I concur. Pretty much any Batman villain gets my vote, actually.

Also, Oogy Boogie from the Nightmare Before Christmas. Gambling monster made of insects gets points for originality if nothing else.

I agree with what jack said (and thus arix, as well). Also, KEFKA!

Terry Pratchett References;
The Auditors, Mr. Teatime, and Lord Vetinari (though his 'bad guy' status is a bit different than the two listed before).

I'll think of others that are more commonly known, from what I'd actually know as well.

Of course, the Joker.

Harry Potter; Bellatrix.

Starscream.

And Captain Barbossa. If he doesn't really count as a villain, then Davy Jones.

I'm just waiting for Murphy to post, "My favorite bad guy is Murphy."

Yagami Light, nuff said.

Omg, Lobo is da boss. You bastich. Bwahahhahahahha.

Who else?

Hmmm

The hunter from Bambi.
The three furies from Sandman were pretty bad too.
And, even if no one knows him: Lu Bu. So badass.

Verithrax, in the height of his career as a Geomancer, will always be my favourite Lusternia villain. Petrification, gratuitous breaking of bones, and making annoying pupils bleed to death were just too much fun. During all the rest of his time around he was just too morally ambiguous to qualify as a villain (And he wasn't just being evil for evil's sake - outside the Geomancers, all he did he did because he believed in it.)

I second the Auditors as great antagonists, and Vetinari (Whom Verithrax draws some inspiration from anyway, but I couldn't ever be badass enough to compare) as the best selfish and ruthless character. Neither are villains in my book, though. The auditors are more of a force of nature and only ever-so-slightly malicious, Vetinari isn't outright evil but only a bastard.

Voldemort as a villain is good, but not great. Same goes for Sauron and Vecna. Darth Vader is forever ruined by being just a whiny emo kid now.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Mr. Burns yet. And of course, there's always (Watchmen spoiler) . And while we're at it, might as well mention the new gods from American Gods (Especially Media and the fat kid) and also .

darth vader is a good one. actually, anyone with a james earl jones voice will score high points in this. dressed in all black? all the more thuggish ruggish

i also agree with the batman choices. that was always my favorite "superhero" because he was just an ordinary dude really and went around using moves and gadgets that even i could. the villains seem to change a lot. more recently i would say the joker is the best, both in cartoon and jack nicholson's performance. one of the funniest movies of all time though, is the old school batman, where they got burgess meridith to play the penguin... classic

one of my personal favorite bad guys, once again mixed in with comedy, would be eli wallach's character in the good the bad and the ugly. lines like "if you gotta shoot - shoot. don't talk" make him much more badass than most villains that seem to wanna talk you to death in all genres.

Oh... I can't believe I missed Bellatrix.

Also, no one will know who this is, but Ashka from the Australian children's TV series "The Spellbinders".

You beat me to it. L was pretty nifty too, and served as the antagonist (which is almost like a villain, right?)

Eris from the animated version of Sinbad. I loved the animation in that movie and especially the way she moved around.

I'll have to think about it. Kefka was cool. Jester/mime characters are usually entertaining.

Angel Eyes! Good pick. The Spaghetti Westerns were Clint Eastwood at his best.

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

Darken Rahl from the Sword of Truth series
Jaggang also from the Sword of Truth series

The Homonculi from Full Metal Alchemist (Especially Gluttony and Wrath)

Alvin the Earthworm's, Metal Sonic version in Super Mario Bros. Z (See more info in www.newgrounds.com)

Yagami Light from Deathnote

Edwin from Baldur's Gate
Korgan Bloodaxe from Baldur's Gate

Jack from Fable

Dark Prince from Prince of Persia: Two Thrones
Dahaka from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

One more that I just realised: Artemis Entreri. He may not truly be a villan, but he's Drizzt's enemy, so that counts!

In a book called The Tyranny of the Night, there's zombie vikings who try to kill the gods.

They're kickass.

I'm paraphrasing, of course.

Carlos from The Bourne Identity. That guy just amuses me.

I saw this movie once where this old Senator worked his way up in the ranks, and in a time of wartime crisis, he seized a bunch of emergency powers for himself and used it to subtly gain control. Turns out he was a servant of mysterious, dark forces bent on the destruction of life and freedom.

Oh, and at one point, he shot his buddy in the face on a duck-hunting trip.

I'm telling you, that guy was evil.

I feel like I've seen that, was was it called?

The Captain figure from Pan's Labyrinth should be on this list too.

I remember Spellbinders

Hrm Magrit the Thistle and Maya the Ensorcellor from the Witches of Elieanan

Wrath and Lust from FMA

The Auditors are the awesome