evil, and manic leader. Her hatred for Alice comes with no base, and she is open to the idea of lopping off anyone's head that disagrees with her decrees. The Queen of Hearts is oddly likened to great British leaders who happy executed peasants over nothing regularly, but in the end, that bites her in the back.
Sharpay Evans- High School Musical
Sharpay is a rich, spoiled brat that always has to get her way. If she isn't happy with the outcome of something, her first reaction is to offer financial compensation to get her way. However, her evil side shows much deeper intentions when she tries to steal Gabriella's boyfriend and ruin her high school reputation through her manipulative and privileged behavior.
Eleanor Young- Crazy Rich Asians
Continuing the trend of evil mothers, Elanor Young made it her life's mission to make sure that her son finds a suitable Philliopino bride. When he falls for an American girl, she does everything in her power to make sure they split. Talk about family drama!
Angelica- Rugrats
Not all children are precious little angels. For example, Angelica from the Rugrats is particularly evil, especially to her younger playmates. Angelica is the perfect example of an antagonist for babies, someone who uses her power as an older person to belittle those younger than her, but at the end of the day, she learns the most from them being compassionate towards her.
Hilly Holbrook- The Help
Sometimes the greatest villains aren't people, they're systems that were built to fail those who partake in them. Holbrook is a racist, privileged older woman who treats those around her like subordinates and seems to get off on having that power. She is an important example for people in positions of power to check their opinions of POC and disabled folks off of, that is, if that is an issue.
Sue Sylvester- Glee
Sometimes the supervillain isn't even really that evil, just misunderstood. Jane Lynch plays the perfect character for her personality, treating glee club members like trash on purpose because of her own personal shortcomings and insecurities. On top of that, sweatsuits are totally lame, if anything she should try being mean with a look that isn't so easy to make fun of.
Vicky- Fairly Odd Parents
Vicky was the tyrant babysitter that made Timmy Turner's life absolutely miserable whenever she had the opportunity. Vicky isn't inherently evil, she's just an angry mistreated person who never learned how to love properly. That being said, that's absolutely no excuse to be terrible to a child, take your frustration out on something else you bully!
Tiffany- Bride of Chucky
The bride of Chucky is a strange and unpredictable addition to that cinematic universe. Even though she is one of the, statistically, scariest movie villains of the 21st century, we can't help but laugh at her ridiculous appearance. However, that was the point, after all, wasn't it? It's crazy to think that such a low-budget film ($25 million) could gross nearly 3x its original worth.
Azula- Avatar: The Last Airbender
Azula is Prince Zuko's evil sister and the rightful heir to the Fire Nation throne since he defected. She made sure that he would never return to the Fire Nation to defend himself. In addition to that, she took personal pleasure in making sure that the impoverished people in the Fire Nation stayed that way, which is absolutely deplorable, coming from a queen to be.
Veruca Salt- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Veruca Salt is less evil, more of a result of privilege spoiling a person. It's funny how the majority of these individuals wouldn't be evil if it weren't for their extreme wealth and lack of care for others built by competitive capital. Veruca Salt is just a child, but she's falling down a dangerous path, which gets quickly adjusted when she turns into a Blueberry at the end of the film.
Ursula- The Little Mermaid
Ursula is evil, vengeful, and flat out plagued by jealousy, which causes her to act like a jerk to Ariel. She is jealous of Ariel's beauty, her power, and her position of being a member of the royal family. Much like other fairy tales, Ursula is a demonic, Devil like figure that convinces the protagonist of one thing, while making sure they're oblivious of the consequences, which is truly despicable.
Lady Macbeth- Lady Macbeth
Although Macbeth was the one who held the sword, it was Lady Macbeth that manipulated him into taking the lives of many. In fact, one of the most recognizable scenes in Macbeth is when she hallucinates blood on her hands from Macbeth's many murders caused by her mention. Although she gets her share at the end of the book/film, that doesn't change her effect on history, and it doesn't cleanse her of her sins.
Miss Trunchbull- Matilda
If you haven't seen Matilda, you should drop what you're doing and watch it right now. Miss Trunchbull is a purely evil character that abuses and humiliates children. She force-feeds a child an entire chocolate cake, swings little girls around by their pony tails, and all because she envies the children that come to her because of their youth, how sad.
Miranda Priestly- The Devil Wears Prada
The fashion world is cutthroat, and nobody does that better than Miranda Priestly. The editor in chief of Vogue (not really) treats all her assistants and coworkers like subordinates, while simultaneously creating a hostile work environment by spreading false rumors about her cohorts. If you ever have a boss like her, run for the hills.
