Supernatural's Top 5 Villains (Seasons 1-5)

After focusing on a friend of the Winchesters last week, their angel buddy Castiel, this week is all about those dastardly evildoers - the villains! Supernatural would be nothing if there were no villains. Find out who I've ranked as the top five below.

Each title is a link to a youtube clip of that particular villain's death at the hands of the Winchesters. Them Winchesters like to kill themselves some bad guys, even if it does start the apocalypse. Details, details.

5. Ruby

Now, now. Don't get all in a huff. I know a lot of people hated Ruby. I myself was not a big fan of Ruby 2.0, but I quite liked Ruby 1.0. But you have to admit, she was a rather wily villain. It wasn't clear whether she was really trying to help the Winchesters, or whether she had her own nefarious schemes all along. It wasn't until she had really gotten Sam to trust her that we as an audience saw that something was definitely not right, and certainly not to be trusted. And lo, she finally revealed that she had been working with Lilith all along to free Lucifer. I'm not convinced the writers actually knew that through her entire run, but hey, it was a good reveal there at the end. And at least everyone got to cheer when she was killed, right?

4. Lilith

Don't you think Lilith was a lot more frightening when she liked to inhabit the bodies of cute little girls? The answer is clearly yes. Kids can be so creepy, especially when they are evil, but smiling sweetly about it. I just killed that puppy and I'm covered in its blood, but it's okay! I'm a happy little demon child! Anyway! We never were made to question whether Lilith was evil. Indeed, her entrance, by killing virgin Nancy and Agent Henricksen, after they had just been through a big demon ordeal, made that perfectly clear. And she was the one holding Dean's contract for his soul. Though largely an unseen presence, she came out to play a few times, which ultimately led to her sacrificial death to free Lucifer from his cage at the mighty demon-smoting hand of Sam. Goodbye Lilith, hello Lucifer! Whoops!

3. Zachariah

Angels are supposed to be the good guys, right? Not necessarily, in the Supernatural-verse. Prime example numero uno: Zachariah. While at first he seemed to be on the brothers' side, it soon became clear that he had his own plans in mind. He and the angels weren't trying to stop Lucifer from rising out of his cage, but rather trying to set him free to jump start the apocalypse, so they could get it over with. Not only that, though, he needed to get Sam and Dean to agree to be vessels for Lucifer and Michael, respectively. We all know the brothers weren't so keen on that idea, which led to much evildoing on Zachariah's part to try to get his way. Which eventually earned him an angel knife in the gut from Dean. That's what you get for crossing the Winchesters, buddy boy!

2. Lucifer

The granddaddy of all evil! Satan! The Devil! The one, the only, Lucifer! Lucifer was a much quieter villain than some of the others on the list. He was mostly behind the scenes, and always very calm and collected, though somewhat whiny, when talking about his plight (of evilness). Indeed, for a while there, he didn't seem all that evil, but he started to step up his game when he let loose Death and killed Gabriel. And we saw that in the future, if Sam let him take over, things would go very poorly for the world at large. Sam did eventually let him take over in that rather poorly planned attempt to trap him back in his cage (really? you think Lucifer wouldn't know about the rings?), and that's when he let loose. He even killed Castiel and Bobby! Then proceeded to beat Dean to a bloody pulp. Luckily, he has some easily distracted vision, because Sam was able to take over after catching a glint off the Impala. It's all starting to sound sort of ridiculous. Oh well. Sam got to jump him back into the cage. Is it the end of him? Appears to be, for now. Until a couple of other brothers with destinies come around, I'm sure.

1. Azazel aka the Yellow-Eyed Demon

Ah yes, YED. No one was a better villain than the one who started it all. Firstly known as the Ceiling Demon, then the Yellow-Eyed Demon, we eventually came to know him as Azazel. He was the man (or demon) with the plan. Pretty much everything with the demons throughout the first four seasons of the show had to do with Azazel's plan, which we learned was all about freeing Lucifer, for which he needed to find special children, in particular one wee little Sam Winchester. He was the one who roasted Mary (and Jess) on the ceiling, and made a deal to bring Dean back from the dead in exchange for John's soul. And he did it all with style. Though we all cheered when Dean got to shoot him dead, I think all of us were also a bit sad to see such a terrific villain go. But hey, he did show up a few more times in flashbacks.

Honorable Mentions:

Alastair. I debated giving Alastair the 5th spot over Ruby, but he just wasn't on the show enough. He was an awesome villain, though. He pushed all of Dean's buttons and was not afraid to get his hands dirty. Though I'm sure we all could agree he didn't need that Marlon Brando accent that seemed to wax and wane.

Meg. Meg was the first demon we could put a face to and that the boys could actively tete-a-tete with. I'm sure a lot of people prefer her to Ruby, but then they went and ruined her by randomly bringing her back this season. Boo hoo.

Next week: A look back at season three with its top 5 episodes.

To check out my other various Supernatural lists: Click!

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