Summary
Some movies don’t follow the typical recipe of a good protagonist and choose a different approach instead and make the villains the ones who drive the plot. These characters are dangerous enough alone, but when they join forces with someone who has no qualms about hurting others, they become even deadlier.
Most stories only need one villain, so it’s even more fun when the writer or creator decides to add two of them. While in the normal world, most people wouldn’t enjoy empathizing with criminals and evil people, but in movies, it’s fascinating to watch some of the best villain duos take on the world.
Updated July 07, 2025, by Kristy Ambrose:The concept of the evil duo works in every genre, but seems to appear most often in action, slashers, thrillers, and horror movies, or the genres that have a lot of gore. Media like books and comics use the evil duo just as often, giving villains a chance to network their talents instead of taking care of their nefarious plans alone. Although the evil duo is often a romantic couple in a co-dependent and dysfunctional relationship, the dichotomy can also include family members, employees, and close friends.
15Xenia Onatopp & Alec Trevalyn
GoldenEye
Most viewers remember Famke Janssen as Jane Grey of the originalX-Menmovie franchise, but her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Xenia Onatopp inGoldeneye.Her ruthless demeanor, stunning beauty, and alluring accent seem to have no equal, but Sean Bean also has a part in this movie. He plays the main antagonist, Alec Trevelyan, which also means the audience will get to see a dramatic and gory death at some point.
A former pilot who is always cheerfully sadistic, Onatopp is the brawn, doing the dirty work that she loves which includes mayhem, stealing, kidnapping, and driving a mean Ferrari. Trevelyan is the brains of the evil duo, pretending to be a double-0 while secretly running a Russian cartel that’s made a deal with a crooked military leader.
14The Duras Sisters
Star Trek: Generations
The Sisters of the House of Duras have appeared in various places throughout the Star Trek franchise and were featured as villains in episodes ofThe Next GenerationandDeep Space 9. Their story arc comes to a fiery end in the seventhStar Trekmovie, which also includes the untimely end of James Kirk and the destruction of yet another Enterprise.
Lursa and B’Etor had a long history in Trek lore as antagonists as far back as 2367, when they were responsible for starting the Klingon Civil War. Most of their exploits were schemes to install their nephew Toral as the head of the Klingon High Council, but they were also involved in arms deals, mercenary work, and other plans to improve their family’s influence and power and raise more money to fund them both.
13John Hartley & Nolan Booth
Red Notice
The Netflix action pieceRed Noticeuses the fact that even villains become sympathetic when they’re effectively utilized as protagonists. Hartley and Booth, portrayed by Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, are forced by circumstances to work together, and the buddy chemistry between them as well as the strong amount of jokes they share more than makes up for the somewhat convoluted plot.
And whenever Gal Gadot enters the scene, and the duo becomes a trio, the movie gains even more energy and drive than it had before. If for nothing else, watchingRed Noticefor the main cast and the jokes between them is time well spent.
12Johnny Bartlett & Patricia Bradley
The Frighteners
It’s interesting to see what Peter Jackson was up to beforeThe Lord of the Ringsmade him a household name. This film is a funny comedy in addition to being a genuinely scary horror movie. The juxtaposition of love stories is one of the more interesting themes, and the toxic coupling of Johnny and Patricia is on the negative side of the spectrum.
These two serial murderers are cringe on so many levels, likely just as horrible in life as in death, which only starts with the pile of dead bodies they leave in a hospital. Their murder spree was cut short when Johnny was sentenced to the electric chair for their crimes. But love never dies, at least not until its ashes are consecrated on holy ground and sent to Hell for all eternity.
11Imhotep & Anck-Su-Namun
The Mummy
The Mummyseries is the ultimate adventure piece full ofaction, danger, beautiful settings, and, of course, the complex love story between the two main villains, Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun. The movie series subverts the usual plot in which a villain falls for an innocent woman, and things go wrong. In this scenario, neither of them is all that innocent. Imhotep will stop at nothing, killing people included, if it means getting back the woman he loves.
As for Anck-Su-Namun, when she had to choose to risk her life and save Imhotep or protect herself, she chose the second option. Whether that makes her selfish or not, that’s up to every viewer to decide. Whatever the case, Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun were the ultimate evil duo while they lasted, and their shared history spanning thousands of years made for a fascinating story.
10Veronica & J.D.
Heathers
Most couples in movies focused on teenagers ultimately come across as sweet, even when they fumble and make their fair share of mistakes. That’s not the case for Veronica and J.D. J.D. is the one who convinced Veronica it was okay to get back at the people who were mean toward her and others, even if it meant hurting them or worse.
Veronica went with it anyway, at least initially. While she might have had a reason for hating the Heathers, that doesn’t justify killing them. It might be difficult to cheer on the couple, butHeathersoffers an intriguing story of a twisted relationship. Plus, Winona Ryder and Christian Slater are excellent in the leading roles.
9Gordon & Abigail Craven
The Addams Family
The previous media related to theAddams Familyfranchise never explained the family’s finances, but this 1991 movie had a secret vault of gold and jewels in the basement and the Cravens find out about it. With the help of the Addams' lawyer, who is also a grifter, they dress Gordon up as Uncle Fester, who’s been missing for decades.
A mother-son evil duo in this case, or at least it seems that way at first. Part of the twist here is that Gorden isn’t exactly who Abigail says he is and only the authenticity of the Addams Family can get through the facade she’s created. This family has some experience with evil, and the Cravens are no match for them. If they were antagonists, Morticia and Gomez could be on this list.
8Sweeney Todd & Mrs. Lovett
Sweeney Todd
The worst thing about this couple (other than the fact that they murder people and bake meat pies from their victims' flesh) is that they don’t stand on equal ground. Mrs. Lovett is in love with Sweeney Todd and dreams about the future they will share, but all that Todd is focused on is getting revenge on the man who ruined his life.
Unlike other romances between two evil people, this one comes across as one-sided, especially since the movie later reveals that both Todd and Mrs. Lovett are lying to each other. Thanks to all of this, as well as Helena Bonham-Carter’s and Johnny Depp’s performances, it’s interesting to watch how the relationship between the two main evil characters evolves.
7Harley Quinn & The Joker
Joker: Folie à Deux
DCEU movies didn’t give this villainous couple as much space as they would have deserved, but there’s a library of animated series and shows that have fixed this problem, and show Harley and Joker living their best life of terror in Gotham while Batman’s after them. The firstSuicide Squadoffers only a glimpse into how dangerous these two truly are, but the recent movieJoker: Folie à Deuxgave these two infamous villains some real screen time.
Harley and Joker are both intelligent and unpredictable, which makes for a fatal combination. According to the animated lore, Harley later changes her ways andbecomes one of the anti-heroes. She even helps to create the superhero team Birds of Prey and stop the villainous Black Mask. In this movie, however, she’s one of the catalysts for Joker’s deeper and even more destructive downward spirals.
6Roy Batty & Pris
Blade Runner
This pair are the last two survivors of a plot hatched by some of the most sympathetic villains in movie history. Roy Batty and Pris were replicants with only four years to live because of a deliberate design failure. Anyone can agree that’s a valid gripe. They and their companions were indiscriminate about killing anyone that got in their way, including the innocent crew of a ship they hijacked to reach Earth.
The saga of replicants and “born” humans now spans two movies, and the main character in the sequel is a combination of both hero and villain, depending on who’s asking. Roy is the character that voices the now famous “tears in the rain” line as his time runs out, but he has enough time to act out of character and save Deckerd’s life before his body reaches its termination date.
