Top 10 Smartest Video Games Villains

Script written by Caitlin Johnson

Top 10 Smartest Villains in Video Games

Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 smartest villains in video games.

For this list, we’re looking at the most fiendish foes you’ll ever come across while gaming. Since we’ll be explaining the villains’ cunning plans, there will be spoilers ahead.

Let us know in the comments which one you could outsmart.

#10: Tom Nook (rhymes with “book”)

“Animal Crossing” series (2001-)

This friendly raccoon may seem like he has your best interests at heart initially, but time quickly reveals Tom Nook to be a blight on the world of “Animal Crossing”. A dastardly schemer, he spends every single game selling you obscene loans for home renovations, leaving you constantly in debt, and taking every last Bell you ever earn for himself. But if that doesn’t sound evil enough, he also has his two young nephews, Tommy and Timmy, working for him in his many business ventures; given that they’re both children, this is a violation of many modern labor laws. The truth is that Tom Nook is such a good villain that you don’t even realize he is one.

#9: Dr. Mobius

“Fallout: New Vegas: Old World Blues” (2011)

Yes, Dr. Mobius is hopelessly out of his mind because of his long-running Mentats addiction, but that doesn’t mean he’s not smart. He spends the entire “Old World Blues” DLC terrorizing you and the other members of the Think Tank, sending out endless waves of deadly roboscorpions to keep you away from the “Forbidden Zone”. Eventually, though, you find out that Mobius has been pulling the wool over the Think Tank’s eyes; he’s scaring them so that they don’t leave the Big Empty and wreak even more havoc on the world than they have done already. But don’t be fooled by those apparently noble intentions: he’s still one of them, and he’s still building an army of nuclear-powered robot bugs.

#8: Gaunter O’Dimm

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” (2015)

Essentially the Devil himself, Gaunter O’Dimm manipulates world events and grants people wishes in exchange for their very souls. When O’Dimm is first encountered in the White Orchard Inn right at the beginning of the game, he’s friendly enough; it’s not clear until much later, primarily during the “Hearts of Stone” expansion, what a menace he is. Olgierd von Everec’s deal with O’Dimm is what sets “Hearts of Stone” in motion, as he’s granted his wish to have his wealth restored – but in return, his heart slowly turns to stone. O’Dimm is one of the most fiendish villains Geralt ever encounters, and that’s saying something.

#7: Juno

“Assassin’s Creed” series (2007-)

The ancient Isu created humanity as a slave class, there to do difficult, manual labor and not complain about it too much. One of the main architects behind this was the Isu Juno, revered as a deity by an extremist cult that has enemies in both the Assassins and the Templars. Dubbed the “ultimate fascist”, Juno’s incredibly dangerous, desperate to take over the world and put mankind back in what she believes is its rightful place. To do this, she’d been playing the long game for tens of thousands of years, trying to trick people into releasing her from her prison so that she can exact her revenge. She’s always trying to mastermind something usually beyond human comprehension.

#6: Dr. N. Tropy

“Crash Bandicoot” series (1996-)

A lot of the villains Crash faces aren’t too intelligent, but for all their comedy value, they do still manage to concoct some pretty ambitious schemes – like mastering time and space, for example. That’s been Dr. Nefarious Tropy’s goal from the very beginning, seizing control of various masks and using them to further his own goals. While it’s true that N. Tropy does get thwarted time and time again by a surf-loving bandicoot, manipulating time proves that he’s pretty smart regardless. He’s certainly more intelligent than Neo Cortex, at any rate, and definitely the most dangerous villain in this franchise.

#5: Kefka

“Final Fantasy VI” (1994)

He’s completely insane, sure, but you can’t deny that Kefka isn’t some kind of genius. His mind destroyed by ruthless Magitek experiments, Kefka’s sole motivation is to cause chaos for chaos’s sake – a goal he actually succeeds in. “Final Fantasy VI” is one of the few games where the bad guy actually wins, assassinating the Emperor, taking over the world, and shattering the continent into three pieces. He might dress like a clown, but in the end, there’s nothing funny about him; he’s cunning and evil to the last, tricking everybody into thinking that, for all his strange quirks, he’s ultimately harmless.

#4: The Joker

“Batman: Arkham” series (2009-15)

Though he’s yet another mad clown, the Joker doesn’t have goals quite as lofty or well-defined as Kefka. Above all, his ambitions revolve around one person, Batman, and eventually killing him. But despite going toe-to-toe with Batman in every single “Arkham” game, the Joker is still always many steps ahead of the Dark Knight – and since Batman is the World’s Greatest Detective, that’s no mean feat. The Joker is always hiding in the shadows and plotting, returning to the limelight even in “Arkham City” and “Arkham Knight”. Batman was totally oblivious to Joker’s elaborate plan in “Arkham City”, underestimating the Clown Prince of Crime yet again – with tragic consequences.

#3: Frank Fontaine

“BioShock” (2007)

Rapture and its creator would have had their fair share of problems anyway, but Fontaine’s arrival in the underwater hellscape brought class warfare to Andrew Ryan’s door. It was him who started the huge smuggling ring, using that money to kickstart Fontaine Futuristics, the primary developer of ADAM and the first plasmids. His company also created the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, as well as genetically altering Jack and planning his return to the city. Fontaine eventually faked his death and became Atlas, leading a revolution of Rapture’s underclass and briefly succeeding in his plan to control the city.

#2: Albert Wesker

“Resident Evil” series (1996-)

Wesker has a grand plan that stretches across every single “Resident Evil” game he features in – and even in those where he doesn’t appear himself, his presence is still felt. That’s because Wesker was one of Umbrella’s lead scientists, a genius virologist responsible for developing many of the contagions the main heroes want to contain. He even works with them for a while, before making his true allegiance known at the end of the very first game, right when he shows you his greatest achievement: the Tyrant. He even genetically modified himself with a prototype virus, giving him superhuman powers that matched his already superhuman intelligence.

#1: GLaDOS

“Portal” series (2007-11)

She’s an evil artificial intelligence, so of course, she’s going to be smart. GLaDOS is smart enough that for most of the first game you don’t really know she’s actually an AI – until she starts explicitly trying to kill Chell at the end, that is. But in “Portal 2” you see first-hand just how smart GLaDOS is – she even maintains her genius-level intelligence after becoming a potato. She’s the one devising all the complex tests and many of the devices they use, not to mention simultaneously operating every single part of the Aperture Science facility. She’s even smart enough to let Chell go at the end of “Portal 2”, rather than giving Chell the chance to kill her again.