Christian Bale is not afraid of going to the dark side.
While Bale, 50, is certainly recognized for his role as the selfless superhero Batman, the Academy Award-winning actor is arguably best known for his role as ultimate bad boy Patrick Bateman. Bale’s villainous character in 2000’s American Psycho has become synonymous with corporate greed and toxic masculinity, all while wielding a chainsaw.
More than 20 years after Bale taught Us to background check our first dates, he stretched his villain muscle again in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder as Gorr the God Butcher. In a noir-style performance, Bale served as the antithesis of all things joyful and good — the ultimate bad guy of the multiverse.
“There’s a great pleasure in playing a villain,” Bale said of his Thor: Love and Thunder character during a 2022 press event. “It’s a lot easier to play a villain than it is to play a hero — Chris [Hemsworth] had a much tougher job. You know, everyone is fascinated with the bad guys, immediately.”
Bale went on to say that a well-written bad guy can evoke both hatred and empathy, adding that when an actor successfully plays a villain “you sort of understand maybe why this guy is making awful decisions.”
“He is a monster and he is a butcher, but is possibly a little understanding of why he came to be that way,” he concluded.
From a polarizing political figure to an all-powerful demigod, here are Bale’s most iconic villain roles, ranked:
