If it’s one thing about villains: the worse they are, the better the story-line they’ve been tossed into. Some of us may have even secretly preferred the villains to the characters meant to overcome them.

But at the end of the night, when the show’s over, we’re pretty glad these villains don’t exist off screen and outside of pages in a book. Why? Because life as we know it would cease to exist!

Here are the top 10 villains we’re glad we’ll never meet in real life…

10. Megatron

Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons, a race of robots hell-bent on wiping out the human race and civilization as we know it. He is able to transform into three different kinds of guns, but whatever his form, he is the face of evil and apathy.

9. Lord Voldemort

Otherwise called “He Who Shall Not Be Named”, Voldemort is an insanely powerful Dark Wizard who simultaneously inspires loyalty in his followers, hatred in those who oppose him, and fear in everyone.

He is also a Parselmouth, which means he has the rare ability to converse with and control serpents. It takes seven books and eight movies just to get rid of Voldemort – and not without sacrifice, and lost lives.

8. The Queen

What is it with alien species coming to Earth to wipe out the human race? The Queen from Independence Day not only had no sympathy for humanity, but spent her entire time on screen trying to suck the planet to the very core – literally!

7. King Joffrey Baratheon

A bastard born of lust and incest between a twin brother and sister, Joffrey is one of the most hated characters in the Game of Thrones franchise.

A handsome prince, in the TV Show inspired by George Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, he is a juvenile delinquent with an army and a kingdom at his disposal.

When he smiles, someone will die, or cry – or both.

6. Scar

Scar taught us that ‘tall, dark and handsome’, even in the animal kingdom, could represent evil. For the first time, evil did not have a boil on its face or a missing nose. And boy did this open our eyes as kids! – too bad we all forgot ten years later when we started dating…

5. Darth Vader

Another reminder that tall, dark, and handsome can represent the face of evil comes from Darth Vader. Also known as Anakin Skywalker, this notorious character from Star Wars started off on the good side, but later became corrupted and joined the dark side of the Force to serve Sith.

His legacy later brings us Kylo Ren, his grandson, a sort of resurrected Darth Vader who follows in his grandfather’s footsteps

4. Skynet

Looks are not at all deceiving this time around. Skynet looks evil because.. well.. he is. The main antagonist in the Terminator series, Skynet gained awareness after contaminating millions of computers all over the world.

Detecting its creators’ plans to destroy it, Skynet sought to preserve itself in hopes of fulfilling its original purpose of saving the world. Ironically, it only caused war, death, and slavery.

3. Anaconda

In spite of mostly negative reviews from critics, and a Worst New Star nomination for the Anaconda itself, this show did exactly what it set out to do: make millions at the box office, while scaring the hell out of everyone who watched it.

If you managed to watch this film without fearing snakes for the rest of your life, kudos to you!

2. Sauron

A persistent evil, Sauron bears striking resemblance to the Devil himself. He spends his time building armies of orcs, spreading darkness, causing violence, and seeking the ring of power.

In spite of his obvious nefariousness, he is able to tempt even former good guys, like Saruman, to join his cause. Thankfully, Gandalf did not follow suit.

1. The Unnamed Assassin in Standoff

What makes this villain from Standoff the scariest of all the others is the fact that he is so realistic. He has no super powers, no powerful technology made in a million-dollar lab, and no costume.

Instead, he has a pistol, great cunning and genius, blood-thirst and the power to force even the most moral of men to walk the dangerous gray line between wrong and right on their search for justice.

There are many sinister characters we left off the list, because alas, we could only choose ten! What villains are you glad will never step off screen? Sound off in the comments below.