Top 25 Star Wars Villains Ranked

Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists throughout the prequel trilogy. Star Wars creator George Lucas has collectively referred to the first six episodic films of the franchise as "the tragedy of Darth Vader".^[2] He has become one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, and has been listed among the greatest villains and fictional characters ever.^[3][4] His masked face has become one of the most iconic character designs of all time.

Boba Fett (/ˌboʊbə ˈfɛt, ˌbɒ-/) is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. First appearing in the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), where he was voiced by Don Francks, he is an armored bounty hunter featured in both the original and prequel film trilogies. In the original trilogy, the character is a supporting antagonist and was mainly portrayed by Jeremy Bulloch and voiced by Jason Wingreen. Notable for his taciturn demeanor and for never removing his helmet, Fett appears in both The Empire Strikes Back (1980), employed by the Galactic Empire, and Return of the Jedi (1983), serving the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. While seemingly killed in Return of the Jedi after falling into a sarlacc, he has since appeared in Star Wars media set after the film, confirming his survival. A preteen Boba is portrayed by Daniel Logan in the prequel film Attack of the Clones (2002), which reveals the character's origins as the genetic clone and adoptive son of Jango Fett, also a famous bounty hunter. The animated series The Bad Batch further reveals Boba to have been born Alpha, and to have a biological twin sister, Omega.

Sheev Palpatine,^[b] also known by his Sith name Darth Sidious, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Initially credited as the Emperor in the original trilogy films, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He serves as the main antagonist of the nine-film Skywalker saga, in which he is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid.

Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and minor antagonist in the Star Wars franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet portraying him in Return of the Jedi. He was originally supposed to first appear in Star Wars (1977) as a stop motion character with Declan Mulholland as his stand-in. Jabba was later added into the film as a CGI character when it was re-released in Special Edition in 1997. He also appears in the prequel movie The Phantom Menace. The character is a large slug-like creature based on annelid worms and originally designed as an apelike figure.

Darth Maul, also known simply as Maul, is a character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (portrayed by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) as a powerful Sith Lord and Darth Sidious' first apprentice. Though seemingly killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of the film, Darth Maul returned in the 2008 computer animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (voiced by Sam Witwer). Star Wars creator George Lucas had intended for the resurrected Maul to serve as the primary antagonist of the sequel film trilogy, but these plans were abandoned when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. The character nonetheless reappeared in the 2014 animated series Star Wars Rebels and the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story, voiced again by Witwer; Park physically reprised the role in Solo. Since his initial defeat in The Phantom Menace, Maul has become an independent criminal mastermind and endured as Obi-Wan's archenemy.

Jango Fett is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, created by George Lucas. He first appeared as an antagonist in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, played by Temuera Morrison. The character is a Mandalorian bounty hunter, regarded as the best mercenary in the galaxy of his era, and the "father" of Boba Fett, an unmodified clone of Jango whom he kept as payment for serving as the genetic template of the Galactic Republic's clone army and raised as his son. After Jango's death at the hands of Mace Windu, Boba follows in his father's footsteps, using his father's armor, equipment, and ship, Slave I, to become a successful bounty hunter in his own right.

Kylo Ren is a New character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared as the main antagonist of The Force Awakens (2015), in which he is portrayed by Adam Driver. Driver reprised his role in the sequel films Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), with the character also appearing in Star Wars Resistance (2018–2020) and The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (2020).

General Grievous is a character and antagonist in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Grievous was introduced in the 2003 animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars (voiced by John DiMaggio in the second season and Richard McGonagle in the third season), before appearing through computer-generated imagery in the 2005 live-action film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (voiced by Matthew Wood). Wood reprised his role in the 2008 computer animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, introduced in the original 1977 Star Wars film^[a] (played by Peter Cushing) as the main antagonist. In the film, Tarkin is depicted as a high-ranking officer of the Galactic Empire, placed in charge of the operations on the Death Star, the Empire's dwarf planet-sized battle station. He orders the destruction of the planet Alderaan by the station's superlaser, and is killed at the end of the film by Luke Skywalker, who destroys the Death Star with Tarkin still on board.

Stormtrooper are soldiers in the fictional Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Introduced in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), the stormtroopers are the shock troops/space marines of the autocratic Galactic Empire, under the leadership of Emperor Palpatine and his commanders, most notably Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, during the original film trilogy (1977–1983). The prequel trilogy (1999–2005) establishes their origin as the Galactic Republic's clone troopers, clones of the bounty hunter Jango Fett, used by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to "win" the Clone Wars and later to take over the government and exterminate the Jedi. Despite this, later stormtroopers are established as recruits; at the time of the original trilogy, only a few stormtroopers are clones, with the only known legion to still contain a significant number of clones being the 501st Legion, aka "Vader's Fist". In the sequel trilogy (2015–2019), the First Order employs stormtroopers under the leadership of Supreme Leader Snoke and his commanders, most notably Kylo Ren, General Hux, and Captain Phasma.

Asajj Ventress (/əˈsɑːʒ ˈvɛntrəs/) is a character from the Star Wars franchise. Originally intended to appear as an antagonist in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,^[1] she was first introduced in the 2003 micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars (voiced by Grey DeLisle), which has since been removed from the Star Wars canon and is part of the Star Wars Legends continuity. A different version of Ventress was featured in the 2008 animated film The Clone Wars and the subsequent television series of the same name, in which she is voiced by Nika Futterman. The character also appears in tie-in Star Wars media such as books, comics, and video games, and has become a favorite among fans.

