Welcome To The Dark Side: The 10 Greatest Star Wars Villains

You only have to look at Darth Vader’s place in pop culture to see that the Star Wars franchise belongs as much to its villain as it does its heroes. The saga draws from age-old mythological themes of good vs. evil, so naturally, the evil side has to be just as compelling as the good.

As such, that galaxy far, far away is populated with many memorable villains – from sadistic sith masters, to belligerent bounty hunters to insidious imperial soldiers. Occasionally, there are cool-looking but ultimately underwritten characters like General Grievous or Captain Phasma, but usually, Star Wars can be relied upon to create some of cinema’s most iconic enemies.

And so, with the recent release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we’ve decided to look back on some of the franchise’s best villains. To clarify, for the sake of simplicity, this list will only deal with antagonists seen in the films. So commiserations to Darth Bane and Darth Revan from the Legends novels (formally known as the Expanded Universe) and the likes of Asajj Ventress and the Inquisitor from Star Wars Rebels.