25 Side-By-Side Pics Of Movie Villains And Heroes That Were Played By The Same Actors

McKellen has been in the acting scene for over 60 years now and has been credited in over 120 films and series. One of his most iconic roles is, of course, Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit series, where he plays a renowned wizard who helps restore peace to the land. In contrast, McKellen also plays Magneto, one of the key villains in the X-Men universe (though Magneto does develop other roles, so much that he also becomes a superhero and an ally to the X-Men, but I digress).

This actress has played numerous striking and vivid roles. One of many attention-drawing characters played by Bonham Carter is Bellatrix Lestrange in the movie series about the boy wizard Harry Potter. After playing her role of Bellatrix, she returned to the cinema as Queen Elizabeth in The King’s Speech. This role got her the BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Seeing the endless list of movies and TV shows that she appeared in, it’s only fair to question what other unforgettable characters she will introduce us with.

In his career, Heath Ledger not only had the opportunity to play both the villain and the hero, but he also took some iconic roles such as William Thatcher from A Knight’s Tale and the Joker from The Dark Knight. Understanding the complexity of the latter role raised questions about whether this could have had an impact on his mental health.

We have another Lord of the Rings actor here, this time English actor Hugo Weaving. He’s, of course, seen in films like V for Vendetta, The Matrix, Mortal Engines, and, as mentioned before, in the Lord of the Rings, where he played Elrond, the Half-Elven Lord of Rivendell. As for the bad guy part, he was Agent Smith in the Matrix.

Actor David Tennant, for some also known as one of the greatest actors in Scotland, has played in numerous TV series. One of his signature roles is the Tenth Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who. Did you know that Tennant became an actor because his dream was to star in this show? And now we get to see how well this dream turned out. He also showed his “villain” side in the TV series Jessica Jones, where he plays Kilgrave, or the Purple Man. A perfect what-to-watch for Marvel Comics lovers.

Gary Oldman is a man of many faces, having starred in a slew of films playing a variety of characters, among them playing the likes of James Gordon, commissioner of the Gotham City Police in the Batman series of films, as well as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, the main antagonist bent on destroying life on Earth in The Fifth Element.

Actor Anthony Hopkins has been in more than 88 movies, but one of the most iconic villain roles that brought him numerous awards is Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. As good as he is at playing a psychotic character, his portrayal of Odin in Thor showed that he is also very much suitable for heroic good guy roles.

Austrian-German actor Christoph Waltz has been at it for many decades now, being featured in a number of James Bond movies, the Pirates of the Carribean, Alita: Battle Angel, as well as two other films where he was the good guy and the bad guy: as Dr. King Schultz in 2012’s Django Unchained and Hans Landa in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds respectively.