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Movie Villains Who Are Actually Hot IRL

Some villains are hot, and some are not. But sometimes the most hideous villains of all are the most attractive underneath – and no, we aren’t talking about something lame like who they are on the inside – we mean the actor in the makeup chair, of course.

Some of the most famously frightening or disgusting movie villains have certainly made their impact on audiences while being played by incredibly hot actors—and that’s really what acting is all about. Who knew the guy from 10 Things I Hate About You could transform himself into one of the most notorious Batman villains or that the breathtaking Charlize Theron could turn serial unaliver? It’s all movie magic, and we are certainly here for it.

Of course, hotness is subjective, but there are some roles in which the actor looks nothing like how they normally look, to the point of being unrecognizable. This can be achieved through makeup or CGI. You may be plenty familiar with some of these roles, while others may be a surprise, but we’ve compiled a list of the most notable movie villains who are hot in real life. Being a villain is just a part-time job for these actors, but being hot is a full-time deal. Did you recognize these actors? Read on to check out our list!

Bane - Tom Hardy

Bane - Tom Hardy

After the Joker in The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan needed a new hot guy to hide under prosthetics, so he chose British actor Tom Hardy to play Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. For the role, the actor gained transformed his body with a new diet and weight training exercises, which drastically altered his usual appearance.

In the film, he wears a mask that covers most of his face, so if you weren’t familiar with the actor, you might not know what a handsome gentleman he is. He also had a pretty interesting accent that was unlike his typical English one and these things combined made him almost unrecognizable in the role.

 

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

Joker - Heath Ledger

Joker - Heath Ledger

Everyone knew Heath Ledger was hot already, so when he was chosen as the Joker for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, people were left scratching their heads. He seemed like the least likely candidate and yet he really blew it out of the water, giving arguably the best Joker performance of all time and one of his personal best performances as well.

Heath Ledger was nominated posthumously for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance as the Joker. He won the award, and it was accepted by his father, mother and sister. Heath Ledger had died on January 22, 2008. A toxicology report revealed that he died of acute intoxication of several prescription drugs.

 

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; Jeff Vespa/WireImage/Getty Images)

Lord Voldemort - Ralph Fiennes

Lord Voldemort - Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes is another actor no stranger to playing a villain having played a German in Schindler’s List, but for his take as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, he was basically unrecognizable. Bald, grey-skinned and without a nose, he looked snaked-like rather than human. And his character seriously was obsessed with hurting an adolescent boy and that’s kind of a turn-off too.

Actor Ralph Fiennes is certainly much better looking in real life and decidedly not into harming children, thankfully. Before playing the part, Fiennes actually knew nothing about Voldemort, according to HBO anniversary special Return to Hogwarts, but was convinced to take the part by his sister who has children of her own.

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; Wikipedia)

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Aileen Wuornos - Charlize Theron

Aileen Wuornos - Charlize Theron

Aileen Wuornos is the subject of the biographical film Monster about a serial unaliver who worked as an escort and ended several male clients. Charlize Theron plays Aileen Wuornos. The film, which also stars Christina Ricci, was chosen as one of the top ten films of 2003 by the American Film Institute.

Charlize Theron earned an Academy Award for Best Actress. Film critic Roger Ebert has raved her performance as “one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema." The movie had a budget of just $8 million but it earned more than $64 million at the box office.

(Images via Denver & Delilah Films; Fuzheado, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Captain Phasma – Gwendoline Christie

Captain Phasma – Gwendoline Christie

Gwendoline Christie is the woman underneath the mask of Captain Phasma, the shiny chrome stormtrooper from the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Covered from head-to-toe, you wouldn’t know that the stunning actress is the same actress most famous for her role in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

In that, she plays none other than Brienne of Tarth, a Kings guard who becomes a knight by the shows end. The exceedingly tall actress can most recently be seen in the film Flux Gourmet, a comedy horror film, as well as the series The Sandman and Wednesday.

(Images via Lucasfilm; Sachyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Thanos - Josh Brolin

Thanos - Josh Brolin

One of the most notorious movie villains of all in the past 10 years, Thanos has certainly cemented his place in popular culture. The big purple Marvel movie villain caused a lot of havoc for the Avengers and left people in shock when he vaporized have of them out of existence. But as revolting, as he may be, the actor is a lot more attractive.

The ruggedly handsome Josh Brolin plays Thanos, of course, and he does so via motion capture. Thanos’s face somewhat resembles the actor but his Homer Simpson-like appearance really doesn’t do the actor justice. He also seems a whole lot more charming and has a sense of humor if his social media accounts are anything to go by.

 

(Image via Marvel Studios; Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Azog, the Defiler - Manu Bennett

Azog, the Defiler - Manu Bennett

Azog, the Defiler is one of the main antagonists of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy. As his look was achieved with motion capture, he was made to look almost nothing like the actor providing the performance. The pale orc is certainly not easy on the eyes but it’s another case for Manu Bennett.

Manu Bennett is an actor from New Zealand who has done a variety if work in television and film. He’s no well-recognized A-list star but he’s been in number of recognizable roles you may be familiar with. For one, he played Deathstroke Arrow, as well as Crixus in the series Spartacus.