Nurse Ratched- One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Wouldn't it be scary to work in a hospital with someone that you constantly fear? What about someone that you're absolutely sure poisoned you and nobody believes you because they're all equally afraid of her? That's what Nurse Ratched is like, and you don't want to get on her bad side.
Annie Wilkes- Misery
This lady is the reason an entire generation doesn't pick up hitchhikers. Words for the wise, never become a writer if you fear getting captured and having your legs broken by a superfan. Even though she is violent, malicious, and generally evil, Annie Wilkes has an unmistakable great sense of style.
Dolores Umbridge- Harry Potter
Why does Delores Umbridge care so much about order and rules? Well, that helps her maintain a semblance of control and power over the people around her! Never follow a leader that denounces danger because they choose not to believe in it, especially when that danger is an evil, world-ending wizard named Voldemort.
Poison Ivy- Batman & Robin
Poison Ivy isn't inherently evil, which kind of makes her role a bit more understandable. She merely sees the evil in humankind and chooses to address it with "unorthodox" tactics, and by unorthodox we mean murder. She is a master manipulator who merely wants to save the Earth, causing her character to both to be relatable and fearsome at the same time!
Kathryn Merteuil- Cruel Intentions
Although Sarah Michelle Gellar played the hero Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she performs some seriously diabolical roles in some of her earlier movies. In fact, her acting in Cruel Intentions is some of the most dangerous and manipulative acting we've seen to date. Not to mention her role in Dangerous Liaisons, which was just as scarily terrible, yet entrancing.
Wicked Witch of the West- The Wizard of Oz
Compared to her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West is a princess. However, when her sister was killed by Dorethey's hot air balloon killed her only blood relative that she liked, she knew she had to exact her revenge. Margaret Hamilton played a flawless role as this anti-hero that ended up melting (haha get it?) the hearts of those who felt empathetic towards her trivial struggle.
Emma Frost- X-Men: First Class
Emma Frost is continually criticized for being a character that represents women poorly in movies. However, some believe that her superpowers are actually representations of empowerment for women in films, and that more people should think deeper about the implications of their actions and thoughts. Emma Frost is one of the most dangerous X-Men villains of all time, and shes definitely the best dressed.
Grand High Witch- The Witches
Not all witches are malicious, but this one definitely is. Anjelica Huston brings the Grand High Witch character to life on screen by mastering 4th wall breaking stares directly into the camera without feeling contrived. Think about how scared you were when you watched Funny Games for the first time, then magnitize all of the 4th wall breaking scenes and that's what you'll get from watching The Witches in full.
Mathilda- Léon: The Professional
Natalie Portman was built for the big screen since she was a child. Her performance in The Professional was a defining moment for her flexibility as an actor, as well as her skill overall. That, and she carried a real gun around set at 12 years old and people trusted her enough to not do anything funky with it, which is a huge test of maturity.
Lolita- The Crush
Alicia Silverstone took her character and morphed her into a dark, twisted creature that nobody liked towards the end of the film. This is particularly impressive because of the theming of Lolita, and how versatile she was as an actor at such a young age. Silverstone won Best Villian in the 19934 MTV awards, and we definitely think she deserved it.
Xenia Onatopp- GoldenEye
Xenia Onatopp is a villain that we think everyone secretly wants to be. She uses her looks to get what she wants, and after she manipulates her prey into thinking everything is fine, she kills them. Her favorite finishing move is crushing the skulls of men, which is pretty cool if you think about it.
Madison Lee- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Madison Lee isn't particularly evil, but she is for sure a supervillain. She's an incredible martial artist, a supreme master of manipulation, and an astrophysicist? One of the easter eggs in Charlie's Angels is that Madison Lee is an insanely intelligent astrophysicist that was an obsessive perfectionist, and that worked out in her favor in the end.
Jiaying- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
Jiayaing's superpower is being able to absorb people's youth, this includes their appearance and personality. Don't you wish you could do that? In the movie, she's actually close to 100 years old, but her time exercising her powers let her stay youthful and beautiful. She wasn't originally evil, but when her daughter died she lost her place in life and started using her powers for evil.
Cruella de Vil- 101 Dalmations
Anyone who is willing to kill a bunch of puppies is worth the title of "an evil person." In fact, Cruella De Ville might be the evilest person on this entire list! Nothing says elegance better than a blatant disregard for animal life, kind of like the fashion industry as a whole!
Catwoman- Batman Returns
Michelle Pfeiffer is so cool that she actually had to tone down how evil her character was on screen because the producers feared the movie would end up being rated R. In addition to that, her suit is actually made of real, high-grade leather. Watching her do all of her own acrobatic stunts must have been sweaty work, but to her, this was one of her greatest achievements.
