The iconic British Sci-Fi TV show, Doctor Who, is home to many terrifying and downright deadly villains. From the Haunting Weeping Angels, to the ever-so-deadly Daleks, there is no shortage of awesome, yet scary villains in the Doctor Who franchise. Rebooting in the early 2000s, Doctor Who has become one of the best Sci Fi TV shows of all time, seeing many great actors play the part, like Jodie Whitaker, Matt Smith, and David Tennant, just to name a few. With that, the modern era of Doctor Who has given fans some amazing antagonists, and even made returning villains so much scarier. Here are the best villains from the modern era of Doctor Who.
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8 Family of Blood
BBC Studios
The Family of Blood, caused the Doctor to do what no one thought The Doctor would ever do, run and hide. The family are beings who chased the Doctor across time and space for his near-immortality. This caused the Doctor to forget about who he was and take on his alter ego, John Smith, and form a happy and somewhat peaceful life as Mr. Smith, getting married and having a child. It isn’t long, however, when the family tracks down and captures the Doctor, where he is forced to remember who he is. This destroys the family, and gives them exactly what they want, immortality, but not how they wanted it. Giving each member their own form of evil torturous punishment, this is one of the Doctor’s darkest moments.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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7 The Silence
First appearing in the season six premiere, “The Impossible Astronaut”, The Silence made a powerful introduction by killing the Doctor and shocking fans everywhere. With a ghastly appearance, long fingers, and a black suit, The Silence have a horrifying and nightmarish appearance that has stuck in fans’ minds ever since they burst onto the screen. These Doctor Who villains continued to haunt the Doctor throughout the rest of season six. They again appeared in the 11th Doctor’s final episode before his regeneration to help him fight against an onslaught of attacks from The Daleks, Cybermen, and The Weeping Angels.
6 Vashta Nerada
As one of the scariest Doctor Who villains, The Vashta Nerada made their debut in the haunting episode “The Silence in the Library”, where we learn that these carnivorous creatures can stalk their prey by disguising themselves as shadows. The best way to describe these creatures is to compare them to Piranhas. “The Piranha’s of the air” devour the flesh of any living thing, leaving nothing but bone in their wake. Perhaps the scariest thing of all, is that the terrifying swarm of these flesh-eating creatures are hidden on every planet, even Earth. Remember “count the shadows’'.
5 Zygons
Although the Zygons may not be very scary to some, they are still undoubtedly iconic and are responsible for some of the best moments and episodes in the modern era of Doctor Who. The Zygons are tall, orange creatures, surrounded in suckers, very similar to an Octopus. However, what makes The Zygons stand out from the rest of Doctor Who’s stacked rogues gallery, is that these creatures can shape-shift into anyone, as well as mimic their voice. The Zygons are the main antagonist of one of Doctor Who’s best episodes, and brought three brilliant Doctors together on screen.
4 Weeping Angels
There isn’t much we need to say about these terrifying villains, because there is a big chance you have not only heard about them, but have also had nightmares of them. The Weeping Angels are the horrifying stone statues that have a pretty scary design, but the real fear is how these creatures move and kill their prey. They move when out of sight, and every time one blinks, The Angels will move closer and closer until they have you in their grasp. Once touched by an Angel, the unfortunate victim is sent back in time when they must live the rest of their lives in a different time period. Essentially, they kill you by making you live. Making their debut in “Blink”, one of Doctor Who’s best and undeniably scariest episodes, The Weeping Angels immediately cemented themselves as great villains that fans were desperate to see again.
3 Cybermen
The Cybermen have been a mainstay in the Doctor Who franchise ever since their debut in the original run of Doctor Who, which started back in 1963. Once the show got revived in 2005, fans were anxiously waiting for The Cybermen to pop up and enslave the human race, while tormenting the Doctor. The Cybermen are emotionless robots from another world that constantly change their design, becoming more powerful, and upgrading every time we see them. The main ambition for the Cybermen is to build a bigger army, enslaving the human race, by placing their bodies inside the robots, and stripping them of all emotion and any semblance of their past lives. The sound of their voices as they chant “Delete” when killing their victims who don’t comply, sends shivers down every fan’s spine.
2 Daleks
What villain is more iconic than the Daleks? None. The Daleks have been the antagonist to the Doctor more times than we can count, sporting a brilliant design, as well as raspy robot voices and incredibly deadly weapons. These robots have plagued the Doctor for centuries, and no matter how many times we see them, we still get equally excited and terrified as when we first encountered them. Similarly, the Daleks have been responsible for some of the Doctor’s most tragic moments, exterminating the majority of Earth, as well as killing the Doctor. Not many of the Doctor’s villains can say that.
1 The Master
BBC Studios
While perhaps not the most immediately iconic villain on the list, no villain in the franchise is more cunning or mischievous than The Master. As a fellow Time Lord, The Master has constantly tried to torment and destroy the Doctor. He’s taken over Earth many a time, giving the Doctor a Cyberman army, and more recently, in the brilliant special “The Power of The Doctor”, brought the Daleks and The Cybermen together to take down the Doctor, and eventually allowing The Master to turn himself into the Doctor.
The Master, like the Doctor, has regenerated many times, and in the modern era of the franchise, that mantle has been played by many, including John Simm, Michelle Gomez, Derek Jacobi, and more recently, Sacha Dhawan, with each installment bringing something new to the role and all delivering stellar performances.
