Copyright Screen Rant
There have been some great villains in television history, but only a handful have single-handedly made their shows even better. A great villain can take an alright show and make it good, or it can take a good series and make it one of the best television shows ever made. Some TV villains are so good they outshine the hero, even. Every good story needs a good antagonist, after all. This list will primarily be looking at television villains who joined a show later on, only to make it even more compelling. There are plenty of great villains, from Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones to Boyd Crowder in Justified, who are foundational parts of the show. While they are some of the best TV villains ever, they didn't cause as direct of an increase in quality as the following 10 villains. Sue Sylvester Glee While she was there from the beginning, it's no secret that Sue Sylvester was the best part of Glee. Sue was always good for a hilarious quote, a brutal takedown, or any other number of iconic moments that made her the most memorable part of Glee. She single-handedly kept the show (relatively) grounded, acting as the perfect foil to the glee club and their antics. It's hard to imagine what Glee would have been without Sue Sylvester. She single-handedly give the show drama and conflict. Without Sue, Glee would have been a run-of-the-mill teen drama, and the only unique thing about it would be the fact that the characters sing. That's why Sue Sylvester belongs on this list: she made Glee better every second she was on screen. Benjamin Linus Lost Lost was an instant hit in its first season. It commanded the attention of millions of viewers as soon as it began, but it really hit its stride in season 2. That's when Benjamin Linus was revealed as the leader of the Others, the group that was wreaking havoc on the survivors of Lost. The show somehow got even better than it already was once Ben was revealed and his manipulations became clearer. One of the many brilliant things about Ben was how he managed to play anyone and everyone. Ben was responsible for some of the most devastating deaths in Lost, he was absolutely enthralling to watch, and he simply made the show better. Add to that his sheer ambiguity and tragic backstory, and Ben was clearly one of the best additions Lost ever made to its cast and structure. Jim Moriarty Sherlock The BBC's Sherlock was already a great murder mystery show when it began, but when it introduced the iconic villain James Moriarty at the end of season 1, it really hit its stride. That was when Moriarty revealed that he was behind all the murders Sherlock was solving, and that he was the architect of Sherlock's suffering. Moriarty was brilliant, deliciously vile, and played by the exceptionally talented Andrew Scott: he was the whole package. One of the best signs of just how important Moriarty was to Sherlock is what happened after his death in season 2. Sherlock faltered without Moriarty, first trying to include him as much as possible by dealing with the aftermath of his death, and then trying to replace him through the highly underwhelming Eurus Holmes. Moriarty was such a good villain that Sherlock basically couldn't go on without him. Azula Avatar: The Last Airbender Aang had several enemies to square off against in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but the best villain of the show was Azula. Zuko and Fire Lord Ozai both had their moments, but Azula elevated the show to a new level. Her viciousness, anger, and downright sadism gave The Last Airbender a sense of danger and higher stakes than it ever had with Zuko, and she was a much more personal and complex villain than her father. Perhaps the best part of Azula being an antagonist was the effect she had on the characters of The Last Airbender. Azula made Zuko's redemption possible, she brought the Gaang closer together, and she paved the way for Fire Lord Ozai to be the ultimate physical threat to Aang. She was the challenge Aang needed to become a fully-fledged Avatar, and she didn't give him an inch of leeway. The Lich Adventure Time There's probably no villain out there who changed the tone of a show so drastically as the Lich from Adventure Time did. Prior to the Lich's introduction, Adventure Time was a unique but fairly standard kid's show about Finn and his magic dog. Once the Lich was properly introduced as the show's overarching antagonist in season 2, however, Adventure Time got a new focus as the sprawling epic we know and love it as today. Every time the Lich is on-screen in Adventure Time, the show goes from funny misadventures to a deathly serious showdown. He's the perfect foil to Finn's fun-loving and heroic ways as the personification of evil, and Ron Perlman's tremendous voice acting, coupled with the Lich's demonic design, made him instantly terrifying. The Lich forced Adventure Time to grow beyond its simple premise, which proved invaluable. The Governor The Walking Dead Negan may be the most iconic villain from The Walking Dead, but another antagonist had a better impact on the show: the Governor. Many viewers agree The Walking Dead decreased in quality when Negan killed Glenn, but the Governor gave the show direction when it needed it most, after Shane's death in season 2. The Governor presented a new kind of challenge to Rick's group and changed the central conflict of The Walking Dead forever. Before the Governor, The Walking Dead was largely about zombies and how people unravel in the apocalypse. After the Governor, The Walking Dead fundamentally changed to show how humans were the real monsters, and that circumstance can make anyone a villain. He was the perfect character to change the entire show, and the sheer threat he had to Rick's group made him plenty fun to watch. The Trinity Killer Dexter There was no shortage of great serial killer antagonists in Dexter, but most fans agree that the Trinity Killer was the best of the bunch. No other killer in Dexter had as great an effect on both the show and Dexter himself. He obviously killed Rita, but he also scarred Harrison for life and laid the groundwork for both Dexter: New Blood and Dexter: Resurrection. The franchise is still feeling the effects of Trinity some 16 years later. Trinity did change Dexter long after his death, but it was the season he was actually in that made him such a great villain. Trinity was perfectly suited to the cat-and-mouse story Dexter was supposed to be. Every step of Dexter's relationship with him and efforts to catch him was filled with suspense, diabolical killings, and everything you could want out of Dexter. He brought the show to its absolute apex. Thawne/Reverse-Flash The Flash There is no other villain — possibly in fiction at large — who hates their hero more than the Reverse-Flash hates The Flash. Luckily, The CW's The Flash did a fantastic job of translating Eobard Thawne's pure hatred to live-action. He technically influenced the show from the very beginning, due to frequent time travel antics, but Eobard Thawne was still the perfect villain for The Flash. It's easier to list what the Reverse-Flash isn't responsible for in The Flash. He killed Barry's mother, set off an elaborate plot to give Barry his powers, and manipulated the very Speed Force to keep himself alive after numerous on-screen deaths. Thawne literally broke time just to torment Barry. The Flash wouldn't exist without him, and it wouldn't be nearly as good without such a dispicable central villain. Gus Fring Breaking Bad Breaking Bad was a great show as soon as it started. Walter White's transformation into criminal mastermind and the way he had to juggle his family was enthralling. Breaking Bad became a masterpiece as soon as Gustavo Fring made his entrance at the end of season 2. Like many other villains, he was the perfect foil to Walter: a cool, professional, endlessly competent and brutally ruthless drug kingpin. It's honestly difficult to think of a more iconic villain in television history than Gus Fring. He took Breaking Bad from a character study into a sprawling tale of how Walter White conquered the cartel and the meth world. He also personified the cold, calculating, and impersonal evils Breaking Bad thrived on. Gus was also a joy to watch and root against, and Giancarlo Esposito was phenomenal in playing him. Lalo Salamanca Better Call Saul The single best villain that made their show better is Lalo Salamanca in Better Call Saul. Better Call Saul is a masterpiece, but it's a masterpiece that gets better as it progresses. A large part of that is due to Lalo. Like Gus in Breaking Bad, Lalo was the perfect foil to Jimmy. Both were fun-loving, jovial and personable people who could talk their way out of everything, but Lalo personified all of Jimmy's evil impulses. Lalo's arrival in Better Call Saul also marked the moment when the show really got down to business. Once he was there, Better Call Saul got darker, grittier, and much more psychologically invested in both Jimmy's descent into Saul and Gus' ascension to where he was in Breaking Bad. Lalo turned a great show that was riding Breaking Bad's coattails to a degree into a standalone masterpiece.
