The Star Wars franchise gave us some of the most iconic pop culture villains of this day and age. From Darth Vader to Darth Maul and Kylo Ren, there are many characters in the famous saga that will send chills down your spine. Others? Well, not so much. The thing with Star Wars is that it has a rich extended universe, featuring comics, cartoons, video games, novels, and more. In fact, the Star Wars universe is so rich, and has so many characters, that lists 464 Star Wars villains!
Because of the sheer number of villains in the extended universe, and because not all Star Wars fans are familiar with the extended universe, I will limit this article to villains from the Star Wars movies, meaning that you won’t see characters like Asaj Ventress or Darth Revan in this list. After all, with a total of 10 movies (the original trilogy, the three prequels, two sequels, and two spin-offs, Rogue One and Solo), there are more tꦚhan enough villains to talk about.
These villains were ranked according to several factors. One important thing to consider is scariness, of course, as well as ruthlessness. We also took into account villains’ body count, not to mention their cool factor and the way they met their eventual end. Finally, an important criterion in this ranking was the way these villains left (or didn’t leave) a lasting impression on pop culture. Here’s a ranking of 25 Star Wars villains from weakest to strongest!
25 The Droid Arm🃏y (Prequels)
Spoiler alert: a lot of the villains near the bottom of this list are going to be from the prequels. You can’t just compare Count Dooku to Darth Vader or Darth Sidious! While the Star Wars prequels weren’t the worst movies ever made, the vast majority of fans agree they൩ don’t hold a candle to the Original Trilogy. One of the many reasons for this was the “villainous” army of d🔯roids. I mean, they get destroyed by Jar Jar Binks and the Gungans. Neither efficient, funny, nor scary, these battle droids deserve their spot in last place.
24 Nute Gಌunra🏅y (Prequels)
Like the rest of his colleagues from the Confederation of Independent Systems, Nute Gunray is no♐thing but a pawn in the Sith’s hands.
His main claim to villainhood is his incredible cowardice, and he eventually falls to the hands of Darth Vader.
Moreover, Viceroy Nute Gunray’s accent is extremely problematic, as he and the rest of the of the Trade Federation have “distinctive stereotypically broken Asian-English accents” (). A coward and a stereotype to boot, Nute Gunray doesn’t exactly shine among the pantheon of Star Wars villains.
23 Poggle The Lesser (Prequels) 🍒
The same can be said of Poggle the Lesser, the Archduke of Geonosis. While arguably much more villainous than Nute Gunray, as he saves the plans for the Seꦕparatist Council’s Death Star and gives them to Count Dooku, he’s still a pawn, used by the Sith for Darth Sidious’ nefarious schemes. Not all good villains are Sith, but it’s safe to say villains who are used as mere minions by other villains don’t pose quite as much of a threat as, say, Jabba the Hutt.
22 IG-88 (The🅺 Empire Strikes Back) 💟
Be honest: did you remember IG-88, the bounty hunter droid from The Empire Strikes Back🌼? Me neither, and that’s why he’s so far down on this list. He could have been an excellent villain: he’s a robot, ruthless and devoid of emotions, a skilled bounty hunter, his appearance is fearsome, etc.
He certainly ranks above the battle droids, but he’s sadly overshadowed by his fellow bounty hunter, Boba Fett.
If you do consider the extended Star Wars universe, however, IG-88 is given more of a role in the Clone Wars series—but this list is about the movies.
21 Count Dooku (Prequels) 🌺
Not all good villains are Sith, and not all Sith are good villains. Count Dooku, or Dar🍸th Tyranus, as he’s also known, is, to put it bluntly, rather uninteresting compared to his Sith Master, Darth Sidious—despite Christopher Lee's talent as an ♕actor.
His Sith identity adds nothing to his character—or rather, it’s not explored well enough to add anything.
At the end of t♛he day, much l𒅌ike Nute and Poggle the lesser, Dooku is a tool in Sidious’ plan, and his end is a mere step on the path that leads Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side.
20 General ♍Tagge (A New Hope)
General Cassio Tagge is actually quite an important figure in the Galactic Empire. The son of a powerful family, he became the Grand General of the Imperial Army after the battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Empire’s Ultimate Weapon. He’s not afraid of challenging Vader and shows more𓃲 intuition than most of the Empire’s generals, since, having warned his peers not to underestimate the Rebel Alliance, he survives the destructio♎n of the Death Star. However, he’s still a very minor character in the original movies.
19 Genera🎉l Gri൲evous (Prequels)
Gener🐈al Grievous is a textbook villain. Ruthless, fearsome, and motivated by pure hate, he truly is the stuff of nightmares. The only problem is, thꦗat’s kind of all there is to him. He’s scary. He’s a formidable opponent in battle.
His ability to split his arms and use four lightsabers at once is undeniably cool.
But, in the movies, he doesn’t have any real depth, which is a shame, because he had the potential to be an amazing villain—just look at him. He’s definitely n💮ot a character you’d want to meet, but he’s not quite as good as some of the other villains on this list.
18 𝔍 The Rancor (Return Of The Jedi)
The Rancor, who first appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, is a spooky beast. Rancors as a species are scary enough, but they can’t be considered villainous. The one Jabba the Hutt keeps as a pet in the Palace Pit in Return of the Jedi, however, is an antagonist of the movie, and one of the𝓰 many challenges Luke Skywalker 𝔉and his allies face in their quest to stop the Empire. Unlike some of the villains mentioned before, his end isn’t a simple step in another villain’s larger plan.
17 ꧒ Greedo (A New Hope) 🌜
Greedo wouldn’t have been this high on the list if he wasn’t such an iconic Star Wars character. His end at the hands of Han Solo sparked a controversy that’s still very much alive today: who shot first? In the original release, Han shoots Greedo. It gets more complicated, however, as, over the course of several re-releases, the scene is modified.The phrase Han shot first is famous among the Star Wars fandom, and actually served as a major plot point in Solo. He may not have a lot of screentimeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ, but Greedo certainly made a lasting impression over the fandom.
16 Orson Krennic (Rogue One) ๊
Orson Krennic is one of the men responsible for the construction of the Empire’s ultimate weapons. He’s given a backstory in the recent prequel Rogue One, where he serves as the main antagonist.
Ruthless and self-serving, Orson is a tough villain in the sense that he’s impossibly smart, and he uses it for bad.
Played with chilling accuracy by Ben Mendelsohn, he’s a fearsome opponent for Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, and, according to , “one of the most truly evil characters Star Wars has ever seen.”