Catwoman- The Dark Knight Rises
Anne Hathaway plays the slightly less evil Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Her portrayal was significantly different from Michele Pfiefer's, in the sense that she wasn't particularly malicious or evilly intended, she just didn't like capitalism. She also did her own stunts, AND she did it all in a faux leather suit, similar to her predecessor's but even less breathability.
The Heathers- Heathers
Heathers was the first genre-bending horror movie of its kind. This film is about a popular clique that ends up becoming a murder cult thanks to the manipulative nature of one of their boyfriends. This was the first mean girl movie that escalated into a full blown slasher, and we support that.
Bonnie Parker- Bonnie and Clyde
Based off of a true story, Bonnie Parker was as villianous as they come. Bonnie and Clyde didn't kill for any particular reason they just did it because they were bored. In addition to that, they had the best sense of style out of any movie villians to date.
Ravenna- Snow White & The Huntsman
This modern adaptation of the Disney Classic "Snow White" pooirtrays Charlize Theron as the envious and vengeful queen that is hellbent on ruining Snow White's life. This character is wild, she eats the hearts of woodland creatures and quite literally sucks the souls out of her subordinates. In order to maintain her beauty, she takes the lives of her surrouding subjects, and we think that's pretty cool.
Alex Forrest- Fatal Attraction
Glenn Closes plays Alex Forrest, a beautiful psychopath that makes it her life goal to murder adultering men and teach their families lessons about their behavior. She starts her rampage with a heartbroken journey through manipulation and distrust that causes her to snap. This blood-soaked adventure is a slept-on classic that more people need to look into.
Joan Crawford- Mommie Dearest
For those who have seen "Mommie's Home" this was the original inspiration for that film. This movie doccuments an abusive relationship between Joan Crawford and her daughter, which was actually a tragic story about Joan Crawford's real life. As one would expect, Crawford portrayed her mother flawlessly, and she readapted her trauma to be hollywood magic that became a timeless classic.
Lamia- Stardust
Michelle Pfieffer is the queen of evil on the big screen, but is notorious for being a lovely person off-stage. In Stardust, she palys a murderer named LAmia who is on the quest for eternal life. She believes that killing others will bring her closer to lifelong youthfulness, which just isn't true when it comes down to it.
Catherine Tramell- Basic Instinct
People hated this character when Basic Instinct first came out, but as time went on, the necessity of Catherine Tramell became more important. Sharon Stone plays a vindictive, sexy, and manipulative businesswoman who captures and murders men who undermine her. Catherine Tramell is seriously one of the most important female vixens in history, and you should watch the movie to find out why for yourself.
White Witch- The Chronicles of Narnia
The White Witch is a manipulative, mean spirited character that only Tilda Swinton could properly bring to life. She is undoubtedly the least likable character in the entirety of the Chronicles of Narnia Series. That, and she scared the absolute heck out of children that went to go see this movie in theaters.
Evil Stepmother- Cinderella
The true tale that is as old as time depicts Cinderella's stepmother as a terrible, horrid person. She prevents Cinderella from joining her family at the ball, and she restricts her from seeing the prince, who in the end chooses her over her terrible stepsisters. Cinderella's stepmother is one of the most notable female supervillains of all time, and she was actually the first animated female supervillain.
Amy Dunne- Gone Girl
Amy Dunne would do anything to leave her terrible husband, and one of those things is trying to convince the world that he's a murderer. However, in the end, she's the real murderer. She just got away with everything because she plays the "ditzy girl next door" card, but we see right through all those tricks.
Elle Driver- Kill Bill
Kill Bill V1-2 are some of the greatest movies ever created. Elle Driver is one of, if not the best villain in the two-part movie (please forgive me, Lucy Liu). Elle Driver takes out her villains by poisoning them and standing over them while they convulse, which is something you might expect from someone who was literally trained to kill from birth.
Shego- Kim Possible
Shego was a lot of our first cartoon crushes when we were kids, and rightfully so. Shego is a confident, acrobatic, and intelligent counterpart to the doofy and wealthy Dr. Drakken. This show was so far ahead of its time it was insane, and it still holds up if you want to take a trip down memory lane in your adult life.
Baroness- G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Baroness was accidentally one of the coolest female antagonists of all time. Donned in her all leather cat suit, Sienna Miller crushes her role as a ruthless killer hellbent on ending G.I. Joe's life. Oh, and on top of that, Sienna Miller is a great person outside of the movie set, so take that disproving movie fans.
Meredith Blake- The Parent Trap
Evil stepmothers seem to be a recurring theme in this movie universe we're critiquing here. In this case, Ms. Meridith Blake would do anything to get rid of her two stepdaughters, even kill them. However, in the end, she is the one who ends up getting nixed.
