Best Indiana Jones villains ranked: Indy's greatest foes
Indiana Jones is one of the greatest movie heroes of all time, but who are the Best Indiana Jones villains? As we get ready to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Across four movies — Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — Indy has done all that he can to recover and protect a series of mystical, historical artifacts from falling into the wrong hands.
As the franchise is set to come to close, we've decided to look back at the antagonists that Indy has gone up against. We could easily just put Nazis up at the top, but we figured we'd take a look more at the individuals who have given Indy fits over the years.
Here is WTW's official rankings of the best Indiana Jones villains (FYI, we're covering just the first four movies until after Dial of Destiny comes out everywhere on June 30. Note, some SPOILERS ahead.
7. Elsa
After being more of the heartbreaker in the first two movies when it came to Marion Ravenwood and Willie Scott, Indiana Jones was on the other end of things with Elsa (Alison Doody) in The Last Crusade. Coming to Indy as someone who worked with his father before his disappearance, Elsa seemed like a key ally for him and a new potential love interest. That was until it was revealed that she was working with the Nazis.
While it's hard to forgive Elsa for all that, she's low on this list because even though she worked with the bad guys, she had an honest connection with Indy and his father. Still, her greed won out, as she fell to her death trying to get the Holy Grail rather than take Indy's hand and escape.
6. George "Mac" McHale
Another ally turned enemy for Indy was George "Mac" McHael (Ray Winstone) in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Mac at first appears to be a Sallah stand-in in the fourth movie, but Indy soon realizes they don't come much better than Sallah, as Mac is working with the Soviets. Mac edges Elsa in this case because one, Ray Winstone is always a treat as a nefarious character, and two, he seemed to have no regrets over how his actions impact Indy, so he's more of a traditional villain in that sense.
5. Walter Donovan
Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) is the true villain of The Last Crusade (Nazis aside), as he is obsessed with the idea of finding the Holy Grail and living forever, even if that means aligning himself with the Third Reich. The thing is though, Donovan is just kind of bleh as a villain. His lone act of villainy comes when he shoots Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery) — it's a pretty dastardly thing to do in all honesty — but otherwise he's not all that memorable until his death scene. As the guard of the Grail says, "he chose poorly."
4. Toht
While many of Indy's villains are just associated with the Nazis, Toht (Ronald Lacey) is the real deal. A Gestapo agent, he works with Belloq to uncover the Ark of the Covenant, with him (and his men) being the brawns to Belloq's brains. Toht cuts an imposing figure in his black leather coat and immediately shows us what he is capable of when he attempts to torture Marion to try and get information on her medallion. He ends up burning himself with the medallion, which of course just increases how much he hates Indy and Marion for the rest of the movie.
But, as Toht is the secondary villain in Raiders, we don't feel justified putting him any higher on the list. However, if this was a list of best deaths, his face melting would 100% be the top pick.
3. Irina Spalko
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a bad movie, you won't hear us arguing otherwise. But Cate Blanchett gives a deliciously campy performance as the Soviet operative (they subbed in for the Nazis in the 1950s set story) Irina Spalko. Her mission was to discover the Crystal Skull of Akator, which was supposed to be able to give the Soviets the ability to manipulate American forces. However, Spalko truly wanted to use the skull for herself, hoping it could give her incredible knowledge and power. She got her wish, but it ended up killing her in the process.
Blanchett is fun to watch in the role with her Russian accent and bob haircut. She's probably the lone bright spot in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
2. Belloq
A good villain is often the opposite of the hero, and Belloq (Paul Freeman) fits that description to the letter. A fellow archaeologist like Indy, Belloq uses much more questionable and ethically dubious tactics, including working with the Nazis to try and find the Ark of the Covenant.
Belloq isn't particularly imposing, and heck, can even be somewhat charming at times. But he definitely has a smugness that grates us whenever we watch him. That makes him a more compelling villain overall, as he is a bit less caricature and we can easily see how one or two decisions along the line have made him be the villain in this story rather than a hero like Indiana Jones.
1. Mola Ram
Though we just made the case why a more nuanced villain is a good thing, sometimes pure evil just sticks in your head more. And despite the multitude of actual Nazis in the series, Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom may be the most purely evil individual in the franchise. He literally rips a heart out of a guy!
Mola Ram is a priest and worshiper of Kali Ma. He attempts to acquire the Sankara Stones to bring about Kali Ma's reign on Earth and wipe out all of his enemies. As part of his plan to do so, he controlled the young Maharajah and imprisoned other children.
Temple of Doom is definitely the darkest entry of the Indiana Jones franchise, which is in no small part helped by the villainous Mola Ram. All that makes him our favorite villain Indy has gone up against.
