Break Out the Felt Goatees: The 12 Best TV and Movie Bad Guys of 2012

AMC should consider making the title of the show past tense, because our formerly mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher has just about completed his long arc from Mr. Chips to Scarface. Now a bona fide meth kingpin running his own empire, Walter White won't let anything get in his way. Not his associates Mike (Jonathan Banks) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) nor even an innocent 10-year-old bystander who witnessed his train heist. That whistling after he disposed of the kid's body...yep, he's broken

No bad guy in 2012 had a greater introduction than Javier Bardem's Silva: one 60-second-plus long take of the bleach-blond, ascot-wearing cyberterrorist walking from background to fore, tormenting 007 with a story about rat cannibalism. Unsettling as that is, at least his creepy monologuing still requires him to have his jaw attached to his face.

As Silva already proved, you don't need to be all tough-guy glowering to be bad. Sometimes you can have a wardrobe full of white blazers, bowties and a fridge stocked with wine coolers and be every bit as menacing. Mason Treadwell, Southampton's spiritual heir to Dominick Dunne on 'Revenge,' is all flamboyant menace as he tries to dredge up the buried skeletons of the rich and famous. Just listen to his voicemail greeting: "Hello, you've reached Mason Treadwell, bon vivant and provocateur. Pleas

Alfie Allen's dispossessed Iron Islands heir went from likable Stark hostage/ward to a murderous warlord so hellbent to prove his worth to his father that he sacked Winterfell and had little kids executed. Oh, and he made a pass at his sister that still makes us a little nauseous. 

To borrow a phrase from Tony Stark, Loki's power-drunk ambition and feud with brother Thor were definitely "Shakespeare in the Park" bombastic. And Tom Hiddleston's oily malice powered the year's second-greatest "glass prison" scene (after 'Skyfall,' of course).

Formerly a mild-mannered insurance adjuster, Major Neville, joined the Monroe Republic militia after the blackout and became one of its most ruthless officers. He become even more so if he follows through on the advice of his Lady Macbeth of a wife and tries to overthrow Monroe. Neville just needs to beware wheelchair bombs.

One of the many revelations to come out of Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer's opus is that, no matter the time, the place, the race, or the gender, Hugo Weaving will be evil. But our favorite of the baddies he plays in 'Cloud Atlas' has to be Nurse Noakes, the Louise Fletcher wannabe who lords over a British nursing home with 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' dread. Weaving should perform in drag more often.

Fans were skeptical, rightly, when it was announced that Darth Maul survived being cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of 'Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace' and would appear on 'The Clone Wars.' But his resurrection as a galactic villain proved dark, disturbing, psychologically resonant, and, yes, thrilling. We couldn't have asked for more from the revival of a character who'd previously been dispatched from Star Wars lore all too quickly.

The index of Colton's villainy is far too great to be contained in any one gallery slide. Was it his racism, his disparaging remarks toward little person Leif, his anti-laughter policy, his scorched-earth strategy when dealing with the all-female opposing tribe, that made him a villain? All of the above. Eventually, he experienced some island karma and came down with appendicitis, forcing his medical evacuation from the show. As a final act of villainy he kept as a souvenir the Immunity Idol he'

The best villains often come with a warm smile and an outstretched hand before revealing their true colors. Such has been the case with The Governor, the apparently benevolent leader of Woodbury, GA, who's really a tyrant at heart.

And sometimes villainy is all candy-colored and pixie-dust sparkly. See: King Candy, the glitch-phobic overlord of 'Sugar Rush,' a pastel racing game set in a diabetic wonderland of sweets, who's determined to rigidly control the outcome of the game. Or else. Alan Tudyk (Firefly) does a quivering Ed Wynn vocal impersonation to give King Candy just the right touch of confectionery malice, building up to the revelation that...aw, we won't spoil it for you.