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Pennywise the Dancing Clown - Bill Skarsgård

Pennywise the Dancing Clown - Bill Skarsgård

Pennywise the Dancing Clown who eats kids is definitely not the most attractive thing on the silver screen but the real-life actor is a whole different beast. He’s played by Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård who is the brother of fellow actor Alexander Skarsgård, and the son of actor Stellan Skarsgård.

What was it like playing an evil clown you might wonder? Bill Skarsgård told Looper “I actually had a lot of fun doing the character. My job is to put myself in a character's point of view, whether it's someone like Kane or a child-eating clown like Pennywise. So I get a thrill of trying to understand something or someone that's very different from who I am, and then building that perspective into a fully-fleshed character."

 

(Images via New Line Cinema; Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Bellatrix Lestrange - Helena Bonham Carter

Bellatrix Lestrange - Helena Bonham Carter

Bellatrix Lestrange is one of the meanest, craziest and most sadistic of the Harry Potter villains and that alone makes her unattractive, but on top of that, she’s got a gnarly smile and some hair that could definitely benefit from a trip to the salon. Luckily the actress in real life is a lot more pleasant inside and out.

British actress Helena Bonham Carter had her own input when designing the character, telling Entertainment Weekly “I think I probably made her a bit more insane and unhinged then she was meant to be. I wanted to be conspicuous. So the [rotten] teeth was my idea, because she had been in prison so long. I wanted her to be quite savage. And I wanted that corset. It was sort of an Amazon thing. Bellatrix means a warrior... At one point she might have been attractive, but no longer.”

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; David Torcivia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Gorr - Christian Bale

Gorr - Christian Bale

Gorr is the main antagonist of the upcoming sequel Thor: Love and Thunder. In the comics, Gorr is a god-slaying supervillain and in the film will be out to get Thor and bring upon extinction for all gods in the Universe. This grey-skinned ghoulish-looking soul is played by none other than Christian Bale.

Christian Bale is certainly no stranger to playing movie villains as he famously played serial unaliver Patrick Bateman in the 2000 film American Psycho. The film has had a huge cult following and moments of the film immortalized as memes. In that case, though, he still looked like Christian Bale.

 

(Image via Marvel Studios; Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Armando Salazar - Javier Bardem

Armando Salazar - Javier Bardem

Armando Salazar from the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was a Spanish pirate hunter who died and became a ghost still out to hunt the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. The zombified look of Salazar was achieved through a mix of practical makeup effects and CGI enhancement.

Javier Bardem plays the villainous Armando Salazar in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. And Bardem is certainly a man who has experience playing a villain as he did so in the film No Country for Old Men, a film in which he earned an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

(Images via Walt Disney Pictures; Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Doctor Poison - Elena Anaya

Doctor Poison - Elena Anaya

Doctor Poison is one of the main antagonists in the film Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. Doctor poison is disfigured, bearing facial scars caused by exposure to some of her poisonous gases. On top of that, she wears a mask covering up most of her face. From that, you really wouldn’t know what a beautiful actress Elena Anaya is.

The Spanish actress has been acting since 1995 but before Wonder Woman, her most notable roles were in both American films like Van Helsing and Spanish films like Habitación en Roma. She has also appeared in a Justin Timberlake music video for one of his hit singles.

(Images via Warner Bros. Pictures; Frank Lovicario/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Ronan the Accuser - Lee Pace

Ronan the Accuser - Lee Pace

Lee Pace plays Ronan the Accuser in two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. His character is a Kree warlord, bent on wiping out another alien race called the Skrulls – you know what – you had to be there. But anyway, he looks nothing like the actor hidden under the blue makeup.

The handsome Lee Pace is also known for his role in another blockbuster film - Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy. In addition to film roles, he has starred in two notable television series: Pushing Daisies and Halt and Catch Fire. Most recently he can be seen in the comedy horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies.

(Images via Marvel Studios; Myles Kalus Anak Jihem, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Nero - Eric Bana

Nero - Eric Bana

Eric Bana plays Nero in the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot. Nero was a Romulan miner from the 24th century who sought vengeance against the destruction of his planet Romulus. He ended up traveling back in time and his actions in the past ended up creating a new timeline within the Star Trek universe.

Eric Bana played the alien villain, although the transformation is not incredibly significant. He certainly looks human, it’s just you can tell he still looks like Eric Bana. The hunky actor can be most recently appeared in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers but in that role just lends his voice. So, I guess he just thinks his appearance is too good for us.

 

(Image via Paramount Pictures; David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Rita Repulsa - Elizabeth Banks

Rita Repulsa - Elizabeth Banks

The gorgeous and funny Elizabeth Banks got super serious for her role as Rita Repulsa, the humanoid sorceress in the Power Rangers movie reboot. The film was a loose adaptation of the TV show’s original pilot script. Rita Repulsa was "glowed up" compared to the character’s original appearance but we certainly wouldn’t say she looks hot.

Elizabeth Banks, on the other hand, is a whole other story.  Banks has appeared in several notable films including Charlie’s Angels, Spider-Man, The 40-Year-Old V and The Lego Movie. She also starred in The Hunger Games franchise. Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Banks graduated magna cum laude in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania, showing she’s just as smart as she is beautiful.

(Image via Lionsgate; Mingle Media TV, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)