Since making his feature film debut in 1998 with the gritty crime-comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie has thrived as a uniquely captivating director. While his layered stories, stylistic flair, and catchy dialogue have enthralled audiences aplenty, it is undoubtedly the allure of his characters that keeps fans coming back for more. His action heroes and sketchy protagonists may take center stage in this regard, but Ritchie has produced a number of exceptional villains as well.

Ranging from the deceitful and conniving to the savagely violent and volatile, and even to criminal masterminds seeking to incite global conflict, Ritchie’s rogues gallery is among the most celebrated aspects of his career. Some are despicable, while others may be secretly enjoyed by audiences, but all 10 of these characters represent the best of the worst of Ritchie’s characters.

10 King Vortigern (Jude Law)

'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' (2017)

Guy Ritchie’s take on the Arthurian legend is one imbued with plenty of his trademark stylistic panache and a great deal of modern fantasy action. However, it also has a strong array of characters who toe the line between fantasy archetypes and Ritchie’s grungy scoundrels. The one character who truly breaks that mold is King Vortigern (Jude Law), the tyrannical ruler of Camelot who even sacrifices his wife and daughter to secure his power and betrays King Uther (Eric Bana).

His ultimate plot revolves around using Excalibur to unveil King Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) so he can have him killed, a scheme that is hindered as Arthur sets out to avenge his father. An oppressive ruler with an all-consuming lust for power, Vortigern gives King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword a spiteful central antagonist that audiences can rally against. While the film was met with some criticism upon release, Law's portrayal of Vortigern presented an effective bad guy, if not the most complex or layered one.

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9 Lord Henry Blackwood (Mark Strong)

'Sherlock Holmes' (2009)

Guy Ritchie’s take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was an intriguing mixture of Victorian-era mystery and the director's signature penchant for style. Starring Robert Downey Jr. in a sensational performance, Sherlock Holmes sees the detective and his partner, Doctor Watson (Jude Law), sending Lord Henry Blackwood (Mark Strong), an aristocratic serial killer with an interest in the dark arts, to the gallows. However, when the murderer returns, and more people wind up dead, Sherlock’s curiosity leads him and Watson into a mystifying world of supernatural dread.

Arrogant and egotistical, Lord Blackwood is easy to despise, but his apparent resurrection and mastery in the field of the occult make him a formidable foe for even the greatest sleuth in history. Blackwood’s interests also give him an extravagant aura that is both captivating and imposing, with some sequences in the film having a striking terror to them. Sadly, his gimmick is easily unveiled, leading to an underwhelming demise that undoes a lot of his villainous brilliance.

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8 Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson)

'RocknRolla' (2008)

While the writer-director’s earlier crime comedies became instant hits, RocknRolla was met with a more lukewarm reception. Another fun yet violent look at London’s criminal underworld, it takes place as a real estate fraud tied to a powerful Russian mobster sees millions of dollars funnel into the underbelly. As every crook scrambles to get their hands on the money, street-savvy swindler One Two (Gerard Butler) tries to get involved and clashes with a thought-to-be-dead rocker in the process.

At the heart of all the wheeling and dealing is Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson), the old-school head of London’s criminal activities, who is revealed to have been a police informant all along. Ruthless, sadistic, and not above sacrificing his closest allies to get richer, Cole is a contemptible villain even within RocknRolla’s vast array of violent characters. His scheming and his egotistical nature prove to be his undoing, and his demise is the most satisfying moment in the movie.

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7 Victoria & Alexander Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki & Luca Calvani)

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' (2015)

The second of Guy Ritchie’s forays into all-out action cinema, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a lively, thrilling, and surprisingly rewatchable re-make of the 1960s television series of the same name. It follows the difficult partnership between CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) as they set aside their differences to stand against a criminal organization seeking to build nuclear weapons.

The villainous operation is spearheaded by Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki), who carries out her evil schemes with the support of her husband, Alexander (Luca Calvani). As Nazi sympathizers, Victoria and Alexander make for suitably extreme villains for the spy blockbuster. Callous, egomaniacal, and dangerously ambitious, they routinely kill those who work under them when their use has expired, and their ultimate plan to use the nuclear bombs to destroy America and take over the world with their fascist ideology is as over-the-top as one would expect. In terms of villainous impact on a narrative, it is the embodiment of simple yet effective.

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6 Jan (Scott Eastwood)

'Wrath of Man' (2021)

There are few things as satisfying as a good revenge film, and Wrath of Man sees Guy Ritchie bring his trademark style and grit to the genre with rewarding results. While some passages of the action thriller are a touch uneven, Jason Statham is in fine form as H, a mysterious new employee of a moving truck company whose enigmatic nature is compounded by a knack for intense violence. As the story unfolds, it is revealed he is seeking the robbers who killed his son on a job.