Nina- Black Swan
The world of ballet is so cutthroat it's scary, and we mean literally cutthroat. Natalie Portman stars in Black Swan, which is a story about a woman who is so driven by determination that she loses touch with reality. All she knows is ballet and breathing, and she was willing to do anything to get her to the top.
Bellatrix Lestrange- Harry Potter
Harry Potter usually stuck with male enimies, but when Belatrix Lestrange hit the silver screem, she was praised for being just as fearless and unhinged as the rest. Helena Bonham Carter crushes her role as an Azkaban escapee searching for revenge on the son of the very person who put her in there. However, for those who haven't seen the movies, you can rest assured that she got what was coming to her in the end.
Volturi Jane- Twilight Saga
Everybody loved twilight for exactly 3 years, then it got a little weird. Everybody loves a good vampire love story, except for Volturi Jane, apparently. This red-eyed vampire councilperson made sure that Edward and Bella's relationship would be strained no matter what, and that meant going to all lengths possible.
Evanora- Oz The Great and Powerful
Do you remember what the Wicked Witch of the West looked like in the original Wizard of Oz? Well, this is her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East, and she's a prime subject for analyzing evil characters in movies. You should watch this film and make that distinction for yourself, it's a really good one!
O-Ren Ishii- Kill Bill
O-Ren Ishii is a super cool, super inspirational, and infinitely terrifying villain. She singlehandedly changed the flow of the Japanese mob, despite being a half Chinese, half caucasian American woman who was voted into lead. Lucy Liu is amazing, this was the role she was born to play.
The Bride- Kill Bill
Uma Thurman's character, also known as the Black Mamba, set a precedent for how female protagonists were viewed in films. She wasn't much of a supervillain, in fact, she wasn't evil at all, just vengeful. Never underestimate someone who is searching for revenge, especially when they have nothing to lose.
Cersei Lannister- Game of Thrones
Nobody in the history of film and TV is quite as evil as Cercei Lannister. She would do anything to protect her money, her cushy life, her kingdom, and her inflated ethics that have successfully torn the entire world's politics apart. Also, if you haven't finished Game of Thrones, we'll save you the time and just say that she died alongside her brother, not the short one.
May Day- James Bond, A View to Kill
Grace Jones was demonized for this role, mostly because the depiction of an angry black woman in film was fairly unacceptable at the time. However, the James Bond series put faith in humanity and created this character that was both fearsome and beautiful. May Day might be the most memorable Bond villain of all time, and you should watch the movies to make that distinction for yourself.
Maleficent- Maleficent
Disney has historically downplayed the evil that their female villains are capable of, but when Maleficent came out, all of that changed. Not only is this one of Disney's most expensive and successful movies to date, but it's also one of the most highly critically acclaimed and revered by the public. Maleficent was the first truly evil female Disney villain, and they do not want you to forget it.
Serena Joy- Handmaid's Tale
Nobody likes a narc, and Serena Joy is a professional one of those. Yvonne Strahovski creates an air of tension in the highly successful dystopian series that has received more critical acclaim than the back half of Game of Thrones. She is truly one of the cruelest and uncool television supervillains of all time, and that's saying something.
Harley Quinn- Suicide Squad
Harley Quinn is usually presented as a bashful, neutral evil character that is an extension of the Joker. But, in recent years, the roles have flipped, and Harley Quinn started acting o her own accord. Although Suicide Squad was one of the worst movies of all time, Margot Robbie's depiction of the classic comic book character was truly showstopping.
Hela- Thor: Ragnarok
The Thor universe seems pretty phoned in at times, but Hela is a true exception to that presence. She was Marvel's first onscreen female villain, and she's one of the strongest of all time as well. She is actually determined to destroy the world, which isn't too good, depending on who you ask.
Sarah- Hocus Pocus
Sarah. Jessica. Parker. This actor absolutely annihilated this role, she made a comedic witch scary and funny at the same time, and kids didn't know how to process it. If Hocus Pocus was a horror movie, which it kind of is, she would have crushed the main role as well. Especially since she has such screen chemistry with everyone else that was cast in the film.
Mystique- X:Men
Mystique isn't a supervillain, she's just a little misunderstood. She can shapeshift into anything she wants, and shes truly chaotic neutral, and Marvel is about to make a solo movie specifically about her. If you're a fan of this character, keep an eye out.
Regina George- Mean Girls
Regina George is the most realistic villain of them all in this list, simply because she is a real-life bully. Don't worry, she gets what's coming to her in the end, but her impact on the story of Mean Girls wouldn't be the same if she wasn't so evil. The only thing standing in her way of just flat out killing all of the characters she hates is her mother, who is the true star of the show.