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The world always needs heroes. Men and women who stand up for what's right and fight the good fight, day and night. Even if they aren't doing it in rhyming couplets, heroes are the backbone of entertainment.

They're also pretty boring. After all, unless someone is doing something wrong, or there's a tornado or something, heroes are pretty much just dudes waiting for something to happen. Yes, it's really all about the villains, the movers and the shakers, the conflicted souls who power the plots of books, movies and TV shows.

For instance, take The Dark Knight. Now, we love Batman and Christian Bale as much as the next fellow, but all anyone can talk about or think about is Heath Ledger's Joker. And rightly so. But when evil is this delicious, a two hour fix isn't quite enough: we need a daily dosage.

With that in mind, then, we thought this would be a good time to show you our top secret list of the Best Villains on Television. Because something like Ledger's Joker only comes around once, but these evil bastards are a menace every weeknight at nine.