Even though the GTA series gets quite over-the-top sometimes, it still manages to feature villains who are somewhat grounded and surprisingly realistic, even.
There are no James Bond-esque villains out to rule the world here, just a bunch of rogues who want the same as the player. By GTA rules, their only mistake is getting in our way, really. Let’s honor the best of our fallen nemeses, shall we?
7. Catalina (GTA3)
Catalina is the perfect antagonist to GTA3‘s Claude Speed. She talks only a bit more than he does, so we don’t really know much about her.
We do know definitively she’ll do anything for power, given she tries to kill Claude, her lover of over a decade, for no reason other than not wanting to share some robbery money. She probably should’ve known better.
6. Sonny Forelli (GTA Vice City)
Before Tommy Vercetti inevitably took over, there was Sonny Forelli. Before his “accident,” Sonny was the most ruthless and powerful mob boss in the franchise — quite a big deal for a series about organized crime.
Even though he actually held the hell that was Vice City on a tight leash, he was incredibly paranoid and ill-tempered. Plus, he’s played by the late great Tom Sizemore, one of the few actors who could’ve sized up to Ray Liotta’s Tommy Vercetti.
4. Steve Haines (GTA V)
GTA V has the most immediately hateable cast of villains in the series. Whereas most other great GTA villains earn their spots on this list because they gain our trust and hearts before stabbing us in the back, the villains of GTA wear their assholery with pride.
Haines is the perfect asshole fed, one who uses criminals to do his dirty work — as if he doesn’t have enough power to do it himself. What I love most about Haines is how the writers and his voice actor are committed to making sure that everything coming out of his mouth will make you despise him further.
3. Dimitri Rascalov (GTA IV)
We should know better than to trust a guy with the word “Rascal” in his name, but here we are. Dimitri does a good job of selling himself off as a considerate criminal, but that’s nothing more than a ruse to lure us in.
Dimitry betrays the player not once, but twice, and his actions always come at great expense for Niko Bellic. Never trust this guy, as he sure is the biggest snake in GTA IV, and likely in the history of the entire series.
2. Big Smoke (GTA San Andreas)
This one hurts the most because it’s very hard not to love Big Smoke — right up until it’s impossible not to hate him.
Smoke is the funniest character in the game, as well as the character that the game presents as CJ’s wisest friend. Too bad that he uses his supposed wits to betray CJ and try to kill him. Even worse, he does so by siding with the Balas, CJ’s rival gang. It’s almost as if he wants to hit CJ personally but nope, he’s only in it for the money and the rep. Too bad. Why Smoke? All you had to do was be a good friend.
2. Frank Tenpenny (GTA San Andreas)
Even though it came out twenty years ago, San Andreas‘ Tenpenny remains a very poignant villain. He’s the perfect embodiment of all the fears law enforcement sparks in less fortunate communities. He’s a man who’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He’s dangerous enough to break the law if need be, but he already has so much power that he mostly doesn’t even need to.
Tenpenny is immediately detestable as he’s the first character CJ meets in his quest, and he doesn’t waste a second before he starts to bully our hero for no good reason. All that would be more than enough to make him a great villain, but we later learn that CJ has a very personal and very good reason to hate Tenpenny, and that’s what lands him in the top spot.
Oh, and he’s also voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, who obviously owns.
1. Devin Weston (GTA V)
Even though Weston is easy to hate because he’s a callous asswipe, he’s also an absolute buffoon. This guy could’ve easily avoided all of his troubles, but nope. He’s an aloof billionaire who constantly steals from and scams professional murderers then fails to see how that might one day turn out bad.
To his credit, Weston is a true visionary — at least in the sense that the crap that the writers got him to say ten years ago is the exact same kind of thing we hear Elon Musk saying with a serious face nowadays. He goes out like a dummy, because, in the end, that’s all that he ever was.
If GTA V were to take place in the 2020s, Weston would be the kind of buffoon who wonders about the economic benefits of a third world war.