Captain Phasma is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by English actress Gwendoline Christie. Introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Phasma is the commander of the First Order's force of stormtroopers. Christie returned to the role in the next of the trilogy's films, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and in the animated television series Star Wars Resistance (2018) and several video games. The character also made an additional appearance in Before the Awakening, an anthology book set before the events of The Force Awakens.

Greedo Tetsu Jr. is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was a Rodian bounty hunter from the Tetsu Clan and worked for gangster Jabba the Hutt. Greedo's Huttese language is based on Quechua, the Inca language.^[1] He appears in the first Star Wars film during a scene where he confronts and threatens Han Solo, only to be killed by Solo. The scene was later altered so that Greedo also shoots at Han, leading to the infamous fan controversy known as "Han shot first" with which the character has since come to be best-known.

Cad Bane is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Created by George Lucas, Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy, the character was introduced to serve as a recurring antagonist in the 2008 computer animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (voiced by Corey Burton). Burton would reprise his role as the voice of Cad Bane in the 2021 animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch and live-action series The Book of Boba Fett (in which stuntman Dorian Kingi physically portrayed the character) on Disney+.

Count Dooku of Serenno, also known by his Sith name Darth Tyranus, or simply as Count Dooku, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, created by George Lucas. One of the main antagonists of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, he appears in both Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), played by Christopher Lee,^[1][2] as well as associated media, such as books, comics, video games, and television series. Actor Corey Burton has voiced Dooku in most of his animated and video game appearances, most notably Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003–2005), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2014; 2020), and the miniseries Tales of the Jedi (2022). Lee reprised the role in the 2008 animated film that launched The Clone Wars series.

Bossk is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. First appearing in the The Empire Strikes Back (1980), where he was portrayed by Alan Harris,^[1] he is a reptilian bounty hunter featured in the original trilogy. Bossk first appears in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), employed by the Galactic Empire.

A battle droid is a class of military robot used as an easily controlled alternative to human soldiers, most notably seen in the Star Wars prequel trilogy of films and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series, in which 'B1' and 'B2' models are frequent antagonists. Due to their ubiquity, the terms 'B1' and 'battle droid' are used interchangeably; 'B2' models are also referred to as 'super' battle droids.^[31][32] These droids are mainly used as the primary troops of the Confederacy of Independent Systems or Separatist Alliance, acting as the counterpart to the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars.

Supreme Leader Snoke is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was created by J. J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt for the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which he is introduced as the Supreme Leader of the First Order, a rogue military junta formed from the fallen Galactic Empire. In the films, Snoke is a CGI character voiced and performed by Andy Serkis via motion capture.

Director Orson Callan Krennic is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn in the 2016 film Rogue One as the main antagonist. Krennic is the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Galactic Empire, and was introduced in the 2016 prequel novel Catalyst by James Luceno.

The Grand Inquisitor, introduced simply as The Inquisitor and also known as the Master of the Inquisitorius, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Voiced by Jason Isaacs, he is featured as the main antagonist of the first season of the animated series Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018), after being introduced as a Pau'an Temple Guard in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2014; 2020), who defects from the order during Order 66 and is tasked to hunt down all remaining Jedi by Darth Sidious in its aftermath. Following his suicide, the Grand Inquisitor's redeemed spirit — The Sentinel — aids Kanan Jarrus against the Inquisitorius, knighting him as a Jedi, before being enslaved by the Sith as a Temple Guard once more.

IG-11 is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise who appears in the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian. An extremely deadly and efficient bounty hunter droid, IG-11 initially attempts to capture and kill an alien known as the Child but is stopped and destroyed by another bounty hunter known as the Mandalorian. IG-11 is later repaired by the Ugnaught alien Kuiil and reprogrammed as a nurse and protector of the Child and an ally of the Mandalorian.

General Armitage Hux^[1] is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. First introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he is portrayed by Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson.^[2] He is an unpleasant military commander in a power struggle with Kylo Ren for the First Order leadership, and being exceeded only by Supreme Leader Snoke.^[3] The character first featured in The Force Awakens media and merchandising, and returned in the film's sequels, The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Gleeson's performance has received generally positive reception from critics and fans, while the reaction to the character and his shifting roles throughout the trilogy has been more mixed.

Fennec Shand is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise portrayed by Ming-Na Wen in the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, and The Book of Boba Fett. An elite mercenary and assassin, she was introduced in "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger" of The Mandalorian, in which she is sought by the show's title character and another bounty hunter, Toro Calican, who seemingly kills her. In "Chapter 14: The Tragedy", it was established that Fennec was saved by Boba Fett, leaving her in his debt, and had parts of her body replaced with cybernetics. As Fett's new partner, she assists him in his mission to recover his old armor from the Mandalorian, and later to rescue Grogu in order to honor an agreement made with the latter. Once their mission is completed, the two conquer Tatooine and the remnants of the Hutt cartels. In The Book of Boba Fett, Fennec and Fett come into conflict with various enemies attempting to seize power from them, leading them to ally with the Mandalorian once more to defend their new crime empire.

Black plated BB-series astromech droid in the service of the First Order in The Last Jedi.

Sebulba is a Dug podracer who competes against Anakin Skywalker. He is very arrogant and competitive, and will resort to any means to achieve victory, even cheating. Once a slave, Sebulba's podracing skills bought his freedom. As of 2022, the character has been voiced by Lewis MacLeod in Episode I.