Well, Villains who were great:

Joker (Heath Ledger)

Loki (Tom Hiddleston)

Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson)

Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy)

Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges)

Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina)

Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon)

Red Skull (Hugo Weaving)

Villains who weren't:

Venom (Topher Grace)

Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones)

Bullseye (Colin Ferrell)

Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon)

Talia Al Ghul (Marion Cotillard... yes the movie was good. Yes she is hot. But that doesn't mean she was good or her character was well portrayed)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other than really Daredevil, all these movies blew up the box office, so bad villains still make good money. But yes, there is a correlation to great actors in villainous roles and fantastic reviews from reporters. Which is a reason to really look forward to IM3.

It takes real acting skill to play any part well.

and that's why Gary Oldman is the greatest actor ever.....  

I'd say The Spirit isn't memorable for anything except when the trailers came out and I got excited thinking it was Sin City 2.

@stumpy49er said:

I mostly agree. Though I'd say it also takes great acting to for the hero as well. If the hero is a bad actor, the audience might not care for the movie as much. This is one reason Iron Man is so loved right now.

Also one reason why The Spirit is memorable almost entirely for its villains :P

I mostly agree. Though I'd say it also takes great acting to for the hero as well. If the hero is a bad actor, the audience might not care for the movie as much. This is one reason Iron Man is so loved right now.