The murderer in question is Jan (Scott Eastwood), the leader of a criminal gang of former soldiers who even betrays his comrades to take all their stolen cash for himself. A purely self-interested backstabber who displays no remorse for his cold-blooded execution of H’s son, Jan gives Wrath of Man a central villain that is worth hating. His eventual execution, superbly carried out by a cool yet vindictive H, is a wonderful example of revenge cinema at its most satisfying.

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5 Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong)

'The Gentlemen' (2019)

The most recent of Guy Ritchie’s forays into crime film, The Gentlemen has all his usual style and cockney grit imbued with a polished varnish that gives it an arresting pop. While the plot is multi-layered, the basic story follows Micky Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), an American marijuana mogul in London trying to sell his successful drug operation. As he negotiates a deal, other factions of the city’s underbelly launch attacks on his criminal empire.

Much of the appeal of the relentlessly entertaining flick is the fact that, with every character being shady and deceitful, it is difficult to determine who the overarching villain is. However, Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong), the man Micky is dealing with, is revealed to be the man behind the attacks as he tries to compromise Micky’s operation to bring down the price. Strong is excellent as the wily American billionaire, playing the part with a smug entitlement that makes him incredibly unlikable yet strangely enjoyable. The film received a spin-off series on Netflix created by Ritchie.

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4 Harry “Hatchet” Lonsdale (P. H. Moriarty)

'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998)

Ritchie’s attention-grabbing debut feature, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels takes place amid the London underbelly. It primarily focuses on four petty crooks who, after losing a rigged poker game, find themselves deep in debt to Harry “Hatchet” (P. H. Moriarty), a volatile gang boss. Needing to come up with half a million pounds in a week, the group plans to rob their neighbors, who are themselves plotting to steal a large sum of money from drug dealers.

While it has a number of antagonists, “Hatchet” Harry is the driving force behind the film’s violent intensity and the major, overbearing threat to the protagonists. In addition to being a cheat, he also showcases an explosive knack for extreme violence, as is displayed when he beats a criminal subordinate to death with a sex toy. Menacing, greedy, and ruthless, Harry is perhaps the most intimidating villain in Guy Ritchie’s filmography to date.

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3 Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta)

'Revolver' (2005)

Released in 2005, Revolver was Guy Ritchie's first genuine action movie, and while it has a couple of flaws that bring it down, it features a sensational villain in the form of Ray Liotta's Dorothy Macha. The film focuses on Jake Green (Jason Statham), a man who served seven years in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit. Upon release, he meets with Macha to receive a payment he is entitled to, but when their meeting goes awry, Macha orders Jake’s death.

A psychotic gang lord who rules over his empire with an iron fist, Macha is consumed by his ego and his lust for power, seeing him lose his cool over trivial matters. Also referred to as Mr. D, Macha is a brilliant and unnerving villainous presence in a film that sometimes skews away from its core story with distracting results. Ultimately, Macha’s presence and goal to kill Jake give Revolver much of its narrative structure and momentum.

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2 Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)

'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' (2011)

Any presentation of Sherlock Holmes that features Professor Moriarty (in this case, played by Jared Harris) has no excuse not to produce an exceptional villain. Thankfully, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is no slouch in this area, exhibiting Holmes’ famous foe with an imposing grandiosity. With the film following Sherlock and Watson's investigation of the apparent suicide of an Austrian prince, Holmes harbors a steadfast belief that something more foul is afoot, especially as global events see the world cascade towards all-out war.

As Holmes correctly deduces, Moriarty is the culprit behind it all, but exposing his deceitful villainy – and figuring out his ultimate endgame – isn't easy because of Moriarty’s evil genius. Harris imbues the part with a gripping screen presence that portrays Moriarty’s sheer might and his fearsome cunning with gripping conviction. The scene in which he and Holmes trade blows, with both characters broadcasting their combat strategies, is a terrific depiction of Moriarty's ruthlessness intellect, which equals that of Holmes. This credit alone makes him one of Ritchie’s greatest villains. Questions remain if a third Sherlock Holmes film will be released in the future.

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1 Brick Top (Alan Ford)

'Snatch' (2000)

Snatch is considered by many to be Guy Ritchie’s magnum opus and one of the greatest comedies of all time, rife with phenomenal sequences and plenty of brilliant quotes. The gritty crime-comedy follows several factions in the London underbelly, with the story revolving around an immensely valuable stolen diamond and a fixed underground boxing fight. Given its vast array of characters, it is somewhat difficult to pinpoint heroes and villains, but Alan Ford’s ruthless crook Brick Top is an antagonistic force to many of the major characters.

An intimidating thug with a penchant for violence and menacing monologues, Brick Top proves to be a terrifying adversary when people fall into his debt. By nature, he is a cold-blooded, heartless, and foul-mouthed criminal with a venomous temper that can shockingly erupt from his usual ice-cold demeanor. He also seems to routinely feed his enemies to pigs just to be extra villainous and stamp his authority as Ritchie's greatest bad guy thus far.

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NEXT: The 10 Best Guy Ritchie Movies, Ranked According to Rotten Tomatoes